Anti-Bias Wardley Mapping

What participants gain

• Evaluate anti-bias interventions based on their institutional maturity and student impact.
• Identify strategic alliances needed to move a pedagogical practice from 'novel' to 'standard'.
• Assess the personal political and emotional capital required for different types of advocacy.
• Prioritize 2-3 high-impact, manageable interventions for immediate implementation.

Materials needed

• A3 paper with printed Wardley Map axes (Value Chain vs. Evolution)
• Fine-liner pens in multiple colors
• Sticky notes
• Reference list of common pedagogical interventions (e.g., blind grading, inclusive syllabi, diverse reading lists)
• Dot stickers for prioritization

How to run Anti-Bias Wardley Mapping, step by step

1. Introduce the axes of the Anti-Bias Wardley Map: Y-axis is Visibility to Student (High to Low), X-axis is Institutional Evolution (Genesis, Custom, Product, Commodity) (10 min).
2. Have participants individually brainstorm 5-7 specific pedagogical interventions they want to implement on sticky notes (10 min).
3. Instruct participants to place their interventions on the Y-axis based on how directly the student experiences it (10 min).
4. Ask participants to move the notes along the X-axis based on how normalized the practice is in their specific department (15 min).
5. Introduce the concept of 'Climatic Patterns'—institutional forces pushing back against these interventions (e.g., tenure requirements, budget cuts) (10 min).
6. Pair participants up to review each other's maps and draw 'movement arrows' indicating how they can push a practice toward becoming a commodity (15 min).
7. Instruct individuals to draw a 'boundary of agency' circle around the items they can change without any dean or departmental approval (10 min).
8. Conclude by having each person select two items inside their boundary of agency to commit to for the upcoming semester (10 min).

Facilitator tips

• The X-axis (Evolution) is often confusing; explain it as: Genesis (you invented it) -> Custom (your department does it) -> Product (the university mandates it) -> Commodity (everyone in higher ed does it).
• Encourage teachers to focus heavily on the 'Custom to Product' transition, as this is where pedagogical leadership happens.
• Acknowledge the emotional weight of this work; mapping the 'pushback' helps validate their lived experiences of institutional resistance.
• If maps look identical, challenge participants to think about the unique constraints of their specific academic discipline.
• Use the pairing phase to foster cross-departmental solidarity and idea exchange.

Common challenges

• Teachers feel overwhelmed by how much falls outside their 'boundary of agency' - Refocus them on the power of micro-interventions inside the classroom.
• Confusion over the axes - Provide a pre-mapped example (e.g., 'Using a microphone' is a Commodity; 'Co-creating rubrics with students' might be Genesis).
• Participants get stuck complaining about administration - Use the NVC framework to acknowledge the frustration, then pivot back to the map to find strategic workarounds.
• Maps become too cluttered - Limit the initial brainstorm to a maximum of 7 interventions per person.

Running it virtually

Use a digital whiteboard with a pre-drawn Wardley Map background. Provide digital tokens for interventions. Use breakout rooms for the peer-review phase, allowing participants to share screens and discuss their strategic boundaries.

Expected results

A strategic map that visually prioritizes which anti-bias interventions teachers should tackle individually, and which require collective departmental action.

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