ECHO (Equity Certificate Hosted Online):
The Equity Certificate Hosted Online Program (formerly known as the Equity and Diversity Certificate Program) helps learners develop tools necessary for advancing equity and diversity in all aspects of their personal and professional lives. The program:
- Offers learners a theoretical framework for understanding equity and diversity work
- Helps learners develop necessary skills for equity and diversity work
- Gives learners direct experience working and communicating across differences
ECHO is the Office for Equity and Diversity's (OED) online Equity and Diversity Certificate program. The program consists of engaging with reading and media materials via a shared course guide and participating in a Zoom Dialogue for each course. This engagement represents and reflects ways we can learn and grow in equity and diversity work – intellectual learning, emotional processing, and practicing skills.
Step 1: Pre-work (Reading and Media Materials) - Each ECHO course will have an associated course guide with reading and media materials to review that will be shared in the enrollment receipt. This material focuses on expanding our intellectual understanding and emotional processing of the core concepts related to the course topic.
Step 2: Zoom Dialogue - Each ECHO course features a 2 hour Zoom dialogue that learners are required to join. Zoom Dialogues provide opportunities to respond to prompting questions and scenarios related to the course content and provide the opportunity to put knowledge and skill sets into practice. Additionally, co-facilitators will lead dialogue participants through an action planning process to identify next steps for taking learning into application.
Please note: To receive credit towards the Equity and Diversity Certificate, you must first engage with course guide. Upon completion, you will then need to participate in the scheduled Zoom dialogue.
University of Minnesota Staff, Faculty, and Students:
The Equity and Diversity Certificate program is free for all current staff, faculty and students on all five system campuses.
External Learners:
The Equity and Diversity Certificate program is available for a fee for external learners. Please find our fee structure below.
- Self-Supporting Individual Bundle Rate : $900.00
- Non-Profit/Government/Non-UMN Higher Education Institution Bundle Rate : $1,350.00
- Business or Corporate Entity Bundle Rate : $1,575.00
We are committed to ensuring that all learners have access to our educational offerings regardless of ability to pay. The Education Program utilizes a need-based sliding scale scholarship program. Please consider paying at the highest rate that you can afford: your generosity supports the work of the Office for Equity and Diversity and the Education Program facilitation team.
Select one of the sliding scale rates below:
- Partial Scholarship: 75% off program fee
- University of Minnesota Alumni and/or Reduced Rate Scholarship: 50% off program fee
- Full Scholarship: $0 program fee
Please let us know which of these rates works for you by completing our google form, and if you have any questions feel free to email us at oeded@umn.edu.
Resources:
Content Acknowledgement:
The course materials shared are intended to provide a foundational overview of information and issues related to the topic of this course. We acknowledge that given the scope of the course, we are unable to encompass every experience, identity, and/or issue that is relevant and important to the communities we will explore. If there are additional connections or issues you wish to include, we welcome you to uplift it during our Zoom dialogue section. Lastly, this curriculum is a 'living document'; we will continue to expand and refine our materials as our learning and awareness continues to grow and evolve. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions at oeded@umn.edu.
Access & Accommodations:
The OED Education Program is committed to fostering accessibility within and across our learning environments. Rather than a logistical “to-do” list, we understand meaningful access as an on-going community practice and an essential part of educational equity.
Up-to-date information about our current accessibility practices can be viewed at, z.umn.edu/OEDED_Accessibility. Please email oeded@umn.edu to request accommodations and/or discuss additional access measures that would support your full engagement in our learning community.