Learning Belongs in the Library — Exploring the Role of the Library in Curriculum Design and Course Technology Support Centered on Affordability, Engagement, and OER By Column Editor: David Parker (Publisher and Consultant; Phone: 201-673-8784) <david@parkerthepublisher.com> and Andrea Eastman-Mullins (Founder/CEO West End Learning; Phone: 336-448-3327) <andrea@westendlearning.com> and Joel Nkounkou (Founder/CEO Ecotext; Phone: 603-969-1926) <jnkounkou@ecotext.co>
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n the November 2021 installment of this column, I focused on regional variation in library etextbook acquisition across North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia/New Zealand and the impact of workflow solutions and university policy. I noted that affordability and the use of open access/ open education resources (OER) in curriculum design is of critical importance to libraries and that I would address this topic specifically in a future column. Over the past several months I have been engaged in an ongoing discussion concerning the place of the North American library and librarians regarding the adoption of OER with two leaders active in the space: Joel Nkounkou, CEO of ecoText: https://ecotext.co/ and Andrea Eastman-Mullins, CEO of West End Learning: https://www.westendlearning.com/. The central theme in our discussion has revolved around the many ways in which librarians have supported the adoption of OER in an institutional context that generally places OER on the periphery. To refer to OER as on “the periphery” may strike some readers as unfair given the growth of OER over the past decade plus; however, from the vantage point of administrative strategic direction concerning materials and curriculum, OER gets thin attention as compared to the role of the campus bookstore and the physical and digital learning materials there vended. One can make a credible argument that university leadership is simply responding to the faculty and its closely guarded prerogative to individually select course materials; the vast majority of faculty select traditional digital textbooks and courseware, not OER. Therefore, the university bookstore, the center for teaching and learning, and the campus technology center primarily exist to support faculty in its use of materials produced by the major textbook and learning technology companies. Were faculty to move in significant numbers toward OER, the senior university leadership would adjust its strategic emphasis and support in favor of OER. It is in this context that we then can view the place of the library in supporting the development and deployment of OER in course design. The executive leadership of the university has a potentially determining/driving role in supporting an “ecosystem” of OER adoption, but rarely does so (although there is more senior-level support for OER in the community colleges). The library leadership can emphasize the role of the library in delivering content in support of affordability, be that OER or advocacy for library-held content that can be used in course design at no incremental cost to students. Instructional designers and staff in the center for teaching and learning help faculty design courses that may, or may not, be inclusive of OER, but are typically disconnected from content resources in the library. And campus technology centers pull everything together for learning management system integration but, like instructional designers, are task and faculty support driven, and
38 Against the Grain / December 2021 - January 2022
are not considering content beyond that selected and delivered by the faculty member. This may appear a bleak view for OER. The administration rarely pushes for broader use of OER, with the notable exception of community colleges. The library increasingly supports OER and other routes to course content affordability. The instructional designers, teaching and learning staff, and the technology center work at a distance from the library. But, in increasingly common occurrences, actors from these various poles in the university ecosystem are aligning to support “Libraries are an individual faculty request with championing the the goal of broadening OER usage. use of affordable Two such examples follow from the experiences of EcoText and West resources and End Learning.
OER, and they
West End Learning was founded need help to to better connect faculty to affordsupport more able teaching materials available openly or via the library. Libraries faculty.” are championing the use of affordable resources and OER, and they need help to support more faculty. There is impressive open material available from scholars, associations, museums, and libraries waiting to be discovered. OERs are important for reuse and remixing, but the spectrum of affordable content is much broader. The first question at West End Learning was why faculty weren’t making better use of these materials. The West End Learning team began working directly with faculty to design courses using low-cost materials. The best outcomes were achieved when there was collaboration between faculty, the library, the center for teaching and learning, and instructional designers. At Salem College, for example, a private liberal arts college for women, the provost sponsored an initiative on instructional innovation, supporting 10 selected faculty from a variety of disciplines to convert their courses to use OER or affordable content. The faculty received small grants and support from the College. The group included the Director of Libraries, Elizabeth Novicki, and the head of the center for teaching and learning, Paula Young. Salem College didn’t have an instructional designer, so West End Learning provided this service. The library helped with eBook selections, textbook reserves, and laptop access to support courses. This was primairly a faculty-led effort, but it proved more useful when the library collaborated. It also gave the library a clearer line of vision into what was being taught on campus, which could inform collection development. West End Learning also worked with Christina Elson, Executive Director of the Wake Forest University Center for the Study
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