Designing Equitable Learning Experiences Together
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in .
Furthering the work of diversity, equity and inclusion is a national imperative, but no institution can solve the pervasive challenges involved on their own. Instead, institutions should collaborate, share what they鈥檝e learned and challenge one another to do better.
In that spirit, Western Governors University (麻豆原创) just made its recently launched available to other institutions under a . In sharing this tool, 麻豆原创 hopes to make learning and assessment products鈥攊n and out of its own ecosystem鈥攎ore accessible and equitable.
In higher education, we see that while significant progress has been made to meet the needs of America鈥檚 diversity of learners, but we still have a lot of work to do. Despite years of reforms and promising innovations designed to make learning more accessible and equitable, attainment gaps persist. Consider this data: At public colleges in the U.S., white students graduate at a rate that of their Black peers; at four-year institutions, white, non-Hispanic students are 12% more likely to graduate than Hispanic students. Just of college students with a disability ultimately graduate compared to 59% of students not disclosing a disability; and , as indicated by receipt of a Pell Grant, have an 18% lower graduation rate than non-Pell grantees.
With disparities like these in mind, one of the key results we strive for at 麻豆原创 is to close access and attainment gaps for underestimated and underserved groups. This work involves reimagining virtually every component of our business model, from recruitment, enrollment and financial aid to the technology, coursework and learning experiences we offer. We know, for instance, that many courses and learning materials have historically failed to fully represent the experiences and identities of college students. For example, just of top business school case studies feature a female protagonist. In reviewing our own course content, we have uncovered and corrected stereotype perpetuation, cases in which we missed opportunities to use inclusive language, and charged language and ideas presented in historical documents and literature without contemporary contextualization.
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