3 Using OER to Increase Student Access and Success
“Brigham Young University faculty survey seeks to advance open education through academic libraries” by opensourceway is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
In this learning area, we begin at the beginning and explore Open Educational Resources (OER) as a means of increasing student access and success.
Key Takeaways
- better understanding of nuts and bolts of faculty OER adoption, adaptation, and creation
- a deeper awareness of the various key people, their roles, and how they may be impacted by an OER initiative at your institution
- increased focus on the intersectionality of open and DEI/social justice
- a concrete set of strategies and techniques for increasing OER adoption and use at your institution that are aligned with your institution’s student success and DEI initiatives.
MAY 27-31: Asynchronous Activities
3.1 There are several resources to explore in this Learning Area.
First, Please review the following chapters from the SPARC OER Primer. (SPARC is the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, an OER advocacy group started by librarians and partnering with academic and research libraries across the U.S. and Canada.)
Second, explore Fixing the Broken Textbook Market from the students Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).
Third, check out this helpful review of OER research on efficacy and perceptions: Open educational resources and college textbook choices: a review of research on efficacy and perceptions
Finally, explore the Creative Commons website to gain an understanding of the value of open licenses and how they work.
3.2 Please read the following two articles and use Hypothes.is to annotate the articles. As you read, keep in mind the various institutional stakeholders, from students to the bookstores and beyond:
These Colleges Are Betting That Culturally Relevant Textbooks Will Improve Student Outcomes
The link to join our RLOE Hypothes.is group: RLOE Network.
Once logged into Hypothes.is, be sure you are in our group, RLOE Network, before you start annotating.
Some Places to Find OER
OER by Discipline Directory from BC campus
Merlot (includes Open and other free resources)
3.3 Answer all of the questions below for yourself. Then go to OEG Connect Learning Area 3 and post about the one question there. **IMPORTANT NOTE: You must be logged into OEG Connect in order for the link to work and take you directly to the discussion thread.
- How can your underserved students be better supported by the adoption of OER on your campus?
- How can you help your colleagues understand the benefits of incorporating OER into their courses?
- What are some of the challenges or barriers you might face?
- How can you help build and utilize student advocacy for OER?
3.4 Please be mindful that we are using OER as a way to address equity issues. In what ways will your strategic plan consider traditionally marginalized voices and underestimated communities in your institution’s use of open?
- Please DRAFT II. Key People in your strategic plan.
- You may find it helpful to use this Stakeholder Map Exercise. to help you write this section of your strategic plan.
- Please REVIEW at least three of your colleagues’ II. Key People section.
- Please PROVIDE FEEDBACK. This can be comments, reactions, questions.
- You can do this by using the Insert>Comment feature in Google Docs or by typing directly into the document.
- Remember that all our strategic plans are accessible in the Strategic Plans RLOE Cohort 3 Folder.
- Use this asynchronous collaborative opportunity to learn from each other and to enhance your own strategic planning.
THUR, JUNE 2: Synchronous Zoom Session
Week 1/Session 2
Zoom Session
THURS, JUNE 2, 2-4:30 EASTERN TIME
Find your time zone
Topics: OER and Student Access, Strategic Plan: Key People
