Evaluating the Awareness Anti-Racism Training Program at the University of Victoria
Date
2020-04-14
Authors
McKay, Ashley
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This research project’s intention is to evaluate the Awareness Anti-Racism Training Program offered by the Equity and Human Rights Office (EQHR Office) at the University of Victoria (UVic). This project attempts to answer two main questions about the training program in effort to evaluate the success of the program as a useful tool in addressing racism, and to test how well the learning was received by the participants and retained through a six-week period.
This project seeks to answer the following questions:
1. Was learning and or personal reflection from this program sustained over a six-week time period by the training participants?
2. Did the participants find the training useful in their everyday life?
A tertiary goal to support the project client is:
3. Did the EQHR’s Awareness Anti-Racist Training Program at the University of Victoria achieve the intended learning outcomes for the participants immediately following the training, and six weeks later?
This project was based off research completed by Hill & Augoustinos (2001). Participants were sent three electronic surveys; the first survey was sent before they participated in the Awareness Anti-Racism Training Program offered by the EQHR Office to set a baseline of knowledge. The participants then took part in the training program and were asked to complete a second electronic survey. Six weeks later, participants were asked to complete a third electronic survey. All answers were then analysed by the researcher. The questions in all three surveys were very similar to allow for answers to be compared. This project was a mixed methods project. Participants were asked a variety of questions, both qualitative and quantitative in nature, data was collected anonymously. Participants had the option to opt into a personal interview with the researcher. No participant opted into the interview option.
The key finding in this project was that the participants demonstrated a retention of knowledge and comfort with key terms six weeks following the training program. The participants demonstrated that they felt empowered to have conversations and take action to address issues of racism with their friends and family and specifically mentioned the theme of reducing microaggressions. Participants also found that the training met the four learning objectives set out by the EQHR Office and the workshop facilitators.
There are six recommendations in this project report for this project. These recommendations are:
- Continue offering anti-racism training opportunities at UVic
- Keep the learning space safe
- Grow opportunities for learning about microaggressions
- Increase the training time
- Engage Faculty in this work
- Grow and fund anti-racism training at UVic
Description
Keywords
Anti-racism, evaluation,, training program