Preface
Emily Scida and Bethany Mickel
These resources have been created in support of a curriculum for a learning community centered on OER and Open Pedagogy facilitated by the University of Virginia.
The materials have been divided into week-by-week segments to provide participants with ‘pre-work’ to scaffold the community discussions. A further description of the structure of the learning community follows. These materials are designed to be used in support of a similar community or viewed as a ‘primer’ for an introduction to OER and Open Pedagogy.
Learning Community: Improving Equity through Open Educational Resources
This learning community will support instructors interested in exploring inclusive teaching through open educational practices. Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials offered freely and under an open license, providing more equitable access to learning for all students through the elimination of textbook cost, reduction of barriers to learning, accessibility for all learners, and diversity in materials and approach. In this learning community, we will explore how OER and Open Pedagogy, the practice of engaging students in the creation of content, have the potential to empower learners and increase equity in higher education by giving voice to those from underserved and historically marginalized groups. By engaging in discussion and application of these ideas, participants will be ready to implement open educational practices into their teaching.
Outcomes
As a participant in this community, you will be able to:
- Describe the “5 R’s” of OER
- Describe the difference between OER and other free educational resources
- Examine the impact of OER use on student academic success
- Identify ways that OER promote educational equity and inclusion
- Choose ways to engage with Open (find, evaluate, remix, and create OER)
- Distinguish the types of Creative Commons licenses
- Discover the pedagogical advantages of Open Pedagogy
Takeaways
By the end of this program, you will leave prepared with the knowledge and skills to integrate OER in your teaching. You will leave the program with the following in your toolbox:
- Open resources to integrate into your own courses
- Repositories and resources for finding relevant OER
- Tools and criteria to evaluate OER
- An action plan for a future OER project or Open Pedagogy assignment
- Resources at UVA and beyond to support your work
- Outlets for sharing OER work
- Tools for publishing your work
The authors welcome comments and feedback at ees2n@virgina.edu and bbm9u@virginia.edu.
