International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 160

International Journal of Open Educational Resources
OER with backward design concepts.
Treasure Valley, like many other institutions,
had little institutional knowledge,
support, or access to innovation funds
for this work. Trunnell led more unfunded
textbook review workshops and
outreach efforts in the following year.
By the end of 2016, the number of faculty
utilizing OER had gone from one
to 15. For this community college, the
economic impact was significant.
With the passage of legislation
and the growth of the program, more
areas of the institution became involved.
Treasure Valley faculty members
were able to participate in discipline-specific
grants across institutions,
professional development opportunities,
and workshops. Despite the drive
and commitment by faculty to see education
become more accessible and to
develop new dynamic teaching practices,
the institution had few resources
to support the program. Faculty had to
seek outside sources to keep the program
growing. Partnering with faculty
at other institutions through Open Oregon
Educational Resources grants, participating
in statewide initiatives like
the Open Ed week round of events, and
trialing new ways to incorporate library
services into making OER more accessible,
the program has proved sustainable
and continuously viable for growth.
Treasure Valley’s OER program
continues to develop new materials for
courses that are not currently available
in the broader open community.
It also has developed a new type of instructional
design course for adopters/
adapters of OER that faculty inside and
outside of the institution take prior to
implementation. These unique efforts
and continued work have proved possible
only through support from the
Open Oregon Educational Resources
community, external funding sources
such as Open Oregon Educational Resources,
and the commitment by individual
faculty. The library’s role in supporting
faculty and student educational
outreach is vital to the success of open
education at the institution. In the spirit
of the movement, connections and
partnerships across departments, campuses,
and entities remain at the heart
of this program.
Discussion
The open education community
is a broad, global entity built on
sharing, making connections,
and collaborations. Yet, institutions do
not start new programs or initiatives
on a broad scale, but rather on a small
scale, specific to their capabilities and
needs. Academic institutions that embrace
open education initiatives also
have their own set of challenges. These
can be seen in various campus cultures,
access to funding, and broader awareness
of the initiative. The less obvious
challenges, such as access to instructional
support services or administrative
support, can equally hinder garnering
momentum for OER. Open Oregon
Educational Resources not only helps
to fill these gaps unique to each institution,
it provides the necessary sustenance
to sustain all campus initiatives.
At its inception, Open Oregon
Educational Resources, and more spe-
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