Module 5 Principles and Practices for Equity-Minded Online Teaching

In This Section

The imperative for equity-minded online teaching
How equity-minded online teaching builds on Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI)
Five principles of equity-minded online teaching

Equity-Minded Online Teaching

MiraCosta's Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility

MiraCosta College strives to be a model for equity and inclusion. The college is committed to providing opportunities for engagement both across the campus and within the communities the college serves. The college seeks to remove barriers to learning, participation, and success, with a focus on changing procedures and practices that disproportionately affect certain groups.

As PPIC researchers reported in 2014's Online Learning and Student Outcomes in California’s Community CollegesLinks to an external site.,

... younger students, African Americans, Latinos, males, students with lower levels of academic skill, and part-time students are all likely to perform markedly worse in online courses than in traditional ones ... The bigger the gap, the worse a student’s performance is in online courses compared to traditional ones. The gap is largest for Latino and African American students (p. 9)

The good news: since the time of that report, success and retention rates for online students in California Community Colleges, and at MiraCosta, have risen significantly while narrowing the gap between online and in-person performance. And equity gaps for disproportionately impacted (DI) student populations have narrowed significantly. The bad news: it's still true that most DI student populations experience equity gaps that are larger in online courses compared to in-person courses.

How has this progress been achieved, and how do we continue to keep moving in the right direction? One key factor is certainly the increased awareness and use of equity-minded online teaching strategies since 2014.

Dr. J. Luke Wood offered a keynote address at the 2018 Online Teaching Conference that succinctly yet thoroughly provided the background, data, and theory behind the case for equity-mindedness, particularly in California Community Colleges, and specifically for those teaching online classes. You may view his slide deck (PDF)Links to an external site. from the the address, Reaching Underserved Students through Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning in the Online Environment, which highlighted five key principles and related strategies. These principles, described further below, are also included in section III of MiraCosta's Online Class Quality Guidelines, and many of the practices align with the practices in section II of that document. Note how most of this also dovetails with the requirements for RSI discussed on the previous page!

Five Equity Practices for Teaching Underserved Students of Color Online: Be Intrusive, Be Relational, Be Relevant, Be Community-Centric, Be Race-Conscious

NOTE: Material on this page is adapted from the Culturally Responsive, Equity-Minded Online Teaching page of the MiraCosta DE Handbook.

Equity-Minded Online Teaching Practices that Support RSI

The practices described below are recommended by Dr. Wood; those in italics are directly related to RSI.

Be Intrusive

Performance monitoring: Use the data provided by Canvas to find students that may be falling behind.
Intervening: Use Canvas features to reach out to students that appear in danger of not succeeding. Encourage, don't penalize.
Mandatory interactions: Require or give extra credit for virtual or in-person office hour attendance, or other forms of direct interaction with you.
Proactive advice: Don't assume students have skills to succeed online. Encourage and facilitate use of resources such as tutoring and technical support. Provide advice on skills such as time management.

Be Relational

Live engagement: Use synchronous tools and video so people see you and hear you. Use student names. Take notes on interactions that you can refer to later when giving personal feedback to students.
Learning with interest: Find out why students enrolled in college and in your class. Help students connect class learning to their goals. Help students build on these reasons and overcome potential barriers.
In-person engagement: Provide real opportunities for students to meet with you in person.
Personalized feedback: Make sure students know that you care about their learning by authentically affirming their bigger picture goals in the context of specific class- or assignment-related feedback.

Be Relevant

Course texts: Select material that is inclusive and validating for all students. Be conscious of the voices and imagery which prevail in your course content.
Variable assignments: Following Universal Design for Learning principles, provide options for how students demonstrate assignment outcomes. Consider allowing videos, PowerPoint presentations, even songs or poems when appropriate, along with traditional assessment types such as essays and quizzes. Enable creative engagement without lowering standards.
Leadership opportunities: Set strong social presence expectations for students through authentic sharing in online discussions. Allow students to lead discussions and incorporate personal life experiences in online discussion.
Course images: As with course text selection, also be thoughtful and inclusive with the images you select to include in your online class material. You may need to seek out imagery that is inclusive of a range of folks of various races, ethnicities, ages, genders, abilities, and sexual orientations.

Be Community-Centric

Introduction forums: Seek to create a sense of community and shared learning through relationship-building in introductory discussions online.
Shared reflections and perspectives: Enable students to think critically and reflect on content, and to deepen class community by sharing these reflections. Extend reflections on content to how the learning can improve personal lives and communities.

Be Race-Conscious

Address microaggressions: Monitor online discussions and intervene if/when microaggressionsLinks to an external site. appear.
Embrace race discourse: Be intentional about discussion of issues of race and racism.