Designing for Equity

The need for teachers to design for equity is an enduring priority. Educational equity is defined as “each child receives what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential (National Equity Project).” Prioritizing equity has become all the more urgent as transitions to hybrid and online models expose and reinforce inequities in access and student support.

With the massive shifts to education brought about by the pandemic, there has also been a growing response to inherent and pervasive racist structures and systems, including in our education systems and our schools. With the added complexities of hybrid and online models, more than ever, teachers need to be equipped with equitable strategies for intentional student support. There is a need to reimagine and reconstruct equitable structures and systems in our schools. GOA’s new course, Designing for Equity, expands upon GOA’s previous professional learning courses and has been developed in response to growing needs for sustainable, culturally-responsive strategies across hybrid, in-person, and online K-12 models.

This course is applicable to educators across grade levels, content areas, and contexts. We have included examples from elementary, middle, and high school contexts K-12. This course centers on hybrid and online models, but the pedagogies apply to any learning context. This course is:

• Beyond the Basics: Extends past the foundations of our Designing for Online Learning course and the Designing for Online Learning series
• Collaborative: Ideal for teachers, school teams, and instructional coaches
• Flexible: Fits within a teacher schedule; you choose your time commitment in this entirely asynchronous experience
• Personalized: Apply what you need to your own course and context; choose between resources, strategies, activities, and discussions
• Practical: Designed for immediate application; grounded in strategies
• Teacher and student-centered: Elevates voices of practitioners and learners, offering real-world examples and actions

In this course, educators will discover and uncover elements of equitable design, learning specific and concrete practices that will prioritize student learning across time and place. Specifically, educators will examine the ways in which they set up and foster community in their classrooms, curate content, design assessments, and report on learning in ways that support all students.

Strategies for:

• Applying an anti-racist lens to equitable design.
• Creating the conditions that support all students in accessing and engaging in learning.
• Setting up and maintaining a hybrid and online community that focuses on inclusion and belonging.