What happens when colleagues share with one another, even across academic disciplines? This presentation will tell the story of an open education practice that has spanned three instructors, two disciplines, and multiple college departments.
In May of 1969 students in the Obi Society, the first advocacy organization for students of color at Tacoma Community College, published a list of 11 demands related to equity and diversity. As part of their campaign to bring equity to the institution, the Obi Society would stand on a rock in the campus commons to give speeches in support of their mission. In Summer of 2014 a part-time teacher happened upon this story while talking with the college archivist. That conversation spurred the What Would You Stand on a Rock For? assignment.
In the three years since the first person wrote the first lines attempting to build this open pedagogy project, it has been revised, remixed, and adopted by three instructors in two different disciplines. Not only that, the project has spurred a campus-wide discussion about honoring the efforts of the Obi Society.
Through the power of sharing, two part-time faculty members leveraged the support of the college archives, marketing, Media Services, and Vice President's office to build an open education practice that helped build awareness about the Civil Rights Movement at our community college, opened a larger discussion about the history of equity at our institution, and inspired students to demand commemoration of an important moment in the growth and development of our urban campus. We will discuss how this early attempt at open pedagogy grew into a larger expression of student voice that invites the whole campus community to show gratitude for the efforts of TCC's first Black Student Union, the Obi Society.
