Below is an overview of fall and spring 2023-24 OFAR Program activities and commitments for participation. Following the schedule are details on the paperwork requirements for participants.
Schedule
October – December 2023
You will complete a 6-week, asynchronous online course from October 9 – November 25, 2023. The course will introduce you to major topics for developing an open antiracist action plan: What Is Antiracism? What are Open Educational Resources and Open Pedagogy? How can they support antiracism?
You and your team members will receive an invitation to the course on or before October 7. During this course, you should expect to spend up to 10 hours per week reading and viewing material, participating in large- and small-group discussions, writing reflections, completing a survey, and developing an action plan for the coming term.
During the fall, you should plan to attend the following required webinars; we encourage you to participate in other optional workshops as well.
- October 20 – Decolonizing Your Course Syllabus
- November 3 – Action Plans and Project Examples
- December 15 – Practical Steps for Implementing Antiracist Teaching with Open Pedagogy
January – May/June 2024
During the Spring term, you and your team will continue to have monthly check-in meetings with your assigned Open for Antiracism coach for support in planning the implementation of your action plan.
Your major commitment will be to implement a project (aka your action plan) in an actual class. Your task is to integrate OER or open pedagogy to make teaching and learning explicitly antiracist. Deliverables might include a revised history course that now includes a module on Juneteenth, or a revised biology text in which students replace images of all white bodies with images that better reflect their communities. The time involved will depend on the scope of your project.
See some examples from previous OFAR action plan implementations.
Other Spring 2024 commitments include:
- Participate in monthly webinars – 1 hour per month*
- Invite your dean, department chair, and other leaders to attend the monthly webinars
- Check in with your coach as a team at least once per month – 1 hour per month
- Complete monthly reflections on benefits, challenges, and insights as you implement antiracist teaching practices in the classroom with your students – 30 minutes per month
- Conduct an interview with researchers – 1 hour for the term
- Complete a post-survey on your OFAR experience in April/May – 30 minutes
- Share a survey with your students on their OFAR course experience in April/May
- Report out to your college or department on your program experience with – 1 hour for the term
- Upload your openly licensed antiracist syllabus and modules/assignments to OER Commons.
- Prepare a final reflection – 1 hour
* We plan these webinars to occur on Fridays, 12 – 1 pm, a calendar of dates will be posted in December.
** Your team leader should coordinate your monthly team check-ins with your coach.
Team Leader
The team leader plays a key role in the OFAR program representing the team from their college in the following tasks:
- Submit the OFAR application in collaboration with other team members. Include the administrator support letter and agreement from your institutional research department to supply student outcomes data.
- Work with the OFAR coach assigned to your team to arrange monthly regular meetings with team members throughout the program.
- Receive and distribute key email messages from OFAR program leadership regarding research to team members.
- Communicate with OFAR program Program administrators when team members are encountering issues with completing the program.
- Communicate periodic updates to the college administrator who agreed to support the OFAR faculty team. Suggested frequency of (at least twice per semester, for a total of four updates during the program.)
- Coordinate the end-of-year team showcase.
Paperwork
You will earn a $500 stipend after completing the 6-week course in December 2023, which includes developing an action plan.
You will receive a second stipend of $3,000 after completing Spring 2024 activities, submitting your final reflection, and uploading an openly licensed syllabus and lesson artifact in June 2024.
The total compensation for a participant who completes the program is $3,500.
In addition to the compensation that each individual team member receives, the team leader will receive an additional $750 stipend, divided equally between the December and June invoice payments. The total compensation for the team leader will be $4,250.
In order to make these payments, we will need to conclude a formal agreement with you. We will need your formal name, mailing address, and W-9 information. Before receiving your stipends, you will need to submit an invoice.