On June 5 through June 7, Summer Sprint OER fellows met in person for the first time as a cohort. Explained their projects, and their goals, and build comradery among one another. Led by Diversity Resident: Scholarly Communications Librarian, Haley Norris, the OER Summer Sprint Program provides instructors with a stipend, the expertise of librarians and instructional technologists, and the opportunity to learn alongside their peers. This year’s fellows are required to adopt or adapt low-cost course materials using a variety of Open Educational Resources (OER). These fellows had an interest in and a vision for making their course materials as low-cost as possible for their students.
Each day the fellows had a variety of workshops in the mornings and in the afternoon and had the opportunity to work in an open space together. During these free-working sessions, they were assisted by librarians as they worked through their materials independently. The workshops featured information on accessibility and equitable course design, analyzing primary sources in OER, and understanding basic copyright.
Fellows had the opportunity to learn about equitable course design from Lisa Kurz. The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) provided fellows with ideas and ways of approaching course content in an inclusive and equitable way by focusing on learner-centered course design. By focusing on creating a universal design for learners, fellows had the opportunity to approach their course materials in a way that is constantly evolving because of feedback from diverse student perspectives.
For finding primary sources in OER, the fellows had a field trip to the IU University Archives located on the fourth floor of Wells Library. Carrie Schwier led fellows through the various services the University Archives has to offer while giving fellows the opportunity to work through a student worksheet that has students provide analysis of what they notice and think about primary sources. Meanwhile, Maddye Webb-Mitchell led fellows through a catered film archive based on their course content gathered from the Moving Images Archive.
To manage the different copyright licenses the OER content fellows heard from Naz Pantaloni. Fellows were able to determine which content was appropriate for OER digital databases including Pressbooks or IU Canvas. By the end of the sprint, fellows had completed the first module of their projects.
Meet the fellows, and find out more information below:
Annie (Baugh) Edwards is a Visiting Lecturer in Mathematics. Annie coordinates the College Algebra and Finite Math courses. Their project involves adapting supplemental course material at a more affordable rate, creating more access to the material, and improving overall success for math students. They received their Master of Science from IUPUI in 2016.
Ann Bunger is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. They teach introductory linguistic courses and carry out research in Psycholinguistics and Language Acquisition. Ann’s project involves adjusting course materials to free OER materials to increase equitability in their introductory Linguistics course. They received their Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2006.
Juan Ignacio Mora is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Latino Studies Programs. Juan teaches courses on Latinxs, Latin American and Caribbean migration, labor, and citizenship. Their OER project will eliminate the cost of textbooks in their course on the American Borderlands. They received their Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021.
Beaudelaine Pierre is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor in Gender Studies. Beaudelaine teaches a gender studies course that examines the popular and cultural meaning-making of gender representation. Their research explores relationships and systems of power through an Afro-Caribbean lens. Beaudelaine’s project is concerned with creating digital OER content which includes multi-media sources. They received their Ph.D. from Université d’État d’Haïti – University of Minnesota.
Are you interested in OER?
A new call for proposals for the Course Material Fellowship Program (CMFP) will be shared in August 2023. For more information about Open Educational Resources and the CMFP, visit the Course Materials Fellowship Program website. Any instructor interested in the CMFP or affordable course materials is welcome to e-mail iusw@iu.edu.
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