Today, June 2, 2020 TrainingMatchmaker.com is following the lead of two black woman in music who created an initiative called: #TheShowMustBePaused

  This was created

“in observance of the long-standing racism and inequality that exists from the boardroom to the boulevard”,

under the assertion that they:

“will not continue to conduct business as usual without regard for black lives”.

These two ladies: Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang have installed a day that individuals and celebrities can be a part of, not by vanity alone, but with a commitment that Blackout Tuesday will be:

“a day to pause the music to show unity against racial injustice and discrimination”.

The founders have declared that they are in it “for the long haul” and seek to move forward “with a plan of action to be announced”.   Columbia Records contribution on twitter was to remind us all that:

“This is not a day off… instead this is a day to reflect and figure out ways to move forward in solidarity”.  

So rather than simply post a black image with the hashtags #BlackoutTuesday and #TheShowMustBePaused across our social media channels, (noting that we were quickly advised to avoid the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter given the black graphics, of which there were 13.4 million contributed to instagram alone [as of 16.22 (GMT)], were clouding the reach of other important messages), we decided to use some of our time of pause today to curate a listicle blog post outlining some of the free online courses that any individual, with a digital device, connectivity and skill can undertake to increase their learning for the benefit of all.   Whilst we believe that we should all seek first to understand please do note that the free online courses that we signpost to can in themselves be discriminatory. This is especially pertinent at a time of Covid19 and also given that our work with Good Things Foundation for #DevicesDotNow by FutureDotNow highlights that too many in society in the UK and indeed around the world are excluded from the very privilege of having ownership of, or access to, a digital device and/or the required connectivity and/or the skill to make the most of the thousands of free learning opportunities available online.   We hope the below list sourced from the signposts on TrainingMatchmaker.com to free online learning providers Edx (online provider of over 1,700 free learning opportunities) and OpenLearn (which provides access to over 1,000 learning opportunities) inspires someone to go today and get learning:

 

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Unconscious Bias: From Awareness to Action by Catalyst (via Edx.org)

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Race, ethnicity and crime by Open University (via OpenLearn)

About this course

This free course, Race, ethnicity and crime, briefly examines the relationships between race and ethnicity, and crime, criminalisation and criminal justice. It considers the relationship between crime and cultural difference; the notion of ‘criminalisation’ and how its processes affect individuals and their opportunities; and the lived consequences of racialisation. Specifically, you will examine the ways in which these criminalisations which lead to the over-policing, over-incarceration and under-protection of particular populations lie at the heart of critical criminological arguments.

• Length: 1 Hour Study
• Level: Level 3 Advanced

 

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How would you respond to social discrimination? by Open University (via OpenLearn)

About this course

New innovations like ‘360 degree videos’ allow us to not just be passive observers of a scene but look around and interact with characters as if we were really there! These engaging experiences can help us build a greater connection with and empathy for all sorts of different people and places. Virtual Inclusion is an interactive feature that offers you the chance to experience a ‘day in the life’ of three different young people facing discrimination and learn how you can promote social inclusion in your own life!

Take it further:

If you are an educator or indeed home educator at this time of Covid19 you can download a Digital Toolkit for using this virtual inclusion resource in the classroom!

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Blog created by TrainingMatchmaker.com Founder – Trainer Christine Watson on 2 June 2020 and inspired by Black Out Tuesday. Should you start learning more about this area as a result of this blog please do think about sharing your learning plan and learning journey on your social media or offering to guest blog for us in order to inspire the learning of others who may wish to follow in your learning footsteps or start on their own personal learning journey.

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one single step

Information, links and research based on ‘keyword’ searches and by trawling related ‘subject’ headings correct as of 2 June 2020.

This is not an exhaustive list and we trust that there are many more learning opportunities available both now with more to be added in the future.

We trust this blog is a useful resource for active citizens seeking to learn more a tthis time, TrainingMatchmaker.com makes no revenue from this blog or any of these signposts to free online learning providers.

TrainingMatchmaker.com reserve the right to amend or add to this blog at any time.

If you have any feedback for us, ideas for additional free online courses by trusted providers relevant to this subject or spot any broken links please do contact us