Students engage in online discussion forums as well as interaction with peers in synchronous remote class sessions. Kendra frames the discussions with questions for personal reflection, guiding student preparation. This supports both multiple means of expression and engagement.

In this online course with synchronous remote class sessions, Kendra varies real time class engagement by showing short video clips in class and facilitating discussion.

Course content includes multiple means of representation. Kendra assigns documentaries and legal documents alongside textbook chapters.

Denise builds in multiple means of expression each week. Students reflect before and after class on course content in short written assignments. They also submit longer summative reflections for instructor feedback, in addition to working individually and in groups.

Note that course content includes multiple means of representation. Denise assigns chapters from the equity-minded textbook, dynamic web content, and relevant media relating to the week's topic.

Denise planned activities to allow for multiple means of engagement. This includes inviting multiple guest speakers, coordinating class trips to museums and the campus library, incorporating small group work into class sessions, and facilitating all-class discussion.

Each course pack fully integrates with the open textbook. All assigned content is listed in the Course Map and in the Weekly Course Materials section. This meets our Learner Focus and Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: * Course content includes multiple means of representation (text, images, video, multimedia) * Course activities offer multiple means of engagement (individual reflection, group work, creative expression, guest speakers, student presentations) * Course content includes representation of diverse community stakeholders

The Accessibility Statement alerts future users to known accessibility issues within the course pack. Typically, known issues stem from inaccurate media captions for streaming media. Including known issues in a statement helps us to meet the project's Accessibility criteria for success: * Course images include alt text and text descriptions for infographics, figures, and charts * Course pages and documents include appropriate structure with headings, lists, and reading order * Course slide decks use slide layouts, appropriate font size, and alt text for images * Course video and audio files include audio captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions * Course does not use color alone to denote meaning * Course tables aren’t used for content layout, don’t merge cells, and include a header row * Course links are descriptive rather than displaying the URL text by itself * Images include figure captions and either alt text or long description

Weekly activities and online discussion prompts allow multiple ways for instructors to invite students to know one another. These items are organized as they would appear in a Learning Management System (LMS). This meets our Learner Focus and Oregon context criteria for success: * Assessments allow students to integrate their lived experiences with course content * Course activities include opportunities for meaningful peer-peer interaction * Module/page organization is consistent and intuitive

Each course pack includes assessment prompts and rubrics, ensuring clarity of purpose, tasks, and criteria for success for each assignment. This helps to meet our Learner Focus and Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: * Assessment prompts use transparent design for teaching and learning (purpose, task, criteria for success) * Criteria for graded assessments are clear (rubrics, exemplary student work) * Assessments include low-stakes, frequent opportunities for students to test new skills and knowledge * Assessments allow for multiple means of student expression (text, video, discussion, creative work)

Each course pack aligns with statewide course learning outcomes. This meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Course-level learning outcomes and module-level objectives are aligned and use student-friendly words.

Each course pack includes a short course description, accessibility statement, and attribution and licensing information. This meets our Oregon Context criteria for success: Copyright restrictions are minimized so that downstream users (your Oregon colleagues) have permission to revise, remix, and share forward.

The original chapter structure included only two main sections and covered a great deal of content. This revised chapter structure breaks content into multiple sections based on topic. At this stage, the author is still working to ensure that all chapter sections are of roughly equal length, a step that is typically easier toward the end of the revision process, rather than the beginning. These choices meet our Learner Focus and Accessibility criteria for success: * Chapter is well organized and reads as a unified text. * Chapter uses consistent headings, in order, that break up the content into a predictable cadence. * Total chapter engagement is scoped to 10,000 words, or no more than 90 minutes of total engagement (approximately 72 minutes of reading time + 18 minutes of required multimedia).

The original title for this chapter was "Chapter 5: Law Enforcement Approaches to Mental Disorders." The revised chapter title more closely aligns with the tighter focus on crisis response rather than law enforcement generally. This re-alignment meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter is written clearly and uses inclusive language.

As is often the case when revising, changing chapter content requires realigning the learning objectives. Here, the revised learning objectives focus specifically on the risks and improvements for police encounters with people with mental disorders in the community, rather than general law enforcement trends or strategies. This choice meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter-level objectives are listed and aligned with the content of the chapter.

In this revised chapter section, the author incorporates a video that gives an in-depth summary of multidisciplinary teams, a concept mentioned in the original chapter but that was underdeveloped and lacked examples. This revision meets our Learner Focus and Oregon Context criteria for success: * Chapter includes multiple forms of media that are relevant to the text * Chapter examples and case scenarios are relevant and inclusive of diverse Oregon perspectives.

In this revised chapter section, the author pulls in content from the original version that directly aligns with a core chapter concept. However, the author leaves out content that does not align with the chapter's new focus on crisis response. The author also incorporates media and images of different crisis response teams in Oregon. This revision meets our Learner Focus and Oregon Context criteria for success: * Chapter includes multiple forms of media that are relevant to the text * Chapter examples and case scenarios are relevant and inclusive of diverse Oregon perspectives.

The revised chapter section includes an image of the police department in Salem Oregon, the city where Arcadio Castillo III was killed during a mental health crisis in 2021. The figure caption asks students to make a connection between this image and their own lives. This revision choice meets our Oregon Context criteria for success: * Chapter examples and case scenarios are relevant and inclusive of diverse Oregon perspectives * Figure captions for images, media, and tables are clearly connected to chapter learning objectives and include a statement/question inviting Oregon students to make connections with lived experience.

This revised chapter section includes names of people with mental disorders who experienced violence from police. This recognition was not included in original version. This choice meets our Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: Chapter lifts up historically minoritized identities.

The revised chapter now includes five true/false and multiple choice questions that directly align with the learning objectives of the chapter. This revision meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter includes 3-4 accessible H5P interactives that are tied to chapter learning objectives.

This chapter section provides concrete examples of how to improve police encounters for people with mental disorders, directly aligning with a revised learning objective. The author moves an existing spotlight to this later section to show how these strategies could improve the local Oregon community. This revision meets our Learner Focus and Oregon Context criteria for success: * Chapter contains all the parts needed to accomplish the learning objectives * Chapter examples and case scenarios are relevant and inclusive of diverse Oregon perspectives.

The original version of this chapter did not specifically address improving crisis services for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. The revised chapter section provides this critical perspective, incorporating relevant examples of such services in other cities and explaining the status of services in Oregon. The chapter also increases multimedia engagement to explain the impact of these services. This revised chapter section thus does a lot of work! It meets several of our Learner Focus, Representation of Diverse Voices, and Oregon Context criteria for success: * Chapter includes multiple forms of media that are relevant to the text * Chapter lifts up historically minoritized identities * Chapter contains all the parts needed to accomplish the learning objectives * Chapter examples and case scenarios are relevant and inclusive of diverse Oregon perspectives.

This chapter is designed so that authors can assign about a chapter a week without overloading the expected hours of coursework. This meets our Accessiblity criteria for success: Total chapter engagement is scoped to 10,000 words, or no more than 90 minutes of total engagement (approximately 72 minutes of reading time + 18 minutes of required multimedia).

Explore equity-minded design strategies and choices in this example chapter! Select a numbered tag to jump to each annotation on the page. Each annotation is accessible to people who use screen reader software.

Note that this introductory chapter includes a focus on diversity as well as real word applications for students. This meets one of our Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: Chapter lifts up historically minoritized identities.

Each chapter is divided into sections. The section titles match the Heading 2 titles on your outline. Each section title is descriptive, ensuring that students can quickly recognize and navigate to relevant content. This meets one of our Accessibility criteria for success: Chapter uses consistent headings, in order, that break up the content into a predictable cadence.

Whenever possible, authors use openly licensed content licensed CC BY, which includes permission to reuse, revise, remix, retain, and redistribute the content. This meets Oregon Context criteria for success: Copyright restrictions are minimized so that downstream users (your Oregon colleagues) have permission to revise, remix, and share forward.

This activity provides students with the opportunity to synthesize chapter concepts and skills with a new application. The activity explicitly focuses on interviews with non-Western people of color in communities most affected by the issue at hand. The video also includes accurate captions and a transcript. This meets our Representation of Diverse Voices and Accessiblity criteria for success: * Chapter contains up-to-date, relevant, and diverse scholarship and examples * Videos include accurate media captions and transcripts

Authors adapt openly licensed content and provide meaningful attribution to the original authors. This meets our Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: Chapter includes accurate citations and attribution statements.

Authors balance the use of text and media to help students achieve chapter learning objectives. On this page, each subsection answers the question posed in the chapter section title, which in turn clearly relates to two chapter learning objectives: Explain why it is worthwhile to study sociology and Identify ways sociology is applied in the real world. The activity thoughtfully introduces an important scholar who translates complex concepts into every day terms. In its choice of topics and structure, this introductory chapter section is predictable, aligned, and highly readable. This meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter is consistent in tone, approach, and style.

Authors use consistent and accurate language when referring to marginalized groups and ethnicities. This means using self-described names and titles of a particular group rather than making generalizations or assumptions. This meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter is written clearly and uses inclusive language.

The image below directly relates to the text around it. Note that the image is colorful, but it also makes sense in black and white, ensuring access for color blind users. It meets our Accessibility criteria for success: Images include figure captions and either alt text or long description.

Although their subject matter is complex, authors strive to write with clarity and use multiple examples to demonstrate their meaning. They craft short sentences and avoid jargon that could mystify students. Authors added glossary definitions the first time a key term is used on a page. Here, concepts like "race" and "gender" offer interactive definitions. These choices meet our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter anticipates learner variability (reading level: grades 8-12).

The authors elected to include a short list of additional resources. Note that this list is annotated so that students know the purpose for including each link. This meets our Accessibility criteria for success: All links include descriptive text with the link destination, as well as framing that connects to the learning objectives.

Note that these discussion questions directly ask students for their own interpretation of chapter claims. This centers student critical thinking and application. This meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter contains all the parts needed to accomplish the learning objectives.

These discussion questions incorporate fresh resources, provide examples from current events, and invite students to dig deeper into applications of chapter concepts. This meets several of our Representation of Diverse Voices and Oregon Context criteria for success: * Chapter includes diverse images, voices, viewpoints, or perspectives * Chapter spotlights invite Oregon students to connect lived experiences to chapter content

In the conclusion of the chapter, the authors include multiple choice and true/false questions so that learners can check their own comprehension and deepen familiarity with content. Each question includes meaningful answer feedback and directs students to a relevant chapter section for more information. This meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter includes 3-4 accessible H5P interactives that are tied to chapter learning objectives.

The authors use the conclusion to forecast questions and themes introduced in the next chapter, helping to set student expectations for continued exploration. This meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter is well organized and reads as a unified text.

Key terms are required at the opening of a chapter. This meets the Accessibility criteria for success: Up to 10 key terms are listed that reinforce chapter concepts, are defined as Glossary Terms, and are aligned with chapter-level objectives.

The overview is a short narrative that orients students to the topics and concepts ahead. In the overview, authors can also choose from chapter openers to hook student interest with a set of questions, an epigraph, or a self-assessment related to the chapter content. In this example, the authors chose a local Oregon event and motto to contextualize the chapter’s themes. This meets one of our Oregon Context criteria for success: Chapter examples and case scenarios are relevant and inclusive of diverse Oregon perspectives.

Each chapter begins with a section called Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives. Structural consistency helps students to orient to the goals and themes of each new chapter. This list of chapter-level learning objectives helps students to track the specific work they are about to accomplish by engaging the chapter content. This meets one of our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter-level objectives are listed and aligned with the content of the chapter.

Throughout this chapter, the authors are intentional in their use of figure captions to spark student interest and provoke meaningful analysis. This meets our Oregon Context criteria for success: Figure captions for images, media, and tables are clearly connected to chapter learning objectives and include a statement/question inviting Oregon students to make connections with lived experience.

In this chapter section, the authors revisit the chapter’s opening scenario to emphasize diverse representations and deepen critical thinking. This meets several of our Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: * Chapter includes diverse images, voices, viewpoints, or perspectives * Chapter lifts up historically minoritized identities

The authors directly invite students to reflect on how their lived experience relate to chapter themes. This meets our Oregon Context criteria for success: Chapter spotlights invite Oregon students to connect lived experiences to chapter content.

Note that this activity directs student attention to chapter themes, framing key issues relevant to the discussion. The authors also use reflection questions that ask students to make a direct connection between their own lives and sociological concepts. This meets several of our Learner Focus and Oregon Context criteria for success: * Student discussion and reflection questions are clearly identified in call out boxes or predictable places in the chapter * Chapter spotlights invite Oregon students to connect lived experiences to chapter content

Rather than provide a textual description alone, this chapter incorporates activities as a strategy of Universal Design for Learning. Contextualizing a linked video with annotations and focused questions supports multiple means of representation as well as multiple means of engagement. This choice meets our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter includes multiple forms of media that are relevant to the text.

Each chapter begins with a section called Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives. Structural consistency helps students to orient to the goals and themes of each new chapter. This list of chapter-level learning objectives helps students to track the specific work they are about to accomplish by engaging the chapter content. This meets one of our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter-level objectives are listed and aligned with the content of the chapter.

Note that this introductory chapter includes a focus on diversity as well as real word applications for students. This meets one of our Representation of Diverse Voices criteria for success: Chapter lifts up historically minoritized identities.

Each chapter is divided into sections. The section titles match the Heading 2 titles on your outline. Each title is descriptive, ensuring that students can quickly recognize and navigate to relevant content. This meets one of our Accessibility criteria for success: Chapter uses consistent headings, in order, that break up the content into a predictable cadence.

Note that these questions directly ask students for their own interpretation of chapter claims. This centers student critical thinking and application.

These questions incorporate fresh resources, provide examples from current events, and invite students to dig deeper into applications of chapter concepts.

Each chapter closes with a series of discussion questions for individual or group study. 

Please note: 15-20 key terms maximum will avoid overwhelming students.

Key terms are essential to student study and review. They also reinforce key concepts from learning objectives and chapter activities. 

Key terms can be introduced at the beginning or the end of a chapter. 

The authors use the conclusion to forecast questions and themes introduced in the next chapter, helping to set student expectations for continued exploration. 

Here, the authors chose images to compare pre- and post-pandemic safety measures, adding a new angle on the opening scenario and increasing its relevance to student experiences.

As the chapter comes to a close, the authors reflect on key concepts and themes addressed in the chapter by revisiting the opening scenario. A chapter summary reiterates the main tensions, questions, or claims of the chapter and the concepts the chapter discussed. 

In its sequence, its content, and its framing, this media-based activity centers best practices in chapter development and Universal Design for Learning. 

The activity asks open-ended questions of students to make connections to previous chapter concepts. As this activity happens close to the end of the chapter, students have the chance to integrate what they’ve learned so far.

This activity provides students with the opportunity to synthesize chapter concepts and skills with a new application. The activity explicitly focuses on interviews with non-Western people of color in communities most affected by the issue at hand. 

The image below directly relates to the text around it. Note that the image is colorful, but it also makes sense in black and white, ensuring access for color blind users. In keeping with project accessibility standards, it does not rely on color to convey meaning. 

Note that the figure number, a caption, and image description support students in locating and interpreting the media. 

In this chapter section activity, the authors revisit the chapter’s opening scenario to emphasize diverse representations and deepen critical thinking.

The authors invite students to connect their lived experience to chapter content.

The authors incorporate historical images and evidence to deepen a discussion of race, gender, and socioeconomic status in rodeos. This equity-minded approach aligns with the open curriculum’s equity lens and builds on the sequence of the chapter structure. This is a strong example of Culturally Responsive Teaching: students who historically have been excluded from higher education see themselves reflected in the content. 

Note that this activity directs student attention to chapter themes, framing key issues relevant to the discussion. The authors also use reflection questions that ask students to make a direct connection between their own lives and sociological concepts. 

Rather than provide a textual description alone, this chapter incorporates activities as a strategy of Universal Design for Learning. Contextualizing a linked video with annotations and focused questions supports multiple means of representation as well as multiple means of engagement. 

The overview itself is a short narrative that orients students to the topics and concepts ahead. In the overview, authors can also choose from chapter openers to hook student interest with a set of questions, an epigraph, or a self-assessment related to the chapter content. In this example, the authors chose a local Oregon event and motto to contextualize the chapter’s themes.

The chapter feedback survey is a required element in the pilot textbook. This is the primary way that we will gather student and instructor input about what was engaging or confusing. This feedback is central to the project's equity lens: each open curriculum can be improved for student and instructor needs.