2022 Session Descriptions – Northeast OER Summit | USA | Open Educational Resources

"...How do we revitalize the OER movement and not become complacent with our success to date? A Call to Action. Speaker: Robert J. Awkward, Assistant Commissioner for Academic Effectiveness, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. Open Educational Resources (OER) have served as a disrupter to the current oligopolistic publishing market. As result, the costs of textbooks and instructional materials have declined, more students have access to their learning materials day one and, as a result, student learning has improved—especially for minoritized students—according to recent studies. Yet, the growth of awareness and adoption of OER has leveled off. There is no current sustainable economic model for open. OER is supported by and dependent on foundations and higher educational institutions. The publishers, through the use of inclusive access and automatic billing, have adapted to OER and continue to attempt to achieve profit maximization. Thus, we must all begin to think about where OER is going in the current eco-system. How can we build a sustainable economic model? Given the pressures higher educational institutions are feeling from declining enrollments; changing demographics; faculty feeling overworked and under-recognized for their contributions, especially during Covid; and the need to provide more services to ensure student success with declining state and federal support, how does OER not just survive as a part of the marketplace, but thrive? These are the issues we will explore and consider. This presentation is not intended to provide the answers, but to serve to catalyze for us all to think about the issues and possibilities....

Now You See It. Now You Don’t: Lessons Learned about Losing Funding for an OER Initiative. Presenter: Reta Chaffee, Granite State College. In 2011, the University System of NH provided significant funding to support the increased use of technology in teaching and learning. The newly formed Academic Technology Steering Committee, whose membership included faculty and academic technology directors, developed a program that brought faculty together for an annual faculty training event. In 2016, the focus of this event shifted to OER and Open Pedagogy which continued through 2021 when the funding was not renewed unexpectedly. But not all was lost. In this session, we will discuss what was lost and what was gained in the process. We will also have time for the audience to share their own ideas for sustainability....

Developing OpenPublishing Within the OpenNJ Open Education Repository. Presenters: Marilyn N. Ochoa, Middlesex College and Mark V. Sullivan, Sobek Digital. This session will cover development of the OpenPublishing platform which integrates into an open open-source, standards-based SobekCM digital repository (OpenNJ) to host open educational resources. This OpenNJ system developed for the open textbook collaborative project and funded by the United States Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Program included a technology-based strategy for continuous improvement open repository that includes the inauguration of the first national Career and Technical Education (CTE) Course OER Collection. This affordable solution allows for searching for, creating, hosting, and integrating OER (textbooks, quizzes, lectures, and more) into learning management systems (LMS) and other systems in the seamless way. To promote active learning, this solution provides a new opportunity for faculty to create online learning materials which can be incorporated in an LMS while also encouraging sharing of the OER throughout the larger educational community. This personalized learning experience within the system creates opportunities to engage with students as creators of information rather than as only consumers; this is a hallmark of open pedagogy in which faculty and students learn and create knowledge together, which can transform instruction and student improve learning outcomes (Allen et al., 2015). We will demo the OpenPublishing tool and discuss the overall workflow. The presenters will lead an open discussion with the participants about creation of material and additional needs for OER use, creation, and reuse. Potential OER content users and creators are encouraged to come and bring ideas and their own experiences with them to facilitate the discussion...."