EquityRubricdevelopedaspartofthePeraltaOnlineEquityInitiativeincollaborationwithKevinKelly,EdD

DescribingthePeraltaEquityRubricIfyouteachcollegecoursesinanyformat—face-to-face,hybridoronline—youprobablyhaveheardaboutorworkedonimprovingcoursequality,courseaccessibility,orboth.Butwhataboutcourseequity?Atitscore,equityisdefinedas"freedomfrombias"(Equity,n.d.).IntheDistanceEducationcontext,Peraltausesthetermequitytomean"freedomfrombiasorassumptionsthatnegativelyimpactonlinelearners'motivations,opportunities,oraccomplishments."Thetablebelowoutlinestheresearch-basedequityissuesthata)affectonlinelearnersandb)formthebasisofPeralta'sEquityRubric(downloadtherubricfromhttp://web.peralta.edu/de/equity):

PeraltaEquityRubricCriteria

PeraltaEquityRubricDescription

HowYouCanStartAddressingThisEquityIssue

E1:Technology Thesedaysitiseasytoassumethatallcollegestudentsa)haveaccesstothedevice(s)andInternetconnectivitytheyneedtosuccessfullycompletecollegecoursesandb)knowhowtousetechnologyproperly.

Listeachtechnologyrequiredtocompleteanonlinecoursesuccessfully;suggestalternativesforstudentswithtechnologyimpedimentsorchallenges;andprovideclearpathwaysforstudentstogetassistancewithcommonlyrequiredtechnologies.

E2:StudentResourcesandSupport

Anothercommonassumptionisthatstudentsknowwheretogoforhelp,andwilldosowhentheyneedit.Further,whileonlinecourseenrollmentgrowsdramaticallyatmostcolleges,therehasnotbeenanequivalentgrowthinservices,resources,andsupportthatstudentscanaccessatadistance.

Outlinestudentsupport&well-beingservicesinseveralareas,suchasa)generalstudentassistance,b)onlineacademicsupports,c)technologyassistance,d)healthandwell-beingresources,e)resourcesforstudentswithdisabilities.Providepathwaysforstudentstoaccessthissupportfromadistance.

E3:UniversalDesignforLearning

Onepedagogicalassumptionisthatalllearnerscanfollowthesamepathwaytosucceedinagivencourse.Thatpathwaymayinvolveaskingallstudentstoreviewallcoursecontentinjustoneformat,ortoshowwhattheyhavelearnedinthesameway.

AligncoursecontentandactivitieswiththethreecoreUniversalDesignforLearningprinciples(seecast.org)—multiplemeansofa)representation,b)action&expression,andc)engagement.

E4:DiversityandInclusion

Itisalsopossibletoassumethatstudentsautomaticallyknoworbelievethatallinstructorsvaluediverseideasandperspectives.

Createadiversityandinclusionstatementforyourcoursesyllabus.Demonstratethatdiverseideasandperspectivesarevaluedbyaskingstudentstoanalyzea)coursecontentfrommultipleperspectivesorb)howdiversityfostersbetterlearning.

EquityRubricdevelopedaspartofthePeraltaOnlineEquityInitiativeincollaborationwithKevinKelly,EdD

E5:ImagesandRepresentation

Teachersmayselecttextbooksandcreatelecturepresentationswithoutconsideringimageandrepresentationbias.Inotherwords,imagesandmediacanportraydifferentgroupsofpeopleunequally—e.g.,accordingtogender,ethnicity,age,orsomeotherfactor—and/orpromotestereotypesorinaccuraciesaboutthosegroups.

Findimagesandmediathatrepresentthediversityofyourinstitution.Encouragestudentstoanalyzetheaccuracyorstereotypesrelatedtohowspecificgroupsarerepresentedinimagesandmediarelatedtocoursetopics.

E6:HumanBias Teachersfacilitatenumerousinteractionswithandamongstudentsthroughoutacourse.However,differentbiaseslikeunconsciousbiasandhumaninteractionbiascanemerge,loweringstudents'willingnesstoparticipateinclassactivitiesortocompletetheclassatall.

Startidentifyingpotentialhumanbiasesthatmayimpactonlinestudents'motivation.Thenbegincraftingstrategiesforaddressingthosebiasesandsharingyourplanswithyourstudents.

E7:ContentMeaning Textbooks,standardizedorpublishertestbankquestions,andothercoursematerialsmayunknowinglyexhibitaculturalbiasbyusingdescriptions,examples,andotherlanguagethatrepresentonlyone(dominant)culturalbackground.

Createactivitiesthatrequirestudentstoconnectthecoursetopicsandcoursematerialstotheirownsocial-culturalbackgroundsaswellasthesocio-culturalbackgroundsofothers.

E8:ConnectionandBelonging

Anotherpotentialassumptionisthatstudentsknoworbelievethattheinstructora)caresabouttheirsuccessandb)wantsthemtoparticipate.Inactuality,onlinelearnersoftenfeelalienatedoralone,andsomehavehaddiscouragingornegativeonlinelearningexperiences.

Craftmessagesthatcommunicateyoucareabouteachstudent'sparticipationandsuccessinyourclasses.Createcourseactivitiesthatgobeyondrequirementslike"replytotwopeople"anddeepenconnectionswithotherstudents.Encouragestudentstoconnecttoyourinstitutionand,ifapplicable,yourdiscipline.

ReferencesEquity[Def.1a].(n.d.).Merriam-WebsterOnline.InMerriam-Webster.Retrievedfromhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/equity