Racially-Just, Inclusive and Open STEM Education
@rioscommunity.bsky.social
84 followers 46 following 47 posts
An institute promoting the adoption of open and socially-just practices across STEM higher education through a collaborative infrastructure for systemic change.
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rioscommunity.bsky.social
Sharing open educational resources amplifies our mission to improve accessibility in STEM education.

The resource we are sharing today is based out of CourseSource & focuses on getting students comfortable with R, data literacy & statistical concepts: bit.ly/3XkxZ8V
An illustration of 3 people working on a graph together. Text reads: "RIOS Institute. Lesson Highlight. Learning R for Biologists. Students will use skills to practice analyzing and interpreting data, as well as producing publication quality graphics. These skills also help students think deeply about their own data, encouraging them to communicate their research findings without misrepresenting the data.Learn more about this resource:
www.bit.ly/3XkxZ8V"
rioscommunity.bsky.social
We are still accepting applications for our upcoming Learning Community. This community will focus on alternative grading. Participants will put together an implementation plan to incorporate an alternative grading into their next course.

Learn more and register here: bit.ly/4gCUz61
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Reminder: we have our next Brew and Banter event coming up this week!

During this session, Drs. Desiree Forsythe and Meg C. Jones will briefly reflect on past sessions of their recurring Learning Community that focuses on difficult dialogues.

Join us on October 2nd (1pm ET): bit.ly/4nKnveN
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Are you trying to implement alternative grading into your classroom? Then, this #RIOSLearningCommunity is for you.

Participants will work through an implementation plan to incorporate alternative grading into their next course. It starts next month.

Learn more & apply: bit.ly/4gCUz61
Reposted by Racially-Just, Inclusive and Open STEM Education
drew-lewis.com
@melanielenahan.bsky.social and I are running another iteration of the Implementing Alternative Grading learning community starting next month!

Details and sign up at qubeshub.org/community/gr...
rioscommunity.bsky.social
This is Dr. Drew Lewis. He is a mathematician and education researcher.

Last Fall, he organized a #RIOSLearningCommunity (with Dr. Lenahan) that explored alternative grading practices. This is what he said about it. #LetsLearnTogether
A photo of Drew. Text reads: "There's tons of different options for active learning and things. It's the exact same thing with assessment.

So it’s important to try to make sure people understand that there are all these options and try and help them figure out which one fits what they're trying to do with their students best."
Reposted by Racially-Just, Inclusive and Open STEM Education
qside.bsky.social
In response to retaliatory hostility towards justice advocates, QSIDE is sharing our Justice Advocate Manual for Survival (SJAMS). This resource offers proactive strategies to protect yourself and counter tactics often used to bully, intimidate, and discourage activists in the field: bit.ly/sjams
Cover page of Social Justice Advocate Manual for Survival (SJAMS).
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Last year, Bekah led a #RIOSWorkingGroup.

Vecina was created out of her working group. It's a website, which visualizes environmental & community info for neighborhood advocacy.

It's a guide that helps families through: registering their kids in school, finding health services, etc.
Blue background with green quotation marks. Text reads: "It's been a very inspiring project. What's been really working for us is continuous community connection, feedback, and support. It has been embedded throughout the project for us.”
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Happy Tuesday! It's time for our #RIOSTuesTalks (where we explore ideas related to social justice, #OpenEducation & social change).

Science has been hit hard this year by the current administration. How are you coping with these uncertain times? What are you doing to take care of yourself?
Blue background with text that says "How are you coping with these uncertain times? What are you doing to take care of yourself? Let us know in the comments!"
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Sharing open educational resources amplifies our commitment to improving accessibility & equity in STEM education.

Based out of CourseSource, this lesson uses a sorting game to introduce students to the different types of algae, in an engaging way. Learn more: bit.ly/3Xkd85L
An illustration of people playing a game together. Text reads: RIOS Institute. Lesson Highlight. A Sorting Game to Introduce Different types of Algae. Students will learn the general characteristics of algae and know that no defining characteristic is shared by all algae. This lesson is designed for second-year biology students, but can be modified for a variety of courses (including high school, intro bio classes & more). Learn more about this resource: www.bit.ly/3Xkd85L"
Reposted by Racially-Just, Inclusive and Open STEM Education
bioquest.bsky.social
Sharing:
📢 The BioGraphI Project
🗓️Sept 24
🗣️ Drs. Desirée Forsythe, Bryan Dewsbury & Jeremy Hsu
📝”Journeys into Justice-Centered Pedagogy”
Join a talk on how STEM educators confront inequities & break barriers for students

☑️ Register by Sept 17
🔗 tinyurl.com/Fall2025Even...
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Just a reminder: we are still looking for collaborators for the OCTOPUS Project. Application deadline: August 8 (this Friday): bit.ly/4fiK9bg
Reposted by Racially-Just, Inclusive and Open STEM Education
samdonovan.net
Join us to explore strategies for engaging faculty and students with open science principles and practices.
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Have you heard about the OCTOPUS Project?

In collaboration with BIOQUEST (@bioquest.bsky.social), RIOS is working to create a set of openly licensed materials that can be adopted or adapted by faculty.

We are looking for faculty collaborators to participate
(deadline: Aug 8): bit.ly/4fiK9bg
RIOS Institute: Other Projects & Collaborations
QUBES Hub - The Power of Biology, Math, and Community
bit.ly
Reposted by Racially-Just, Inclusive and Open STEM Education
mathprofcarrie.bsky.social
OER Posted! 30 min #AILiteracy online asynchronous tutorial co-authored w/3 Bates students. It includes 2 videos and instructor guide (an an example AI policy) qubeshub.org/publications...
Also includes slides and video scripts to adopt and adapt for your own institution. @rioscommunity.bsky.social
AI Literacy in 30 minutes
This is a set of materials that is for a 30 minute asynchronous workshop as an introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) for first-year students at Bates College. It covers how AI works in the firs...
qubeshub.org
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Have you heard about the OCTOPUS Project?

In collaboration with BIOQUEST (@bioquest.bsky.social), RIOS is working to create a set of openly licensed materials that can be adopted or adapted by faculty.

We are looking for faculty collaborators to participate
(deadline: Aug 8): bit.ly/4fiK9bg
RIOS Institute: Other Projects & Collaborations
QUBES Hub - The Power of Biology, Math, and Community
bit.ly
rioscommunity.bsky.social
This is Dr. Melanie Lenahan. She is a biology professor.

She organized a #RIOSLearningCommunity (with Dr. Drew Lewis) that explored alternative grading practices. This is what she said about it. #LetsLearnTogether
A photo of Melanie Lenahan with a quote. It says: "What I found was really impactful were the open conversations. 

It was really important giving our participants time to talk about things and talk out loud about different strategies and barriers.

I think Drew (co-facilitator) really helped in facilitating a structure that allowed for a lot of conversations."
rioscommunity.bsky.social
RIOS student workers play a role in the direction of our goals, mission & more. Segev is a college student.

He helps produce the RIOS Podcast: Knowledge Unbound. He edits the audio & video files, & makes sure the eps are in its highest quality. This is what he had to say about working on it.
A blue background with text that says: "By listening to the podcast episodes...you get to more deeply understand what the guest has to say. [This] aided in opening my eyes and better understanding the work that each podcast guest carries out in the field, their communities, their college campuses, etc."
rioscommunity.bsky.social
There are so many organizations and projects working to make education more inclusive & accessible.

The Open Education Network is one of them. They have a certificate program for librarians to develop tools and skills, to create sustainable and effective OpenEd programs: bit.ly/3BM7SBk
An illustration of two people standing on books. Text reads: "Organization HIGHLIGHT. The Open Education Network’s
Certificate Program (OEN). Their mission. The OEN is a community dedicated to working together to make higher education more affordable and equitable. 

With their certificate program in Open Librarianship, librarians are able to gain insight to implement new practices."
rioscommunity.bsky.social
Sharing OER amplifies our mission to improve accessibility in STEM education.

This is a hands-on activity based out of CourseSource. It teaches students (using multiple methods) how to estimate, compare & evaluate the size of a single population of animals.
Learn more: bit.ly/3TnB0Eu
An illustration of an animals sleeping on a pillow. Text reads: "RIOS Institute. Lesson Highlight. An Activity for Population Estimation Comparisons. This lesson helps to describe how ecologists and wildlife managers estimate population sizes for animal species. This course takes students out of the classroom and engages them in research on locally relevant and widely distributed mammals. Learn more about this resource:
www.bit.ly/3TnB0Eu"
rioscommunity.bsky.social
There is a free, virtual workshop in Civil Dialogue (how to have difficult conversations) with Bill Groner on June 25th.

It's from noon-2pm ET/11a-1p CT/10a-noon MT/9-11a PT.

Bill Groner is a retired attorney with years of experience in this topic.

Register: bit.ly/4ecBoPm
Civil Dialogue Registration
docs.google.com
Reposted by Racially-Just, Inclusive and Open STEM Education
karencang.bsky.social
The amazing Carlos Goller speaking about #metagenomics at the @alleninstitute.org #OpenScience in Undergraduate Education Symposium! @rioscommunity.bsky.social
rioscommunity.bsky.social
This is Nate.

Last year, he organized a #RIOSLearningCommunity (with Dr.Vargas Poulsen) that explored open science and open data through an equity and social justice lens. This is what he said about it. #LetsLearnTogether
A photo of Nate. Text reads: "We asked them, what are your goals in participating in this session. Maybe we could have been more adamant about reiterating that throughout.

 Like, you're gonna have to read things that you're uncomfortable with, but we're here to talk about it."