Open Educational Resources Initiatives at the University of Wisconsin – Superior By Travis Mann (Librarian, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) <mann@upjohn.org> and Emily Moran (Instructional Designer, University of Wisconsin-Superior) <emoran4@uwsuper.edu> and Stephanie Warden (Associate Director/Information Literacy Librarian, Jim Dan Hill Library, University of Wisconsin – Superior) <swarden1@uwsuper.edu>
T
he OER Committee within the Center for Learning, Innovation, and Collaboration (CLIC) at the Jim Dan Hill Library at the University of Wisconsin – Superior started in 2020 with scant resources in an environment that was not familiar with open educational resources. There had been attempts to promote the use and creation of these resources, but those efforts were largely ad hoc and had very little opportunity for collaboration between the CLIC and university faculty and staff. It quickly became evident that one-off workshops were not going to move the needle on the adoption and creation of OER. Things changed, however, when the library and former Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) merged in July 2020. Suddenly their faculty development funding and additional three staff members were available to focus on and create many dynamic opportunities for the creation and adoption of OER. Instead of just presenting lectures to a glass-eyed audience, we could create more authentic opportunities for participants to engage with the committee and each other, deepening their understanding and commitment to using open materials. The “Instead of committee began our efforts with a just presenting sum of $7,000 to start with.
lectures to a glass-eyed audience, we could create more authentic opportunities for participants to engage with the committee and each other, deepening their understanding and commitment to using open materials.”
Our approach to programming for faculty and staff is to be practical and adaptable. Our goal is for participants to engage at the point at which they are most comfortable and continue honing their skills and gaining the confidence to create or adopt an OER. The programs are constructed to give entry points to learners of various expertise with OER, so they can choose to engage in activities that are ideal for beginners or for more advanced users/creators of OER. These activities were designed by the committee, and many made use of existing activities that were given an OER flavor.
One such activity, the Superior Learning Experience (SLE), is an example of an existing activity repurposed for OER. This activity is a six-week cohort of five instructors from any discipline during which monetarily incentivized participants learn about a topic and incorporate that information into a course during the following academic year. One member of our committee led a cohort focused on adopting OER during the summer of 2021 and a second cohort focused on developing an Open Pedagogy assignment during the
Against the Grain / December 2023 - January 2024
summer of 2022. The cohort experience creates a networking opportunity between people doing instruction at the university and people who are experts in the areas of open scholarship. It also allows people to learn together and from each other, sharing concrete, real-world examples of how it can work in the field. This compensated experience often draws in new instructors and leads them to continue pursuing open educational practices. Another instructor-focused activity that we offer is the OER Intensive Workshop. This is a compensated opportunity for participants to learn the basics about open resources, Creative Commons, and other pertinent topics. Participants are also asked to submit a review of an open textbook through the Open Education Network. This serves as an entry point for faculty and staff to learn about OER and is flexible so that participants with experience using OER can skip the basics. It gives them experience reviewing an open textbook and the opportunity to interact with open textbooks and their ancillary materials in general, which helps to address the negative stereotypes surrounding OER, such as that they are low quality. Almost half of the attendees ended up using the book they reviewed as part of the program in their classes after participating. This is, of course, no small thing, considering that for many this is their first time or one of their first times dabbling in the world of OER. In addition, this cohort program provides more networking opportunities both within and outside of the cohort. For example, one year, an instructor connected with the author of a textbook they reviewed and partnered with them on a project. Our OER Mini-Grant Program is a compensated opportunity for instructors to explore creating or adopting textbooks that they may not otherwise explore. Faculty and staff can apply for grants including adoption, creation, and departmental, and the grants range in value from $600 to $2,000, depending on the type. Recipients are expected to meet one-on-one with librarians, who are Creative Commons certified, as they work on their projects. This program has had the biggest impact on student savings, with approximately $12,000 saved for students across classes including Appreciation and History of Music (MUS U660-101), Methods: Agency, Comm, and Macro (SWK 366)/Macro Skills (PLI 366), Reading Academic Texts (ESL 131), and Chemistry of Everyday Phenomena (CHEM 102) in 2022-23. The committee also projects a savings of $40,000 in the 2023-24 school year with the addition of classes including Introduction to Contemporary Math (MATH 112), Behavior Analysis Intervention (SPED 760), Interpersonal Communication (COMM 211), Teach Elementary/ Middle School Math II (MTHED 323), and Human Structure and Function (HLTH 264/265). In addition to the obvious benefits to the students, this activity increases instructor confidence in their own subject matter expertise and allows instructors to engage authentically with the course materials.
<https://www.charleston-hub.com/media/atg/>
19
