You are coming down the home stretch of the pre-pilot course design phase! You completed your course map, drafted assignment prompts and rubrics for at least the first three weeks, and duplicated your approved module template for all modules. While you finish populating content into your course shell, you have two more to-dos before you begin your pilot:

1. Meet with your Instructional Designer again to fill out the {Instructor} {Course #} Equity-Minded Course Review document
2. Choose up to 5 representative course assignments to share with the Workforce Advisory Board for review.

Preparing for Equity-Minded Course Review

Ideally you will bring a fully drafted course shell to this meeting. On our recommended timeline of 10 weeks, this review takes place in advance of your course launch date so that you have time to incorporate any recommended changes to the course. Once the term begins, you can focus on teaching because the course development phase is complete.

However, if you are on the minimum timeline of a 4-week Course Design Accelerator, the Equity-minded Course Review will focus on just the first 3 weeks of your course. After the term starts, you’ll keep building. Your Instructional Designer will schedule followup meetings during the pilot term to review the remaining weeks. You will meet three times total:

• End of week 2 of pilot term: review weeks 4-6
• End of week 4 of pilot term: review weeks 7-10
• End of week 6 of pilot term: Mid-term check-in

The {Instructor} {Course #} Equity-Minded Course Review document is only 2 pages long. It is intended to guide conversation about meeting the project’s Criteria for Success. Our review uses a notes column rather than performance ratings to support the discussion between you and your Instructional Designer. The goal is to assess current strengths and take note of areas for growth or revision after the pilot is over. Review the quality design indicators in more detail in Equity-Minded Course Review with Annotations [Google Doc].

You and your Instructional Designer will meet for about an hour for the review. Typically instructors share their screen to tour the course site according to the quality indicators on the review document. The Instructional Designer takes notes on the Equity-Minded Course Review rubric, starting with the first quality indicator, and either notes that it’s present or notes what is being worked on for the future. These notes will serve as a starting point for revision after the term is over, when you meet to create a Course Revision Action Plan. These notes will help you to revise the content you’d like to share with your course pack.

Once your Equity-Minded Course Review meeting is complete, we will request an invoice from your institution for Payment #1 of your pilot stipend. We will request an invoice for Payment #2 after your revised and openly licensed pilot materials are in your course folder, ready to be shared with the open textbook.

Preparing Assessments for Workforce Advisory Board Review

Before the term starts, you will choose which of your drafted assessments you’d like reviewed by our Workforce Advisory Board. The Workforce Advisory Board consists of individuals and organizations with an interest in the employability of others in their field. The purpose of their review is to increase alignment and relevance of your assessments to current workforce needs and contexts. Workforce Advisory Board members will comment on the value of selected assessments to practitioners in their field, disciplinary or workforce skills that they didn’t see represented in assessments, and scenarios, challenges, and contexts from their own experience that could be included in assessments.

With Workforce Advisory Board feedback, course instructors can learn which skills and scenarios matter the most to employers. Wherever possible, we invite members who are underrepresented in their field, including self-identified people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities. This helps to ensure that we have a comprehensive review that includes multiple perspectives.

To prepare for the Workforce Advisory Board Review, your Instructional Designer will help you select up to 5 representative course assignments to share from the pilot materials. These will be typical assignments that demonstrate the kind of learning that is possible through your course design. You can work on this with your Instructional Designer by email if you don’t have meeting time available. Your Instructional Designer will format your work to share with the Workforce Advisory Board.

After you pilot, your Instructional Designer will summarize Workforce Advisory Board feedback into actionable steps for revision using the {Instructor} {Course #} Advisory Board Assessment Feedback: ID Summary + Action Items.

Licenses and Attributions for Before you Teach

“Before you Teach” by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0.