by Maritez Apigo, English Professor at Contra Costa College and OFAR Course Facilitator and Lead Advisory Coach
It was a bit like seeing the light after years of darkness. Suddenly, I’m learning about antiracism, open pedagogy, open education resources […] I found the [Open for Antiracism] course transformative.
OFAR Advisory Coach Ana Garcia-Garcia
regarding her experience as an OFAR participant
The OFAR (Open for Antiracism) program has a phenomenal team of eight Advisory Coaches who are providing direct peer support to faculty participants at their assigned California community college. OFAR participants complete a 6-week online training course and develop an Antiracist Action Plan in the fall semester, and then work with their Advisory Coach in the spring semester to implement it. Advisory Coaches support these faculty making significant curricular, pedagogical, and institutional transformations with Open Educational Resources (OER) and open pedagogy aligned with antiracism and liberation for all students.
I had the honor of interviewing Advisory Coach Ana Garcia-Garcia, who is an OFAR alumna who participated in our inaugural year and has been serving as a Coach for the last 4 years. I am proud to have representation by a woman of color in STEM on our coaching team.
Please tell us about yourself and your background.
My name is Ana Garcia-Garcia, a marine geoscientist from Spain that ended up in the US as a postdoc and became a researcher, lecturer, and finally a College Professor at Monterey Peninsula College.
Why did you decide to apply to become an OFAR participant?
In my academic journey, I was often the only woman in the job, and when I started teaching, I realized that I wanted to get better at connecting with my Latinas and show them that they belonged in STEM (if they wanted) like everyone else. There was a big gap in enrollment and retention that I wanted to address.
What was your experience like as an OFAR participant?
I was a total beginner. It was a bit like seeing the light after years of darkness. Suddenly, I’m learning about antiracism, open pedagogy, open education resources, and lots of tools to make our courses and our interaction with our students and community more “OFAR”. As a very curious and long-time learner, I found the course transformative.
Please tell us about your OFAR Action Plan and its implementation.
My first action plan was a set of small actions, like making my syllabus more welcoming and adding an antiracist paragraph. My main change that semester was creating an assignment where my students would think of a set of diverse scientists, reflect on what was it about them that they connected with, and then use them as weekly examples in all my STEM courses. Surveying the students before and after told me that they appreciated being asked to be part of the course content and being able to add their own ‘spin’ to it. That small action helped them feel like they belonged in the course.
Why did you become an OFAR coach?
I wanted to share with everyone what I learned as a participant and help guide the next OFAR generation, so they could take it even further than I did. I learned so much that I needed to give back to the community. STEM has its own set of challenges, as our curriculum is normally very demanding and rigid, so being able to help my STEM colleagues integrate OFAR practices is a real privilege.
I’m here to help others find their OFAR way. I use my experience in the program to help them become their best antiracist and inclusive selves in their courses and with their specific student populations.
Ana Garcia-Garcia
What do you enjoy about being an OFAR coach?
I guide other colleagues in the process and am there if they need me. Groups normally have different expertise levels, so some years faculty needs you more than others. Helping them be their OFAR best while respecting their points of view and styles is very gratifying.
Will you tell us a story about when you made an impact coaching someone on your college team?
I’ve had a few occasions where a STEM faculty member felt their curriculum was too rigid and there was no space for any changes (OFAR or otherwise). Working with them and helping them implement changes in their courses (small and big) was a fun discovery journey and a successful one in the end. They are always very surprised and grateful for how you can work with the material to integrate OFAR without compromising any of the STEM content they were worried about.
Anything else you’d like to share?
I hope everyone knows about the OFAR program and that they get involved and adopt it in their courses. Our course creators, facilitators, coaches, and participants are really inspirational people!
Meet all the OFAR Advisory Coaches:
For more on OFAR from Maritez:
- “Meet Laura Dunn, OFAR Program Director”
- “OFAR: A Faculty Perspective”
- “The Implementation of OFAR Antiracism Action Plans”
- “OFAR Year Three Kicks Off”
Open for Antiracism acknowledges the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in helping to make this program possible.
About Maritez Apigo
For over two and a half decades, Maritez Apigo has had the honor of teaching English and ESL in community colleges, high schools, and middle schools in the Bay Area, California, and in Hawaii. She has been teaching online since earning her M.A. in English and TESOL from SFSU in 2012, and she holds an Online Network of Educators (@ONE) Certificate in Online Teaching and Design and an @ONE Advanced Certificate in Online Teaching Principles. She is an online and hybrid English Professor at Contra Costa College who has served as Distance Education Coordinator, Instructional Designer, Open Educational Resources (OER) Coordinator, and Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Coordinator.
As a leader in online education, OER, and ZTC (Zero Textbook Cost), she trains and mentors faculty at the college, district, and state levels. She is an @ONE Online Course Facilitator of professional development courses in online teaching pedagogy. On the leadership team of Open for Antiracism (OFAR), she serves as a Course Facilitator and the Lead Advisory Coach. For the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office ZTC Technical Assistance Program, she serves as a Curriculum Developer, Training Coordinator, and Course Facilitator. Her passions for social justice, equity, innovation, and student success are illuminated in her work.
When she’s not teaching, you might discover her behind the turntables DJing, in the dance studio working on her dance technique, or at a soccer field cheering on her two children.