The Open for Anti-Racism program supports US community college faculty aiming to leverage Open Education to make their teaching antiracist. The program emerged as a response to institutional statements decrying racism not always being translated into teaching practices that directly support faculty and students.
In some cases, existing OER reproduces the biases of larger society, for example, white supremacy. Participants in this program were encouraged to not only use existing OER, but to improve existing OER and to co-create materials with their students.
Our first cohort of participants completed a four-week, facilitated online course to learn about Anti-Racist Pedagogy, Open Educational Resources, and Open Pedagogy, and the connections between these. Participants then implemented a concrete change to a semester-long class by integrating OER or open pedagogy as a way to make the class antiracist. Participants received on-going support through monthly webinars featuring speakers on anti-racism, regular meetings with coaches, and dedicated OER support.
During this session, you will learn about the genesis of the Open for Anti-Racism program and the development of the core course. You will also hear about examples of changes that participants made to their teaching and how they used OER to make their classes antiracist. The program leads, CCCOER and College of the Canyons, will present program outcomes and suggestions for improvement. The audience will be asked to discuss how they can more effectively use OER to reform our teaching and how the field of OER can more effectively engage with anti-racist pedagogy.
Participants at all levels of OER knowledge are welcome!
After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
- Define antiracist pedagogy
- Describe how open education can support antiracist pedagogy
- Summarize outcomes of the Open for Anti-Racism Program
