I have been wanting to watch the OERxDomains21 session by Mia Zamora and Maha Bali for a couple of days now. The sixty-minute session was entitled “Building Appreciative Narratives of Equity and Care in the Open” and caught my attention when I first saw the conference schedule… but the timing didn’t work out to watch the session live. I admire Maha Bali and always end up feeling calm AND inspired after listening/watching Bali present. The presenters shared a link to their slides: bit.ly/equitycare21 Yay!
Zamora and Bali began with a friendly welcome and check in. They then had a series of questions they asked the audience to respond to via the chat. One question was: “what is equity without care?” and the presenters discussed several audience responses. They then presented a continuum of no care to care and no equity to equity and their intersections. Bali and Zamora talked about equity being a continuous life-long journey and that care can be harmful. They also acknowledged that “there is power in relationships involving care” and this is really important to keep in mind. They then used break out rooms for smaller discussions that were not recorded. After the small groups, they shared takeaways. Some were about listening and reflecting without having to present or share is sometimes needed and important. Acknowledging institutional policies as well as individual privacy. Zamora asked “what does recognition mean?” in the institutional journal toward equity. An audience member shared that different intentions and perceptions of care become very complicated. Another participant shared that the receiver of the care may not be ready to receive. Zamora mentioned that maybe we should create places where care goes in all directions so that power doesn’t have unintended consequences. Bali talked about hierarchical power, for example, and warned about the weaponization of care. One of the last questions was how can we consider equity for educators and not give marginalized people all the emotional labor? The ideas and sharing that took place in this session were inspiring and rich. Bali and Zamora always help me rethink my own views and encourage to learn more.
Another related session was by entitled “Establishing a Community of Care: Lessons Learned from Our Pivot to Digital” by Brenna Clarke Gray and Brian Lamb. Clarke Gray and Lamb talked about their campus workshops and choices. They started with an attempt to socially-distanced drop-in support! The sessions established need and helped support faculty. Clarke Gray talked about compassion, emotional labor, and helping faculty edit videos and rethink course design. Importantly, they mentioned these spaces allowed time for reflection as well as connection. Their graphic designer/illustrator was fantastic and made fun badges! They had twenty-one workshops that were “zero prep” for the instructors to just drop in and learn during lunch. The badges were deployed as a way to keep track of instructor work… and helped incentivize. During the lunchtime workshops, they talked about equity and reframed proctoring and overly controlling practices. Lamb also talked honestly about layoffs and concerns about speaking up. There were also uplifting discussions about how the instructional design team worked with faculty to find strategies and improvise… trusting and learning in the process.
