This month’s blog post was contributed by Christine Whitney, Librarian & Media Specialist at Des Moines Area Community College.
One of the significant benefits of OER adoption is the opportunity to adapt or create culturally responsive course materials which can help instructors foster equitable and supportive learning environments for all students. Trans Inclusion in OER (2022) by Kat R. Clemens and Stephen G. Krueger is an OER emphasizing the need for increased representation of transgender and gender-diverse individuals in educational materials.
Table of contents:
Part 1: Resources
- Introduction
- OER 101
- Trans 101
- Social Justice and OER
- Trans and Gender Diverse Inclusion and OER
- Practical Resources
Part 2: Instructor’s Class Session Guide
- Introduction
- Lesson Plan
- Discussion Questions
- Visual Collection Creation Activity
- Scenario Activity
- Distinguishing Creative Commons Licenses Activity
- Infographic Assignment
- OER Evaluation Assignment
This resource is geared towards educators and librarians who recognize the need for trans and gender non-binary visibility in academic institutions and are looking for practical information and strategies for creating representation in their courses.
Part 1 aggregates links to resources providing background information on OER and trans and gender-diverse identities. “Practical resources” range from guides for modifying open textbooks to collections of LGBTQIA+, CC-licensed images, and guides on personal pronouns.
Part 2 offers sample activities, discussion questions, and assignments that are expressly designed for scholarly communications students, but the examples can be adapted into exercises, evaluation tools, and self-assessments for any discipline.
Strengths:
- Trans Inclusion in OER addresses the pressing need for increased visibility for the trans and gender-nonconforming community, and for all traditionally marginalized groups.
- It identifies a lacuna within the research on gender diverse inclusion and OER and makes a case for addressing this gap.
- Each section comprises a list of helpful resources and references for further reading and research.
- It emphasizes customizability as a key feature of OER, allowing for the representation of unique, regional, and intersectional identities within the gender-diverse global community.
- Each section is brief and easily navigated.
Considerations:
- This is a useful starting point for learning about representation, the trans and gender-diverse community, and adapting and creating OER. This text does not, however, delve into the connection of these ideas. Rather, the authors identify the need to do so and provide resources for further exploration.
- The resources listed in this OER are tailored to trans representation in educational resources and the experiences of trans students in higher ed.
For a more comprehensive reading list, PFLAG offers an excellent Transgender Reading List for Adults.