Rubric Improvements
Observations
Deborah "Debbie" Baker and Siri Gauthier
High-level, One-Page Version of the Rubric
The length, comprehensiveness, and complexity of the equity Rubric may be both a strength and a barrier to the use of the Rubric. A one-page, high-level version of the Rubric would be helpful to introduce and onboard others to the use of the Rubric. However, care should be taken to ensure that this one-page, high-level version of the Rubric does not become the primary version of the Rubric. The depth of explanation within each section, dimension, and criteria of the Rubric continues to be a strength of the Rubric and critical to capacity building in doing both OER and equity work. One way to ensure that both versions of the Rubric remain relevant is to link between them in each dimension.
Glossary
While the equity Rubric contains terms that are specific to practitioners, there is a desire and need for the Rubric itself to account for new-to-OER practitioners. Therefore, some ground setting would be beneficial as an addendum to the Rubric. While the terms and concepts included in the Rubric are likely familiar to those practitioners and students already at least tangentially engaged with open education in the North American context, it is possible and likely that there are potential users who are completely unfamiliar with some of the concepts that inform the Rubric itself. For example: what does it mean to “center equity”? What is an “adoption” of an OER, and what does this actually entail? What is “inclusive pedagogy”? These concepts may be familiar to practitioners and happened to be familiar to the participants of the pilot, but the Rubric would benefit from ensuring a standardized definition for all those who aim to use the Rubric at their institutions. This shared vocabulary would also provide guidance to transferring OER uptake and use into an institutions’ strategic plan, for example.
The comprehensive and complex descriptions of each criterion sometimes include business and educational terms that study participants were unfamiliar with and/or participants were unsure how a particular criterion influences equity and OER. A glossary defining key terms, explaining the connection between the role of the criterion in advancing equity through OER, and identifying supporting research would be helpful for future users of the Rubric.
To illustrate the need to create an accompanying glossary, consider the phrases “inclusive pedagogy” and “cultural responsiveness”. The Practitioners section of the equity Rubric calls attention to inclusive pedagogy (2.1 Instruction & Pedagogy) and cultural responsiveness (2.2a Content: Quality of OER Content), however, unless the user is familiar with the depth that these two umbrella terms suggest, they may see these as specific pedagogies and not be able to accurately reflect and identify where their open education program scores within the Rubric. A focus on these two as specific pedagogical approa