What is Equity Unbound
Equity Unbound started as an equity-focused, open, connected, intercultural learning curriculum that follows emergent strategy in order to respond to the needs of our community – so we have moved from offering intercultural learning activities for students, to supporting educators and students with care and community building during COVID-19, to ongoing equity-focused, open, professional development for educators worldwide. The Mid-Year Festival (MYFest) is our most recent large project, which involves a three-month choose-your-own-learning journey professional development taking place throughout June, July and August. Equity Unbound continues to co-create brave spaces and nurture a caring community for life-long-learners everywhere.
Equity Unbound Offerings Before/Beside MYFest
- Open, connected, intercultural curriculum (2018-2020)
- Continuity with Care (2020)
- Socially Just Academia (2020-2021)
- Community Building Resources with OneHE (2020 onwards)
- Webinars and workshops throughout the year on and off, not always documented, most recently with guest speakers on AI in education
Sample Year Round Activities/Stats Since MYFest22
| Activity | Date/Date Range | Attendance/Registrations |
| MYFest22 | June-August 2022 (List of Activities Here) | 300+ Registrations |
| IEH (Intentionally Equitable Hospitality) Series #1 January 2023 | January 2023 | 79 Registrations |
| MYFest23 | 1 June- 31 August, 2023 (List of Activities Here) | 276 Registrations |
| Book Circle FALL/WINTER 2023 | November 2023 – January 2024 | 14 Registrations (intentionally limited to max 12-14) |
| IEH Series #2 May 2024 | 1 – 30 May, 2024 | 58 Registrations |
| MYFest24 | 1 June – 31 August 2024 (List of Activities Here) | 191 Global Registrations 53 AUC Registrations |
| Art of Gathering Book Circle – Fall 2024 | 1 – 30 November, 2024 | 18 Registrations |
| Bonni Stachowiak Symposium Keynote at AUC | 19/2/2025 | 52 Registrations |
| IEH Series #3, 2025 | 15 April – 6 May, 2025 | 49 Registered. |
| Critical Conversation with Audrey Watters | 28/4/2025 | 67 Registrations. 50 Attendees. |
| MYFest25 | 1 June – 31 August, 2025 (ongoing). Schedule Here | 344 Registrations |
YouTube Playlists
- MYFest25
- MYFest24
- Curation of IEH facilitation tips for the IEH Series 2024
- AI workshops (ongoing from 2023- Present)
- MYFest23
- MYFest22
- Socially Just Academia (2020)
- Community Building Activities with OneHE (Since 2020)
Publications, Podcasts, etc.
Publications on Equity Unbound or Intentionally Equitable Hospitality
Zamora, M. and Bali, M. (2025). From socially just care to socially just distributed ecosystems of care. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education [Preprint], (35). https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1333.
Bali, M. (2023). The need for Intentionally Equitable Hospitality in video conferencing. In A. Volmar, O. Mostatova & J Distelmeyer (Eds). Video Conferencing: Infrastructures, Practices, Aesthetics. [transcript] Open access available here.
Stachowiak, B., & Bali, M. (2023). Intentionally Equitable Hospitality as an Approach to Enhancing Workplace Inclusion. In Evidence-Based Organizational Practices for Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity. Cambridge Scholars.
Bali, M., & Zamora, M. (2023). Designing and Adapting for Community with Intentionally Equitable Hospitality. Learning Design Voices. University of Cape Town.
Bali, M., & Zamora, M. (2022). Intentionally Equitable Hospitality as Critical Instructional Design. In J. Quinn, M Burtis, & S. Jhangiani (eds). Designing for Care. Hybrid Pedagogy publishing.
Bali, M., Station, G., Zamora, M. (2022, August 24). Online Does Not Mean Isolated. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/08/24/building-community-online-conferences-events-opinion
Bali, M., & Zamora, M. (2022). The Equity-Care Matrix: Theory and practice. Italian Journal of Educational Technology. doi: 10.17471/2499-4324/1241
Zamora, M., Bali, M., Mehran, P. , & Cronin, C. (2021). Equity Unbound as Critical Intercultural Praxis. The Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 10(4). https://edtechbooks.org/jaid_10_4/
Bali, M., Caines, A., Hogue, R. J., DeWaard, H. J., & Friedrich, C. (2019). Intentionally equitable hospitality in hybrid video dialogue: The context of virtually connecting. eLearning Mag. Retrieved from https://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=3331173
Podcast Episodes
Bali, M., Zamora, M., Aboulmagd, N., & Abulfadl, Y. (2025). OEWeek Live! Socially Just Distributed Care in the Open with Equity Unbound (with Alan Levine). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doUqf9fon2w
Bali, M., Zamora, M., & Sorensen-Unruh, C., (2022). Community and Joy: Lessons from MYFest. Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast (with Bonni Stachowiak). https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/community-and-joy-lessons-from-myfest/
Bali, M., Cronin, C. & Zamora, M. (2021). Equity Unbound. Check the O.L. with Terry Greene and Anne-Marie Scott. https://www.spreaker.com/user/voicedradio/check-the-ol-equity-unbound
Zamora, M., Bali, M., & Caines, A. (2020). Building Community Online through Intentionally Equitable Hospitality. Write Now with Elyse Eidman-Aadahl. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=324626762107387
Bali, M., Caines, A., & Zamora, M. (2020). Community-Building Activities. Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast (with Bonni Stachowiak). https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/community-building-activities/
Keynotes and Talks
Bali, M., Zamora, M., & Caines, A. (2020, November). Building Hospitable Learning Communities Online. Liquid Margins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blvUUWiOANc&ab_channel=Hypothesis
Bali, M. & Zamora, M. (2020, November 10. Equitable Emergence: Telling the Story of “Equity Unbound” in the open. [Plenary Keynote]. Open Education Conference #OpenEd20. Slides https://bit.ly/miaha. YouTube video
Bali, M., Caines, A., Zamora, M. (2020, October 2020). How to Build Communities of Support for Teachers. EDEN #onlinetogether. http://www.eden-online.org/no-4-how-to-build-communities-of-support-for-teachers/ (recording)
Mini-course
Bali, M., Caines, A., & Zamora, M. (2021). Community Building Online (Learning Path). OneHE. https://onehe.org/resources/community-building-online/