One session at Open Ed 2021 entitled “Book Club: Professional Development Tool to Advance Open Education, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” included a recorded session and live discussion. Ursula Pike, Associate Director at DigiTex, described how the CCCOER Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee included a book club. They asked participants how their institutions defined equity. Pike listed obstacles to equity such as color-blindness (“I don’t see race.”), ignoring the racialized consequences of policies or practices, and a deficit-mindset like assuming students are not college ready. Pike shared a summary of the insights from the book: examining the nature of inequities at their institutions, understanding the causes and how institutional policies contribute to the inequities, frame inequity as a problem of practice rather than a problem with students, and, one I really like: define ourselves as “first-generation equity practitioners.” The book clubs had “community agreements” to establish guidelines for the discussions. The community agreements were acknowledged by all participants and asked that everyone in the community “engage with humility and vulnerability.” The book club discussed a chapter or two each meeting. The book club facilitators and their tasks were carefully explained by Pike: there were two facilitators per session that prepared questions and facilitated discussions during the meeting and with OEGlobal Connect. Pike reported that the book clubs had 59 registrants that included librarians, faculty, and staff from Texas, California, Virginia, and Utah. They surveyed participants and most came to the first two and the final meeting. Most were satisfied with the experience. The live part was not available online. Nonetheless, the work that Pike shared aligns with what we want. I wonder if we can do something similar as a component of the RIOS sessions!? I also wonder how many total facilitators they had an d the duration of the sessions.
