Y2 Unit 1.3: Curriculum Design with an Equity Lens
In this section, we explain the details of how we define and develop high-quality course materials. The example revised chapter and course pack at the end of this section illustrate how the Open Curriculum Development Project works with an equity lens. They show our criteria for success in action.
In Year 1, Unit 1, we discussed what it means to us to use the metaphor “equity lens” when we write about our curriculum design model. In the context of this project, we find it useful to acknowledge that a lens can be taken off, and that our project participants choose to keep it on. Heather Blicher and Valencia Scott, past Equity Consultants on this project, write that “Leading with an equity lens in curriculum design means shining a light on underrepresented perspectives, centering them, and diving deeper into the histories of systemic oppression that lead to social injustices and disparities we live with today” (n.d.). Keeping the lens on means engaging with your current practices to improve your curriculum.
Open Curriculum Project Criteria for Success
The Open Curriculum Project developed Criteria for Success for both textbooks and course packs. Our criteria describe concretely what we mean by high-quality course materials. This is what we’re aiming for in the work we will share widely at the end of the process. We list the Criteria for Success for Course Design in Year 2, Unit 2, and we remind authors about our Textbook Criteria in Year 2, Unit 6.
Our criteria for both textbooks and course packs are divided into four categories that, when layered together, make up our definition of high-quality course materials:
- Learner Focus
- Representation of Diverse Voices
- Accessibility
- Oregon Context.
Matrix of Approaches for Equity-Minded Design
Our project relies on four instructional design frameworks to center the learning needs of first-generation college students, students with disabilities, students of color, and other historically marginalized groups. The matrix below shows how our criteria align with these powerful approaches to teaching and learning with an equity lens. We’ll discuss these frameworks more in future units for both textbook authors and course pilot instructors.
| Design Framework | Learner Focus | Representation of Diverse Voices | Accessibility | Oregon Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transparency in Learning and Teaching | Anticipate and address barriers for new learners by clearly defining the purpose, tasks, and success criteria for assignments. | Explain learning expectations to maximize success for underserved learners. | Structure materials for intuitive navigation and easy comprehension. | Ask students to apply textbook learning to their own lives and contexts |
| Culturally Responsive Teaching | Acknowledge that culture shapes learning. | Include culturally diverse experts in textbook content. | Include content from diverse experts in multiple media formats. | Include diverse Oregon stories to help students achieve learning outcomes. |
| Universal Design for Learning | Assume that learner variability is the norm | Encourage student agency and choice in sharing knowledge. | Meet project accessibility standards to maximize success for students with disabilities | Provide local and current stories to increase engagement. |
| Open Educational Practices | Invite students to join in open content creation | Provide open license education for informed and ethical future use | Coach students on how to make their shared or open content accessible | Validate the students’ use of Oregon stories to help them achieve learning outcomes |
How to learn more about these instructional design approaches:
- Transparency in Learning and Teaching: TILT Higher Ed [Website]
- Culturally Responsive Teaching: Understanding Culturally Responsive Teaching [Website]
- Universal Design for Learning: The UDL Guidelines [Website]
- Open Educational Practices: The Open Pedagogy Project Roadmap [Website]
We recognize that these four frameworks aren’t the only useful or relevant approaches to equity-minded design. In this curriculum, we invite you to bring in other instructional design approaches and use more than one strategy as needed. We expect that our participants bring their own teaching experiences to this project and we welcome you to design with these experiences in mind.
Open Curriculum Revised Chapter and Course Pack
It’s helpful to see an example of what we’re working towards in Year 2: revised textbook manuscripts and fully integrated course packs. This section walks you through an example of what each of these can look like.
Example chapter revisions
In Year 1, authors planned and drafted a textbook in a short amount of time. Year 2 is an opportunity to slow down and review chapter by chapter alignment with our criteria for success. Tour the Revised Chapter for the Open Curriculum Development Project [Website] from CCJ 220: Mental Disorders and the Law by Anne Nichol, criminal justice faculty member at Portland Community College, to see chapter revision in action.
The first version of this chapter included all necessary chapter elements, which means the revision of the chapter focuses on improvement and enhancement. Importantly, the revising author hasn’t written an entirely new chapter. Instead, she uses existing content as the basis for revision and makes sure that all parts work together. The revised chapter makes substantial improvements:
- Rephrases the chapter title to specify crisis response strategies rather than law enforcement generally, improving the precision of the chapter topic
- Aligns existing learning objectives with new focus on crisis response strategies
- Divides existing content into topic-specific chapter sections and adds necessary detail
- Increases the use of Oregon stories and relevant media to increase engagement
- Chapter summary includes H5P interactives with substantive answer feedback.
This revised chapter is annotated with Hypothesis to note the revision strategies that the author incorporated based on the project’s criteria for success. This interactive is accessible to people who use screen reader software.
Example course pack
During Year 2, Pilot Instructors use the open textbook to design and teach pilot courses. After their pilot term, Pilot Instructors revise course materials to share with an open license in a course pack.
Course packs are an aligned and accessible set of openly licensed course materials that integrate with an open textbook. We publish them in Google Sites to support ease of access and intuitive navigation. Each open textbook includes several openly licensed course packs from different institutions to show adoptions in various learning environments.
To see an example, tour the Mental Illness and Crime Course Pack [Website] by Shanell Sanchez, Criminology and Criminal Justice faculty member at Southern Oregon University, which integrates with the open textbook Mental Disorders and the Criminal Justice System [Website] by Anne Nichol.
This course pack showcases the strong design work of the instructor:
- All assessments use transparent design for teaching and learning (adding the purpose, task, criteria for success).
- Multiple means for students to express their learning through journals, discussion forums, and a term-long research about local community services.
- Curated supplemental content ensures multiple means of representation.
This comprehensive course pack is the result of dedicated design consultations, careful development of sequence and scope, and comprehensive revision with student needs in mind.
Licenses and Attributions for Curriculum Design with an Equity Lens
Open content, original
“Curriculum Design with an Equity Lens” by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
References
Blicher, H., & Scott, V. (n.d.). Introduction to DEI in Targeted Pathways. In H. Blicher, A. Gaterud, V. Scott, V. Vold, M. Willi Hooper, & S. Lenox (Eds.), Doing the Work: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Open Educational Resources. https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/dothework/
