Equity by Design

Equity by Design (EBD) is a collaborative, university-wide approach to advancing greater equity and reducing achievement gaps in the academic success of Minnesota State students. It reflects MSU Moorhead’s ongoing commitment to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion.

Equity and enrollment are university priorities. Eliminating the equity gaps in our outcomes is imperative, as we will need to graduate more students from communities that have been historically disadvantaged by higher education. Equity in outcomes is also an enrollment strategy, as more students come from diverse backgrounds and represent a sizable, and growing, portion of our total student base. EBD will allow the campus community to focus efforts and identify meaningful strategies.

Equity By Design as a framework:

  • utilizes best teaching practices,
  • supports and expands student-centered policies and programs,
  • develops equity-minded, evidenced-based, and data-informed practices to monitor and assess student learning, and
  • creates and implements interventions that will improve student learning.

Our goal is to give all students, regardless of demographic, the support needed to be successful as measured by retention rates, graduation rates, and success in individual courses. The work will be done at the college, department, and program levels, including undergraduate and graduate programs.

Equity by Design Projects

This important work aligns with:

  • Minnesota State’s Equity 2030 strategic vision of closing educational equity gaps across race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and first-generation status by 2030.
  • Minnesota State’s Equity by Design framework for conceptualizing equity and utilizing tools for advancing equitable practices across Minnesota State campuses.
  • MSUM’s mission of promising all students the opportunity to discover their passions, the rigor to develop intellectually, and the versatility to shape a changing world.
  • MSUM’s strategic anchor of focusing relentlessly on student achievement and students’ return on their investment.
  • MSUM’s strategic priority of building organizational capacity to achieve equitable educational outcomes for all students, recognizing that achieving equity will require changing our systems, policies, practices, assumptions, and campus climate.
  • MSUM’s core values of going the extra mile for our students and recognizing that the best ideas can come from anywhere and anyone in our campus community.
  • MSUM’s Quality Initiative Project of implementing this system-level framework to the campus for institutional accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission.
Equity by Design Team

The EBD team will 1) facilitate the strategies of the Minnesota State Guided Learning Pathways; 2) identify local, sustainable processes that identify equity gaps; 3) facilitate training that equips colleagues to become equity practitioners; and 4) establish a process of policy and practice review with an equity lens.

MSUM college-level teams were formed in Fall 2024. The faculty member on the college-level team will lead the Train-the-Trainer model, allowing educated EBD practitioners to teach others about the EBD framework, effectively multiplying the reach of EBD practice throughout the university.

Equity by Design Members on all College-level Teams

College of Arts & Humanities EBD Team

College of Business, Analytics & Communication EBD Team

College of Education & Human Services EBD Team

College of Science, Health & the Environment EBD Team

Athletics EBD Team

Other EBD Team

*Denotes EBD core team member who participated in system-led training.

Projects
College of Arts & Humanities

School of Media Arts, Design, and Entertainment
Project lead: Ryan Clancy, Assistant Professor of Film

Administer a survey asking students if they feel represented through the course curricula and materials. Build more robust and comprehensive lessons about the intersections of race and art and attempt to include works by BIPOC artists in every lesson.

College of Arts & Humanities
Project lead: Heidi King, Student Relations Coordinator

Update advising practices to be more equitable, including having interactions and information sharing via email before the first actual meeting to help both the students and the Student Relations Coordinator to prepare for that first meeting. The information sharing will include verification of the intended major, checking if there are transcripts still to be received (for transfer students), what the needs are for working or living situations when attending college, and comfort level regarding load, course modalities, and/or learning styles. The goal is to meet students where and who they are, rather than focusing primarily on transcripts.

History, Languages, and Humanities
Kazimir Gazdzik, Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education

Update practices in upper-division history courses to incorporate both more student-centered practices such as students working collaboratively and leading the seminar-style discussions as well as using, in both upper-level and introductory courses, primary source or case study material that provide opportunities for students to explore history from multiple perspectives. Students in both upper-level and introductory courses will use more small group strategies to reflect on discussions, offer feedback, and to support one another in developing their historical reasoning.

College of Business, Analytics & Communication

School of Communications and Journalism
Project lead: Dr. Denise Gorsline, Professor of Communications and Journalism

In COMM 210 Media Writing, change the practice of rewrites. Rather than having rewrites only when a student asks for the option or is specifically told to rewrite when the assignment is graded, have all students do rewrites on the first two assignments. Such a practice is intended to build trust, remove the sense of it being punitive, and make rewrites a normal part of the writing process.

In addition, the students will be surveyed about their writing challenges both at the beginning of the class and in the middle of the term. As the professor states, “I want to normalize those challenges as part of this way of approaching the value of improvement and the myth of perfection.”.

Mathematics
Project lead: Justin James, Professor

For College Algebra, a variety of changes meant to meet the needs of the current student audience. This includes a switch to open source course materials for both the textbook and the homework/quiz platform. Another change is to implement new projects for each unit, modeling and making predictions about real-world applications. Additionally, include direct instruction on fixed verses growth mindsets and learning practices, based on cognitive neuroscience. The impacts of the changes to the course will be tracked through the use of pre/post student surveys as well as course success rates.

School of Communication and Journalism
Project lead: Kay Beckermann, Associate Professor

In COMM 352, release grades mid-semester and invite students to complete the Asset Based Learning Pact in the learning management system. Another strategy is to intentionally focus on students who are not fully engaging in the course to build rapport with them, as an effort to make them more comfortable in the classroom and in asking questions. In general, intentionally leverage a persona of a “warm demander” to encourage students to be comfortable asking faculty for guidance, and therefore foster success.

College of Education & Human Services

Sociology and Criminal Justice Department
Project lead: Dr. Geraldine Sloan, Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice

In CJ 301 Delinquent Behavior, instead of structuring it like a contract, rewrite the syllabus to be more personal and user-friendly. In addition, administer a mid-semester survey to get student feedback about their success and changes they would like to see in the class for the second half of the semester. The goal is to retain all students in the class and have productive and consistent attendance. Suggestions from the mid-semester survey will be acted on, and students will be surveyed again at the end of the semester about whether the change(s) were beneficial.

Using disaggregated course level to identify any equity gaps, I will include a few questions in the course to address any issues identified.

School of Teaching and Learning
Project lead: Dawnita Gallo, Assistant Professor

Update two courses. The immediate impact is updating the syllabi language for each to make it warmer and bias-free, and to ensure accessibility using updated tools. The courses will also go through a full curricular update, with these principles and practices in place.

Leadership and Learning
Project lead: Rikki Fischer, Assistant Professor of Counseling

Implement mid-semester evaluations, apply more diverse learning styles in courses, and diving into fixed versus growth mindsets in key courses. Implement suggestions students provide on the mid-semester evaluations for the later part of the course, as well as student feedback in future classes.

Speech, Language, Hearing Science
Project lead: Rachel Stotts, Associate Professor

Include more encouraging language in the grading rubrics to encourage a growth mindset. In addition, conduct midterm evaluations to assess the current class’s needs and immediately implement changes in the course as a result of that feedback. Future plans include updating syllabus language to be more welcoming and inclusive for all students and being mindful of events and activities organized for students outside of the classroom to ensure that they are inclusive and thoughtful for all students.

Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences
Project lead: Elaine Pyle, Associate Professor & Department Chair

Update course language and expectations to focus on a growth mindset and incremental improvements. This will improve the students’ clinical skills, mirroring the work that the students will do in professional practice after graduation. The capstone project in SLHS 321 will also move from one that has just a summative assessment to one that incorporates this growth mindset.

College of Science, Health & the Environment

School of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership
Project lead: Nancy Moore, Assistant Professor of Nursing

In the Nursing program, expand the utilization of an educational tool that provides students with tools and resources that support academic success, clinical readiness, and preparation for the NCLEX exam. The tool has been used in the past when students have had academic concerns or struggles with positive data. The program will be expanded to all students for completion before starting the Nursing-specific classes and clinics, which is intended to provide all students with this academic support, reducing their academic struggles before they start.

Psychology Department
Project lead: Jenna Laurin, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Update course readings and assignments to be more representative. This includes the 1947 Clark and Clark Doll Study, which was the first psychological research study to be used in a Supreme Court case, which was conducted by two prominent black psychologists. It also includes a 1996 study by Linton in the section on research design, a Native American PhD psychologist who was a first generation college student.

Biosciences
Sumali Pandey, Associate Professor

Using surveys and interviews, analyze the effectiveness of group work in the retention of students, their sense of belonging, and their academic achievement, with the data disaggregated. The goal is to evaluate which strategies for group formation are successful amongst students and whether that is affected by the demographics of the students. This project will ideally include collaboration with other faculty and students.