Open for Antiracism: Leveraging Open Education to Support Antiracism in the Classroom (3 September 2024)

Join us on Tuesday 3 September 2024 at 15.00-16.00BST for our next GO-GN webinar! We are thrilled to welcome James Glapa-Grossklag (Dean, Educational Technology, Learning Resources and Distance Learning, College of the Canyons) who will be joining us to talk on Open for Antiracism: Leveraging Open Education to support Antiracism in the classroom.

Join the call via Zoom!

Abstract

How can the open education field engage effectively with antiracist pedagogy? The Open for Antiracism Program (OFAR) provides an example. OFAR supports US community college faculty to transform their classrooms to be antiracist through the affordances of OER and open pedagogy. Now beginning its 5th year, OFAR has supported 150 instructors from 40 institutions to learn to adapt and author OER, integrating antiracist activities and perspectives and co-creating materials with their students.

Two propositions inform the design of OFAR:

• Academics wish to change their classroom practices to be antiracist and need guidance on promising practices and a safe place to explore with peers;
• OER and open pedagogy can be effective tools to transform classrooms to be antiracist.

Program participants learn about antiracist pedagogy, OER, and open pedagogy. Participants then implement a change to their teaching by integrating OER or open pedagogy to make their class antiracist. Participants receive on-going support through webinars, coaching, and OER support. In this session, attendees will learn about program design, successes, and challenges, including results from four years of research on faculty perceptions and student outcomes.

Biography

James Glapa-Grossklag is Dean, Educational Technology, Learning Resources, and Distance Learning at College of the Canyons (CA). He has been deeply involved in Open Education since 2008. He serves as Technical Assistance Provider for the California Community Colleges Zero Textbook Cost Degree Program, the largest-ever public investment in OER. He co-leads, with CCCOER, the Open for Antiracism Program, supporting faculty to leverage OER and Open Pedagogy to make their teaching antiracist. He is OER Fellow for the Michelson 20MM Foundation and a faculty member in the AAC&U Institute on OER.  James was formerly Board President of Open Education Global and the CCCOER. Additionally, he served as a trainer on OER for the US Department of State in the Middle East and North Africa, was Innovation Scholar in Residence at RMIT University in Australia, and was Global OER Ambassador for the International Council for Open and Distance Education.

Join the call via Zoom!