DEI Collaborative
COLLABORATING TO INFUSE DEI INTO ONLINE COURSE QUALITY
Our project aims to create a series of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices that connect online course design standards with inclusive teaching practices. To help faculty and instructional designers implement these practices, we are annotating 54 Cal State inclusive teaching practices. Each annotation supplements quality course design standards with guidance on addressing DEI.
Experts Creating Openly-Licensed DEI Practices
We are DEI experts, instructional designers, online faculty experts, and staff from 68 institutions and organizations across the United States (as well as Canada and Brazil). We are collaborating to create a set of DEI practices associated with the major online course quality rubrics. We are also categorizing the resulting practices, and aligning them with current online course quality rubrics, such as OSCQR, QLT, and QM. The practices will be openly licensed and freely available. Plus, they will be dynamically presented based on the categories and standards of specific online quality rubrics.
DEI Collaborative Contributes to Quality Online Teaching & Learning
Targeting online teaching and learning environments, the DEI practices will assist institutions, instructional designers, and faculty to inform, influence, and ensure diverse, equitable, and inclusive online teaching and learning environments.
What We've Learned
Connecting with learners is essential for creating a positive learning environment. When instructors and learners connect, learners are more motivated, comfortable, and satisfied with the course, and they are more likely to seek help when needed.
Here are some specific strategies for connecting with your learners:
Introduce Yourself: Share your personal and professional background, challenges you've overcome, and pivots you've made in your career. Be vulnerable and use voice, image, and video to convey a fuller sense of yourself.
Get to Know Your Learners: Ask learners to introduce themselves and/or respond to a questionnaire. Review the items and connect with your students in authentic ways based on what you learn about them.
Use Videos: Use videos to allow for more face-to-face interaction with learners, creating a more personal connection and fostering a sense of belonging.
Be Present: Engage with learners, ask them questions, and be open to answering questions and modeling for them how to explore thoughts and feelings safely and appropriately. Let them know when they can expect to hear from you by stating when you will post announcements, provide feedback on assignments (and where to find it), and hold office hours. Make it easy for learners to contact you by including this information in your syllabus, and provide options such as a virtual room link for office hours and a discussion board for questions. Also, state your expected response time to queries so learners know when they can expect a reply.
Encourage Feedback: Encourage learners to provide feedback on the course content and structure, and be responsive to their suggestions. This can help to create a sense of ownership and investment in the course among learners.
Respond Promptly: Respond promptly to learner questions and concerns, and show a genuine interest in their progress and success. This can help to build trust and establish a positive relationship with learners.
Incorporate Collaborative Learning Activities: Incorporate collaborative learning activities that require learners to work together in small groups or pairs. This can help to promote teamwork and create a sense of shared responsibility among learners.
Provide Meaningful Content: Consider learners' experiences and interests when selecting course content and resources. Use feedback to connect with them personally by expressing interest in their ideas and investment in their successes.
By implementing these strategies, you can establish a positive rapport with your learners and create a supportive and engaging learning environment.
Our GOals
Offer specific, actionable practices
Address course design and facilitation considerations separately
Provide examples and/or scenarios of how the techniques help the needs of specific students
Align OSCQR, QLT, QM, and CVC-OEI rubric standards to the annotations
Include citations to the theories and research supporting the diversity, equity, and inclusion practices
Provide metadata tags for exploring the annotations in ways distinct from online course quality standards
Be openly licensed and freely available
Where we stand
We have formed thirteen workgroups composed of experts in DEI, online instructional design, online teaching.
As of April 2024, we have revised/annotated/drafted 60% (33/54) of the DEI practices.
We have begun categorizing and organizing the practices according to various quality rubrics.
Plus, we are spreading what we have learned,
WCET Virtual Summit Elements of Quality Digital Learning, April 2022 – Panel on Online Quality Frameworks and Rubrics
Peralta Equity Conference, April 2022 – DEI Online Inclusive Teaching Practices Collaboration
OLC Accelerate 2022, November, 2022 – Collaborating to Infuse DEI into Online Course Quality For All
10th Annual SLO Symposium, January, 2023, DEI in Online Learning
OLC Innovate 2023, April, 2023 (virtual conference) – Collaborating to Infuse DEI into Online Course Quality For All
Peralta Equity Conference, April 2023. DEI Collaborative: What Have We Learned?
9th Annual UDL CAST Symposium, July 2023, UDL: The Base of Equitable Online Course Quality
Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Accelerate Virtual 2023, October 4, 2023, DEI for All
1st Annual Conference SUNY Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice in the Curriculum Conference Building a Community of Practice, November 4, 2023. Inclusive Online Learning Environments: A National Collaboration to Support Online DEI for All
2023 QM Connect Conference, November 2023
Recognized as an exemplar in the Accessible and Inclusive tools and Processes category of the 2023 Horizon Report | Supporting the Holistic Student Experience Edition
Recognized as an exemplar in the 2024 Horizon Report | Teaching and Learning Edition
Collaborators
Becky Cottrell, Metropolitan State University of Denver
DW Wood, Clackamas Community College
Anita Crawley, Educators 4 Equity and Justice
Samantha Clifford, Northern Arizona University
Pam Dougherty, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Bethany Schultz, Northwest Nazarene University
Mona Maxwell, University of Manitoba
Kavita Rao, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Amanda Smothers, Northern Illinois University
Cheryl Todd, Meredith College
Ann Walenski, College of Menominee Nation
Nicole Simon, SUNY Nassau Community College
Catherine Cooke, Saint Louis University
Jennifer Culver, Southern Methodist University
Roger Strang, California State University, Long Beach
Catherine Hillman, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
Paul Montone, Portland Community College
Karen Wicka, SUNY Genesee Community College
Kimberly Vincent-Layton, Cal Poly Humboldt
Adele Weiner, Metropolitan College of New York
Jennifer Rausch, University of Manitoba
Kayeleigh Sharp, Northern Arizona University
Steven Edwards, Delgado Community College
Hope Windle, SUNY COIL Center
Courtney D'Allaird, University at Albany
Jenny Wakefield, Lees-McRae College
Yingjie Liu, San Jose State University
Lauren Stikeleather, Davidson College
Reed Dickson, Pima Community College
Danielle Leek, Reynolds Community College
Gyongyi Konyu-Fogel, California Southern University
Ellen Caldwell, Mt. San Antonio College
Laura Valeri, Georgia Southern University
Jen Jaworski, New Mexico Highlands University
Kaori Keller, University of California, San Francisco
Leticia Velásquez, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Casey Woodson, Washington University
Brett Christie, O'Donnell Learn
Kevin Kelly, San Francisco State University
Laura Scott, Clemson University
Andrea Milligan, North Shore Community College
Sheron Caton, Cisco College
Kevin Kaatz, California State University, East Bay
Carol Hernandez, Stony Brook University
Rob Piorkowski, State University of New York
Sherri Restauri, Coastal Carolina University
Eva Figueroa, Mt. San Antonio College
Joseph Skrivanek, SUNY
Sumana Silverheels, SUNY Buffalo State College
David Wolf, SUNY Schenectady
Rachel Peters, Lehigh Carbon Community College
Ekaterina Stoops, Columbia Basin College
Christina Smerick, Northwest Nazarene University
Naat Jairam, California State University, Los Angeles
Lené Whitley-Putz, Foothill College
Erika Durning, University of Connecticut
Swati Ramani, University of California, Riverside
Bethany Simunich, Quality Matters
Stacy Muse, Meredith College - Raleigh, NC
Channelle James, University of North Carolina Greensboro
José Luis Jiménez, Andres Bello Catholic University
Philiswa Mncube, Durban University of Technology
Rafael de Almeida Arruda Felix, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho
Samantha Eastman, University of California, Riverside
Naat Jairam, California State University, Los Angeles
Linda Jiménez, Wayne State University
Megan Kohler, Pennsylvania State University
Kay Sanders, Whittier College