The Open for Antiracism (OFAR) program – led by CCCOER – emerged as a response to the growing awareness of structural racism in higher education. In the summer of 2020, many institutions published statements decrying racism, calling for change, and putting equity into their strategic plans, but few if any expressed plans for changing teaching practices that directly affect students. OFAR started with the premise that faculty wanted to change their teaching to be antiracist and that OER and open pedagogy were tools that would facilitate that work. The California Community Colleges, the largest system of higher education in the U.S. serving 1.8 million students at 116 colleges, provides a diverse and large sample within which to test it.
Although guidelines for antiracist pedagogies were emerging, there wasn’t one that looked at the problem through an open education lens and provided a supportive safe environment where faculty could learn about antiracist teaching and apply it in their own classroom. Responses to the first and subsequent calls for participation have been strong. In the first year, over 300 individual faculty applied for 17 available slots confirming faculty interest. Seeking to enhance institutional impact further in the second year, faculty teams were encouraged to apply and over 40 faculty from 8 colleges were accepted. Since then, over 15 new colleges have participated in the program. Since our second year, student outcomes in participating classrooms are being studied to measure effectiveness (view the research on the Impact and Research page).
Open for Antiracism Course
Discover the OFAR training modules and learning outcomes. Hear about the goals of the developers in creating the course and examine the self-paced and facilitated versions in Canvas Commons.
Classroom Action
Meet our faculty participants and hear how they involved their students in making their classrooms antiracist. View their syllabi and antiracist assignments to learn more about the implementation.
Webinars
Watch recordings of webinars from educational leaders and policymakers on best practices and policies for developing antiracist classrooms.
The Team
Meet our team of advisory coaches, course facilitators, and co-directors who make this program possible.
Impact and Research
Hear what students and participating faculty had to say about their OFAR experiences. Read the research report to find out which teaching practices were most effective and those most likely to be sustained.
In the Press
Read journal articles, blog posts, and press releases related to the OFAR program – including an openly-licensed journal article published in the Journal for Multicultural Education
- Bakersfield College
- Cabrillo College
- Citrus College
- College of the Canyons (COC)
- Diablo Valley College
- El Camino College
- Folsom Lake College (FLC)
- Fresno City College
- Grossmont College
- Hartnell College
- Imperial Valley College
- Merritt College
- Modesto Junior College
- Monterey Peninsula College
- Mt. San Antonio College
- Norco College
- Palomar College
- Pasadena City College
- Sacramento City College
- San Bernadino Valley College
- West Los Angeles College
- Moorpark College
- Clovis Community College
- Butte College (Chico Center)
- Palo Verde College
- Compton College
- Los Angeles Southwest College
- Orange Coast College
- Evergreen Valley College
- Chaffey College
- Cosumnes River College
- Golden West College
- Laney College
- San Joaquin Delta College
- Los Angeles Valley College
- Taft College
- Fullerton College
- Cerro Coso Community College
- Contra Costa College
Open for Antiracism acknowledges the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in helping to make this program possible.