Equity by Design: The Equity‐Minded Digital Syllabus as a Tool for Faculty and Organizational Learning

ABSTRACT Community colleges continue to confront persistent racial inequities in student outcomes despite longstanding commitments to access and inclusion. While equity‐mindedness positions faculty as critical agents of institutional change, less is known about how instructional tools support the development of equity‐minded (EM) practice and organizational learning. This qualitative study examines the influence of an EM digital syllabus at Crown City Community College (pseudonym), a California community college that embedded EM design principles into its learning management system. Guided by Bensimon and Dowd's application of Cultural–Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the study explores how six faculty members experienced and utilized the EM digital syllabus in their teaching. Findings suggest that the EM digital syllabus functions as a mediating artifact that supports faculty reflection, instructional redesign, and equity‐minded pedagogical practice. Participants described shifts in course design, communication, grading, and student support that moved beyond individual acts of care toward greater attention to structural equity and institutional accountability. Findings also reveal how tensions between academic freedom, collaboration, and equity expectations can serve as productive sites of organizational learning. This study extends the scholarship of equity‐mindedness by demonstrating how digital instructional infrastructure can support faculty learning, organizational learning, and institutional transformation.