{"id":3396,"date":"2021-02-22T13:37:28","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T21:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/?p=3396"},"modified":"2021-02-22T13:37:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T21:37:28","slug":"tips-for-evaluating-textbooks-for-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/2021\/02\/22\/tips-for-evaluating-textbooks-for-diversity-equity-and-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Evaluating Textbooks for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Evaluating Textbooks<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When selecting a textbook, there are a number of factors to evaluate. In addition to assessing the textbook for appropriate content, one category that I recommend looking at is how inclusive the textbook is. Here are a few guiding questions to ask when evaluating textbooks for inclusion:<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3398\" class=\"wp-caption thumbnail alignright\" style=\"width: 200px;\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3398\" src=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2021\/02\/surface-DQfIfnTuT3w-unsplash-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"student studying on a laptop\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2021\/02\/surface-DQfIfnTuT3w-unsplash-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2021\/02\/surface-DQfIfnTuT3w-unsplash-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2021\/02\/surface-DQfIfnTuT3w-unsplash-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2021\/02\/surface-DQfIfnTuT3w-unsplash-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2021\/02\/surface-DQfIfnTuT3w-unsplash-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2021\/02\/surface-DQfIfnTuT3w-unsplash-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>\n    <figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@surface?utm_source=unsplash&amp;amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Surface<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/laptop-textbook?utm_source=unsplash&amp;amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption>\n    <\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What is the cost of this textbook? Have you looked for open (free) textbooks, perhaps from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/open.umn.edu\/opentextbooks\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Open Textbook Library<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or considered <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">writing or adapting your own? Affordability is inclusive.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do the textbook images of people represent diverse cultural heritage and lived experiences?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are the contributions to the field that are highlighted in the textbook from a diverse range of scholars in the field? If not, is there discussion about why certain voices were historically excluded from the field?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is the textbook accessible? If there is an e-book, do the images have alt text, for example? Can students with disabilities access all materials in the book?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the textbook is an e-book, are the concepts presented in multiple ways, such as text, infographic, slide decks, or multimedia elements? Giving students choices in how they explore the course concepts empowers them to use their existing preferences, and helps them develop new strengths and avenues for learning.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What to Do When the Textbook Is Not Ideal<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s tough to find a textbook that is inclusive and has all of the concepts you are hoping to teach. What can you do when you find a textbook that has the concepts you need but is lacking in inclusive excellence? Here are some simple ideas for addressing this:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Consider giving publisher feedback. Write a brief email to the publisher about your concerns around a lack of representation in the book or whatever it is that you see as missing.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For any text you choose, consider inviting students to write to the publisher if they see areas for improvement, whether that is with cost, bias, or other issues. You could include the contact information for the publisher in your course materials page, inviting students to write in feedback directly to the publisher.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Acknowledge to your students that the textbook isn\u2019t as inclusive as you would like it to be. Share the ways that you are advocating for better quality. You could also invite students to have a bias hunt discussion about the textbook or course materials. Then you could collect that feedback and send it to the publisher.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If the textbook lacks contributions from a diverse range of scholars, consider adding scholarly articles, images, or interviews from diverse professionals in your field to your course learning materials pages, in your LMS course site.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Consider highlighting professional organizations in your field that promote and mentor the professional development of scholars from specific historically underrepresented communities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Have you had success in this area of evaluating textbooks? Have you found a publisher or textbook that has made gains in this area? If so, please share your resources in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">References:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/blog\/we-believe-textbooks-should-be-diverse-and-inclusive-heres-what-were-doing-about-it\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We believe textbooks should be diverse and inclusive. Here&#8217;s what we&#8217;re doing about it.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/web.peralta.edu\/de\/equity-initiative\/equity\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peralta Online Equity Rubric<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/castpublishing.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/UDL_Progression_Rubric_FINAL_Web_REV1.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UDL Progression Rubric<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/open.umn.edu\/opentextbooks\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Open Textbook Library<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Image credit:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@surface?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Surface<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/s\/photos\/laptop-textbook?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unsplash<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Evaluating Textbooks When selecting a textbook, there are a number of factors to evaluate. In addition to assessing the textbook for appropriate content, one category that I recommend looking at is how inclusive the textbook is. Here are a few guiding questions to ask when evaluating textbooks for inclusion: What is the cost of this&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/2021\/02\/22\/tips-for-evaluating-textbooks-for-diversity-equity-and-inclusion\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1839,1024707,2619,133342,155,1386682],"class_list":["post-3396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ecampus","tag-inclusive","tag-online-education","tag-open-textbooks","tag-oregon-state-university","tag-textbook"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3396"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3401,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396\/revisions\/3401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}