IMPLEMENTING ANTIRACIST PEDAGOGY (from: Decolonizing Your Syllabus, an Anti-Racist Guide for Your College)

To reconstruct a course syllabus within a decolonized and anti-racist framework, faculty should reflect upon the following:

Do students know who you are? Consider introducing yourself—race or ethnicity, gender pronouns, academic experience, cultural identity, etc.—as the instructor of the course and providing anti-racist and equity-minded messaging to welcome your students.
Can students contact you through multiple methods and with flexibility in communication times?
What books, articles, and readings have been selected in your course? Are your course resources inclusive to race, socio-economic standing, gender, sexuality, disability, immigration status, English language learner, and first-generation students?
Do students have input in shaping content and co-creating community rules outlined in the course syllabus?
Does the syllabus include explicit language about the intolerance of microaggressions and racist remarks, action, and behavior in the course?
Allocating points can cause students to assume they have no room for growth, and therefore they may drop out of the course (Rose, 2017). Faculty may consider holistic modalities and progression steps—for example, beginning, emerging, and proficiency—to develop opportunities for the learner to grow (Feldman, 2019) before finalizing student grading in the class.
Are mistakes expected, respected, and used to elevate students’ understanding of the subject? Do you offer opportunities for retaking missed or late work? What opportunities do students have to catch up if they are behind due to technological barriers or other personal deterrents?
Is language around policies and expectations of students supportive and not punitive or deficit thinking (Valencia, 2010)?
Does your course syllabus provide information regarding housing and food insecurities, along with other on and off campus resources that benefits economically disadvantaged students?
Is your course on Canvas accessible, clear, inclusive, welcoming, and supportive for all learners to follow despite the modality of asynchronous or synchronous teaching?
Do you include messaging regarding your responsibility as a faculty member to alert learners early if participation, learning, and attendance are not met?
Do your course syllabus and Canvas site include positive messag es and affirmations to further validate and provide a greater sense of belonging for BIPOC students in the course? Do the images and videos in the course showcase diversity and representation of the students?

For institutional level change, higher education needs to move towards an anti-racist model and enact actions, not just statements, that work for BIPOC students (Ash, Hill, Risdon, and Jun, 2020). This process goes beyond decolonizing the course syllabus. Faculty need to consider their overall teaching pedagogy, platforms, and structures that are in place, especially in the current reality of remote learning.

Has your institution dissected each COR and all SLOs to include anti-racist practices and framework?
Has your institution widened the use of open educational resources, which can remove barriers for economically disadvantaged students?
How does your institution analyze retention and completion data from diverse sources like the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and student success metrics data from Cal Plus Pass and Data Mart through the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s office? Does the institution outline actions to imp rove course data for BIPOC student outcomes?
Are opportunities present to gather qualitative data—focus groups, interviews, journaling, faculty observations, etc.—from BIPOC students regarding teaching and learning practices? What action steps have been taken once qualitative data has been collected?
Is the college committed to equity and anti-racist professional development training for all faculty?
Are anti-racist statements present in the college’s mission, vision, policies, procedures, campus plans, and institutional learning outcomes?

FACULTY COMMITMENT

The only way to dismantle inequities and institutionalize anti-racism in teaching for students is to provide ongoing professional development workshops. Anti-racism curriculum begins with faculty deeply reflecting about themselves, the content they are delivering, and who their students really are. When deeply reflecting, one is aware of one’s own implicit and unconscious bias that one has as an educator (Wood, 2019). For anti-racism to be institutionalized, all constituents on a college campus must reflect and participate in the call to action rather than just faculty.