Hello everyone! Welcome to Week 1 of the Care & Equity module. Every Monday you will hear from me, Sydney, with some suggestions on how you might approach the module content, my own thoughts and noticings, and highlights from you all as we work through this module together. Please note that these are all suggestions on how you may want to approach the content, however you are free to work through it as you see fit. My suggestion is that you spend around 2 hours a week/10-30 minutes a day in the module, reading and annotating content, replying to other participants thoughts, etc. Frequent participation creates an active and engaging online space for us to share, connect, and learn. It really makes a difference, I swear.
This is my first time being a “summer TA” for the module, but I was a first-time participant in the Care & Equity module last summer. We will spend these first two weeks focused on Framing and Practicing Equity. I’m looking forward to returning to this topic with you all because, as is emphasized within the content, equity is an ongoing process rather than a specific outcome. It is continuously evolving and should be revisited frequently.
Housekeeping Notes:
- If you haven’t done so already, make sure you add your Hypothes.is username to your Design Forward profile to have your annotations appear on your profile.
- If you need assistance with Hypothes.is, Martha made a detailed how-to video, or you can ask for help in our Teams channel!
- Martha has added a new feature to the profile as well – you can now add your “Areas of Expertise/Interest” to your profile and find other participants based on their area of expertise. This was a suggestion from some of the returning Season Two participants to make it easier to connect with others about similar interest areas, finding resources, collaboration and more.
Suggested Structure for Week 1:
- Topic – a short blurb and video from Robin introducing Framing & Practicing Equity.
- Resources – Read and annotate core group readings: ‘The State Must Provide’ is a Lesson in Inequality in Higher Ed, Introduction and Chapter 1 of Who Cares?, A Pedagogy of Kindness.
- Make sure you have your Hypothes.is extension turned on to add your annotations or respond to previous ones!
- Read and annotate one from the Choice Reading list.
- Discussion – Respond to one of the below questions and join in on the discussion!
- Have you ever been part of a learning environment or experience where you noticed something inequitable? Tell us about it…
- What do you think the relationship is between care and equity?
- Have your own question? Feel free to post one of your own in the Discussion tab for others to respond to!
- Activities – Complete selected activities from your workbook. If you complete the physical version in your workbook, consider posting them to your DF profile to share!
Need Help?
Our Design Forward Teams channel is available should you have any questions/concerns, but you are also welcome to reach out to me and I’ll be happy to help! (s.carpenter@plymouth.edu or you can send me a Teams message!)
I hope your summer is off to a lovely start. Hopefully this rain will let up soon and the sun will rejoin us as we explore Care & Equity together. I look forward to reading your thoughts!