Open Educational Resources (OER)

Open Educational Resources (OER) are educational materials (e.g., textbooks, videos, lesson plans) that anyone can use, revise, adapt, and distribute at no cost. OER help instructors create more inclusive and engaging learning experiences for students, breaking down cost and access barriers and providing opportunities for students to be empowered as creators (not just recipients) of knowledge. 

There are two ways to get involved:

Open Educational Resources (OER) Community of Practice (CoP)

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Ronica Rooks and Rachel Stott will lead a CU Denver Open Educational Resources (OER) Community of Practice (CoP) for fall 2022-spring 2023 with funding and support from the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE), Associate Vice Chancellor for Digital Strategy and Learning, and the Auraria Library. This opportunity will be open to all Instructors and Faculty from the various Colleges and Schools at CU Denver.

Our OER CoP will be offered to new users of OER, including those who are looking to adopt or possibly adapt OER. We plan to have guest speakers, share ideas, and practice searching and using OER databases and websites.

The OER CoP will meet monthly for an hour to an hour and a half from October to December 2022 and February to April 2023. We envision three meetings for each semester, with 10 Instructor or Faculty slots and $1,500 stipends for each participant (covered by the CDHE funding for 2022-2023).

The OER CoP will focus on six topic areas:

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1. What are OER and what are the benefits and considerations for including OER when selecting course materials. What are student responses/assessments of OER?
2. Identifying places to incorporate OER into your course. How do you begin transitioning your existing syllabi to integrate OER using backward design or a micro design process?
3. Searching for OER (textbooks and ancillaries such as exam questions and answer keys, slides, case studies, podcasts, videos, images, etc.) in repositories, referatories, producers, and the open web.
4. Evaluating OER quality for content, accessibility, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. Conducting peer reviews.
5. Open Pedagogy and OER.
6. Creative Commons licenses, the 5Rs, and Adapting/Remixing OER.

Bonus Topic: Scaling up – additional OER resources in the future; other internal and external funding/support opportunities; hosting/sharing remixes or adaptations; attending or presenting local and other conferences to stay networked.

OER CoP Instructors and Faculty will commit to the following deliverables:

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• Participation in at least five of the six meetings for the academic year 2022-2023.
• Update your syllabi with OER materials to be used within one year of the CoP.
• Create a student assessment of OER materials being incorporated or complete a peer review of an existing OER.
• If you adapt any OER, share your work on the open web with a Creative Commons license.

Apply to Join

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If you are interested in joining our OER CoP, please complete an application by September 9, 2022. The application consists of demographic information on your School/College, the course you plan to use OER in, and a 300-word essay about your awareness of OER and why you are interested in using OER materials in your course. Applications will be reviewed with a view of creating a cross-disciplinary cohort for this CoP that represents Schools and Colleges across CU Denver. We will make our decisions by late September and begin our OER CoP in October 2022.

OER Committee

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Many faculty across CU Denver have engaged in the Open Educational Resources (OER) community. This new committee will bring faculty together from a range of disciplines to strengthen the role of OER across the institution. For more information, contact Ronica Rooks and Jessica Critten. 

Rationale

CU Denver needs a focused group on this topic which is aligned with our strategic goal to be an equity serving institution. OER has been shown to create more equitable and inclusive learning experiences for marginalized students, reducing barriers to education access.

Summary

The committee will be charged with recommending and implementing activities, tools, and incentives that will promote the widespread adoption of OER. The OER Committee will meet monthly or bimonthly to discuss the vision for OER, strategies, upcoming events/grants, presentation opportunities, and the progress of developing capacity for OER at CU Denver.

Structure

The committee would be co-led by Ronica Rooks (CLAS) and Jessica Critten (TIPS). The committee size would be ~10 individuals with representation from each school and college as well as the Auraria Library.

Scope

In the first year, the committee will document the current state of OER on campus and have focus groups to determine what resources/support faculty need to implement OER. In the second year and beyond, the committee will focus on initiatives to support OER on campus.