From the Desk of: Garrett Trott’s Reflections on the 2022 Open Education Conference
/December 13, 2022
Atla awarded Garrett Trott, Mount St. Mary’s University, a scholarship to attend the 2022 virtual Open Education Conference, October 17-20. Garrett shares his takeaways from and reflections on the sessions she attended.
I had the privilege of attending the online 2022 Open Education Conference through a grant from Atla. Due to changes brought about because of COVID, we have all experienced online educational venues. Some online learning contexts leave much to be desired, including problems from technical issues and/or individuals aiming to shift what was going to be a face-to-face presentation to an online venue. I was a bit weary of “Zoom fatigue” when I filled out the application form for the grant to attend the 2022 Open Education Conference. I was nicely surprised by a number of quality presentations on topics that I found intriguing.
I had a single focus when it came to what I wanted to get from this conference. The institution for which I work is small (under 1,000 FTE). After a few conversations with key people at my institution regarding open access, one barrier continually arose: funding. From my experiences, I have seen that many administrators are familiar with OERs and even, to a certain degree, supportive of them, particularly when it comes to being an end-user of them in classrooms (i.e., using them as textbooks for students, curriculum, and other classroom uses). However, some are hesitant to support OER creation and/or policies encouraging OER use in classrooms. Why? Although I doubt this is true for all administrators, many see OER as cost-shifting, not cost-saving; that is, advocacy for an open access textbook may make education more affordable for students, but that cost often comes back to the university (for paying faculty for OER creation, purchasing software to support the hosting of OERs, etc.) – or at least this is often assumed by some administrators. Is OER truly saving university money, or is it simply shifting costs? If it can save the university money, can that money-saving venture work in a small institution?
Is OER truly saving university money, or is it simply shifting costs? If it can save the university money, can that money-saving venture work in a small institution?
While I did not find a direct answer to this question at the 2022 Open Education Conference, through one of the presentations entitled, “Creating More Consistency in OER Cost-Saving Measures and Benefit Calculation,” I was made aware of work that has been done in this area: specifically, a report entitled, “Toward Convergence: Creating Clarity to Drive More Consistency in the Benefits and Costs of OER” (https://www.mhec.org/resources/report-toward-convergence). This report was created by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (which is part of the National Consortium for OER) “to offer common principles and frameworks to improve consistency and reliability for measuring cost savings and the return on investment (ROI) of OER.”
While I have yet to thoroughly read this report, it was a notable presentation, providing some insight into developing a means through which OERs can be fiscally assessed. I am excited about what I can learn through this report and how it might help show some of the fiscal benefits that come with OER advocacy.
Another presentation that stood out was entitled, “Does OER Use Lead to Instructional Innovation?” The presentation was based on a recently published report which investigates if the use of OERs causes a shift in pedagogical strategies. A report of the research is available at: https://achievingthedream.org/teaching-and-learning-with-open-educational-resources/. This was intriguing because it argues that while OER is a critical piece to many educators (because it is a step in making education affordable), there is also what they referred to as OEP (Open Educational Pedagogy). This was my first exposure to this concept, and the content provides ample opportunity for me to reflect. The presentation defined OEP as practices that “use the affordances of OER to empower learners as co-producers of knowledge and value and incorporate diverse learners’ backgrounds, needs, and voices in their learning.” While I aim to support OERs, this presentation led me to ask myself, am I supportive of OEP? Do I practice OEP?
This ability to select what is covered in a course tends to allow students to take stronger possession of the course and often empowers them to do better in the course and the overall learning process.
One part of OEP is striving to design a course around what students want to learn. Granted, students often take courses on a certain topic because they are interested in it. But, as many librarians are aware, there are many avenues that a course can explore and still be in the domain of that course. It is very standard for there to simply be too much content for a course, giving the instructor the opportunity and privilege to choose between what is and what is not covered in a course. One aspect of OEP, the presenters argued, is that OEP allows students to choose topics covered in a certain domain. This ability to select what is covered in a course tends to allow students to take stronger possession of the course and often empowers them to do better in the course and the overall learning process.
These were only two of the approximately fifteen-time slots available for presentations. This was a great investment for me and gave me much to consider as I aim to learn more about OERs and how I can properly implement them at my own institution. I am grateful to Atla for the funding and how the 2022 Open Education Conference provided a great opportunity to grow in my own application for OER.
Are you interested in future professional development opportunities? Keep an eye on the Atla blog for announcements about free webinars, conference grants, and other professional development.
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