GEDIS Project: Promoting Gender Diversity in Higher Education
The GEDIS project (Gender Diversity in Information Science: Challenges in Higher Education) focuses on making higher education more inclusive by promoting gender diversity. It aims to improve how gender issues are taught and understood in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). The project combines ideas from LIS and Gender Studies to develop better teaching and learning methods.
Goals and Results
The GEDIS project has two main goals:
- To understand how gender diversity is included in LIS education in seven different countries. This includes learning what students, teachers, and librarians think about the topic.
- To create useful tools and resources that help include gender diversity in university courses. These tools will make learning more inclusive and fair for everyone.
To support these goals, the project has specific aims:
- Review existing teaching plans to see how much they focus on gender diversity.
- Ask students, teachers, and librarians about their experiences with gender diversity in education.
- Find examples of good teaching practices that already include gender diversity.
- Develop three toolkits with learning materials for students, teachers, and librarians. These will include examples, case studies, and activities to help everyone understand and apply gender diversity in education.
The project will produce reports, training sessions, research articles, and educational tools. These resources will be freely available online under an open licence, so anyone can use and adapt them.
How the Project Meets Key Priorities
Priority 1: Building Inclusive Higher Education Systems
The GEDIS project helps create more inclusive universities by:
- Studying current teaching plans to find areas that need improvement.
- Organising focus groups with students, teachers, and experts to collect ideas for better teaching practices.
- Working with librarians to make them key players in promoting gender diversity in education.
- Hosting summer schools for students and events for teachers to share knowledge and skills.
By focusing on diversity and equality, GEDIS contributes to the European Union’s goal of making education systems fairer and more open.
Priority 2: Stimulating Innovative Learning and Teaching Practices
The GEDIS project also encourages new ways of teaching and learning by:
- Using tools from LIS to study gender issues, like looking at how often women are cited in academic works or how gender-based hate speech spreads online.
- Creating interactive educational materials, such as a serious game, to make learning about gender diversity more engaging.
- Training teachers to include gender topics in their courses using modern teaching methods.
- Providing resources that use digital tools and open-source software, making them easy to access and adapt.
These activities help students and teachers think critically about gender diversity and bring fresh ideas into classrooms.
Why GEDIS Is Important
Gender inequality is still a big problem in many areas, including cultural industries and information sectors. Women and minority groups often face barriers to full participation and recognition. Universities can help solve these problems by teaching students to be aware of and challenge unfair systems.
The GEDIS project builds on the success of a smaller initiative called GENDIMS, which started at the University of Barcelona in 2021. GENDIMS showed how adding a gender perspective to teaching plans can improve education. Now, GEDIS is expanding this idea to other countries, creating a network of universities that work together to promote gender diversity.
Key Topics
The GEDIS project focuses on three main areas:
- Promoting gender equality: By improving how gender is included in LIS education.
- Inclusion and non-discrimination: By involving different groups in the project and listening to their ideas.
- LGBTQ+ equality: By addressing issues that affect LGBTQ+ individuals in education and society.
Long-Term Impact
The GEDIS project aims to make lasting changes by:
- Teaching students to think critically about gender issues and act against discrimination.
- Giving teachers and librarians the tools they need to support gender diversity in their work.
- Creating open resources that can be used in many different educational settings.
By encouraging teamwork across countries and fields, GEDIS helps build a more equal and inclusive higher education system. It supports the development of fairer teaching practices and prepares students to create a better, more just society.