IDEAS Course Design Cycle

This guide describes an IDEAS course design cycle: moving from background reading through to course design, delivery, and assessment, we intend to provide faculty and departments with resources to further our campus engagement in equity-minded course design and classroom practices. The guide is a collaboration between Academic Assessment, the Iwasaki Library, the Information Technology group, and the Director for Faculty Development & Diversity. This guide is currently in draft form and under development. We welcome questions and feedback.

What is equity-mindedness?

This term is drawn from the work of Estela Mara Bensimon: "The term “Equity-Mindedness” refers to the perspective or mode of thinking exhibited by practitioners who call attention to patterns of inequity in student outcomes. These practitioners are willing to take personal and institutional responsibility for the success of their students, and critically reassess their own practices. It also requires that practitioners are race-conscious and aware of the social and historical context of exclusionary practices in American Higher Education." 

We recommend reading more about equity-mindedness here as a starting point for using the resources included in this guide.

What is IDEAS?

IDEAS stands for Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, and Sustainable. Through IDEAS, the Iwasaki Library seeks to create collections, services, and spaces that serve the full Emerson community. When applied to course design, IDEAS encourages us an equity-minded approach that focuses on authentic access and experience. IDEAS asks us to consider the diverse identities of our learners are reflected in our course design processes, classroom practices, and assessment models.

Questions to consider [in progress]:

This guide brings together a number of resources created by anti-racist and equity-minded course practitioners and experts. As you use these materials, the questions below offer a framework for individual exploration and departmental conversation:

Inclusive: 

Diverse:

Equitable:

Accessible:

Sustainable:

This guide is organized into sections that represent various points in the course planning process, from syllabus design to assessment. Main pages are organized in that order, rather than alphabetically:

1. Background reading: Materials on a range of topics for those looking for the theoretical foundations for and research into these pedagogical practices.
2. Anti-Racist Classroom Rubric: This rubric provides a high-level overview of curricular and classroom practices that define anti-racist teaching.
3. Universal Design & Accessibility: Resources on UDL that provide a framework for approaching syllabus construction and classroom practices.
4. Syllabus Construction Resources: Practical resources for faculty interested in constructing equity-minded syllabi.
5. Course & Syllabus Review Tools: Practical tool for self-directed review of syllabi.
6. Assignment Design Resources: Practical resources that address equitable, accessible assignment design.
7. Assignment Review Tools: Provides a framework for peer-to-peer review of classroom assignments.
8. Classroom Techniques: Tools for implementing anti-bias, anti-racist pedagogies within the classroom.
9. Assessment Resources: Practical resources and critical materials related to equity-minded assessment design.
10. Contact us: How to reach the contributors to this guide.

While a faculty member might choose to move through the full design process, each piece is also a stand-alone resource that can be used as needed by faculty and departments. Additionally, the guide includes resources for departments engaging in departmental-level assessment of curriculum and programming.