Building an Open Annotated Reader and Assessment Toolkit for Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Project Title	Building an Open Annotated Reader and Assessment Toolkit for Racial and Ethnic Inequality: A Scalable OER Prototype
Principal Investigator	Oral Robinson
Co-Applicants	Renisa Mawani, Professor, Sociology, Faculty of Arts
Faculty	Arts
Funding Year	2026
Project Summary	This project will support the pilot development of an annotated reader and assessment toolkit in SOCI 302, serving as a prototype for a broader, department-wide OER initiative. SOCI 302 is a high-demand course, enrolling approximately 400 students annually across multiple sections. Because it is frequently taught by sessional instructors who may be operating on short notice, there is often a practical pressure to rely on standard textbooks. While students enjoy scholarly journal articles because of no costs and cutting-edge research, dependence on them create a significant pedagogical challenge: academic journals are often dense and difficult for students to synthesize without structured support. The lack of accessible material can lead to varying levels of student preparedness and creates barriers to entry for those unfamiliar with complex sociological prose. The proposed OER addresses these challenges by creating an open, annotated article reader that includes plain- language summaries, key concept explanations, and guided discussion questions for course readings. These features will scaffold student engagement and support the development of critical reading and analytical skills. In parallel, the project will develop an open test bank and assessment toolkit, including short-answer questions, case- based exercises, and applied data analysis activities. These materials will be modular, allowing for flexible use across course sections and by other instructors. The Proposed OER: To address these accessibility issues, the project will develop a modular digital resource on an open platform like Pressbooks, consisting of: • An Annotated Article Reader: This will feature links to top-tier scholarly articles paired with plain-language summaries, glossary entries for key concepts, and guided discussion questions. These scaffolds are designed to develop students’ critical reading and analytical skills. The articles will be cited and linked through UBC Library rather than reproduced. • A Modular Assessment Toolkit: This component will provide instructors with a bank of short-answer questions, case-based exercises, and applied data analysis activities. These materials will be made available within Pressbooks, and are intended to be flexible, allowing different instructors to adapt them to their specific section needs.
Grant type	OER Rapid Innovation
Funded Amount	$1,944