Impact and Research

Something is definitely happening, and I can’t define all the moving pieces, but it’s very different.
– OFAR Student

The third year of the Open for Antiracism (OFAR) program (2022-23) yielded in strong feedback from both faculty participants and students in their classes, confirming the premise of the program that instructors can use OER and Open Pedagogy as tools to make their teaching practices antiracist.

I have seen incredible student engagement this semester, and … retention has been really high.
– OFAR Faculty Participant

I started taking steps to change my course a semester or two earlier. It didn’t start when I started OFAR. But OFAR provided the support and examples of why I’m doing it and how to do it.
– OFAR Faculty Participant

As in the second year (2021-22), teams of faculty were invited to apply, with the aim of enhancing institutional impact and promoting OER and open pedagogy to make teaching practices antiracist. As part of their applications, teams submitted a letter of support from a supporting administrator and each college agreed to share student outcomes from past, current, and future classes with researchers to better understand how OFAR participation affects students. Participating faculty, students, and administrators also shared program experiences through surveys. Key findings from this research are summarized below.

Read full research report

Faculty Perspectives

Once I rolled up my sleeves and got into the class, I realized that it wasn’t just a journey to implement external tools; it was about lifting OFAR materials and finding new scholarly journals with diversity—diversity of thoughts and ideas and authors.

For me, it was an internal journey [of] discovery that I took looking at how we teach what we teach. How we choose what we teach. What we say to our students. The level at which we allow our students to authentically bring themselves and their experiences into the academic environment, and what that means for them.

Confidence

A highlight of findings from year 3 shows that participants’ confidence increased significantly.

Before participating in the program, 27% of participants said they were confident or very confident in discussing and implementing antiracist strategies and topics.
After participating in the program, 88% of participants said they were confident or very confident in discussing and implementing antiracist strategies and topics.

Aspects to improve

Feedback from participants indicated three areas for program improvement.

Participants found engaging with and learning from peers to be invaluable and wished for more such opportunities.
Teams perceived the engagement of coaches to be varied. Participants suggested a more structured approach to coaching could provide more consistent support for each team.
Participants wished for more explicit communication and assistance during the transition from the structured learning phase during the fall to the more-independent implementation phase in the spring.

Classroom Impact

Most faculty participants plan to continue implementing the teaching approaches that they explored during the program.

96% of participants said their use of antiracist pedagogy increased.
84% of participants said their use of OER increased.
80% plan to continue incorporating student voices.
72% plan to continue moving away from traditional disposable assignments to developing non-disposable assignments.

Impact Beyond the Classroom

A sub-set of participants were interviewed and emphasized that OFAR sparked them to reflect on their identity as teachers and their overall approach to educating students.

I realized that it wasn’t just a journey to implement external tools….it was an internal journey [of] discovery … looking at how we teach what we teach. How we choose what we teach. What we say to our students. The level at which we allow our students to authentically bring themselves and their experiences into the academic environment, and what that means for them.

The big thing that I did not do before OFAR and have done now—and will continue to do—is talk openly about race, genetics, and racism …. I wanted to have confidence that I was prepared to do it before I did it with my students. Going through the facilitated course, where we talked about identities, and then the OER resources that [my college] librarian found for me, made it so that I felt like I was ready to have those conversations and lead those discussions with my students. Because of OFAR, I now feel confident.

Student Perspectives

Students enrolled in courses taught by OFAR participants completed an online survey. Results from this survey revealed that students experienced a more inclusive and welcoming learning environment in their OFAR classes relative to the other classes. Highlights of the findings include:

Able to provide my own perspectives and experiences: 95%
Examined the history of my discipline: 88%
My thoughts and ideas are always valued the same as other students in this class: 82%

Administrator Perspectives

Since year 2, an overarching goal for OFAR has been to increase institutional impact. Applicant teams are asked to submit letters from supporting administrators and team leads are asked to update their supporting administrator monthly.

As a result, administrators at participating colleges felt engaged in their colleagues’ OFAR efforts.

88% felt very engaged in their faculty’s OFAR work
100% said they provided support for participants
100% said that the OFAR program aligns with institutional goals and planning

One faculty participant highlighted the importance of involving administrators in antiracist work:

Letting my dean and the vice president of instruction know what we’re doing and where our efforts are going … is important. They want to support us, so I think that keeping them updated allows them to better support us with our efforts and then provide [us with] opportunities at meetings to present our findings … and how we can use this information to better not only our classrooms but [also] departments in the colleges and divisions.

Future Opportunities

Research in year 3 uncovered opportunities to continue iterating program improvements. Changes to the program during year 4, based on year 3 research, include:

Introducing differentiated learning paths in the fall OFAR course, so that participants with different levels of knowledge and experience will be engaged appropriately.
Ensuring that coaches engage with their teams during the fall OFAR course in order to establish an early connection that will last throughout the program.
Providing more frequent and consistent support and communication during the transition from the structured fall term to the more-independent participant effort during the spring term, by creating a more complete calendar of the year’s activities, providing more pro-active coaching, and publishing more reminders of timelines in the OFAR course.
Establishing the opportunity for participants to engage with and learn from peers by asking two teams to meet jointly during the spring term.
Implementing a more-structured approach to coaching by increasing communication from the Lead Coach (implementing during year 3 based on year 2 feedback) as well as introducing a mechanism for participants to provide feedback on coaching.