Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

One of the basic premises of open education is access. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) believes:

…that universal access to high quality education is key to the building of peace, sustainable social and economic development, and intercultural dialogue. Open Educational Resources (OER) provide a strategic opportunity to improve the quality of education as well as facilitate policy dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building.[1]

Access in this context refers to the ability of students, instructors, and others to obtain access to education. Releasing textbooks and other educational resources with open-copyright licenses is a big step toward removing barriers, as it makes these materials free of cost and free to use, distribute, and change. But there is more that goes into accessing a resource than it is just being free and online. For a textbook to be truly accessible, people of all abilities need to be able to access the content. This means designing a textbook that accommodates people with diverse learning styles and ensuring the content can be accessed by all, regardless of disability. It also means creating materials that include diverse viewpoints and voices. As you plan your textbook, contemplate how to design it so it is accessible, diverse, and inclusive.

Some benefits are:

  • Engaging more students because they recognize themselves or their life experiences in the material
  • Appealing to instructors in a variety of educational settings
  • Creating a more interesting reading and learning experience
Diversity
Diversity refers to having a range of people across gender identities, racial backgrounds, geographic locations, socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, abilities, sexual orientation, and other characteristics represented and participating in a community. Diversity has to do with whose perspectives are being heard, who gets to make decisions, who gets to meaningfully engage at all levels of the community, and more.
Equity
There are systemic barriers people face based on their gender identity, race, geographic location, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, and other factors. Equity recognizes that people need a variety of resources and support to overcome these barriers and succeed. Open textbooks designed with an equity mindset reduce barriers and facilitate a deeper engagement with the course material.
Inclusion
Inclusion is about making a resource, location, or event welcoming and inviting so that people from different backgrounds feel that they belong. Inclusive design means that you’re creating a lot of different ways for people to participate in an experience and make a decision.

Embedding equitable and inclusive practices into our work requires an open and curious mindset. It can be helpful to continuously pause and ask ourselves: what are we missing? This can be hard to do, but it’s critical to take the time to investigate and include others in the inquiry.

Equitable and Inclusive Practice Content Considerations

Here are some questions for authors, and those supporting authors, to consider throughout the content development process:

  • Whose voices or perspectives are missing?
  • Does this material reflect the students who will use it?
  • Is this resource relevant and reflective of students’ lived experiences?
  • Does this resource reflect privilege that may be invisible to the author?
  • Who can’t access or will struggle to access this material?
  • Are we providing clear language about how to use the resource?

Tips

  • Including a variety of pronouns and gender expressions to describe people in your text
  • Using images, examples, and case studies that depict Indigenous, Black, and other people of colour without perpetuating stereotypes
  • Using images, examples, and case studies that depict people with disabilities, and bodies of all sizes, without perpetuating stereotypes
  • Using images, examples, and case studies that depict 2SLGBTQIA+ people without perpetuating stereotypes
  • Including Indigenous territories and place names in addition to, or in lieu of, colonial place names

Resources

“Accessibility, Diversity, and Inclusion” from Self-Publishing Guide by Lauri M. Aesoph is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

“Equitable and Inclusive Practices” from Open Textbook Publishing Orientation (PUB 101)Modules by the University of Minnesota  is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution license

“Accessibility, Diversity, and Inclusion” from UBC Open Text Publishing Guide by Erin Fields; Amanda Grey; Donna Langille; and Clair Swanson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

  1. "Open Educational Resources," UNESCO, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/open-educational-resources/ (accessed September 20, 2017). ↵

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Fanshawe OER Development Guide Copyright © 2023 by Fanshawe College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book