International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 230

International Journal of Open Educational Resources
Key Takeaways and Strategies
The survey made it immediately
apparent that there is a lack of
awareness or limited awareness
about OER on UNA’s campus. When
asked directly about awareness, close to
two-thirds of respondents selected “not
aware” or “have heard ... but don’t know
much.” Similarly, the highest responses
regarding deterrents to adoption were
“not aware” and “unsure of how to use.”
High numbers of neutral answers to the
other deterrents listed in this question
may also indicate a lack of or limited
awareness on campus.
Answers to several questions on
the survey suggest that instructors on
UNA’s campus are unsure about locating
and evaluating high quality resources
that meet the needs of their
courses. They are also concerned about
the time this activity takes. Among the
survey respondents, over two-thirds of
respondents teach at least one course
for which they have sole responsibility
for textbook selection. Instructors with
sole responsibility for course material
selection have more freedom to explore
alternatives for their courses. Survey
data also indicates that a large number
of current OER non-users would consider
using OER.
Efforts by the working group
on OER to raise awareness on campus
began as soon as they started reviewing
the survey data. In Spring 2018,
the working group offered workshops
and lectures about OER, copyright,
and scholarly communications. Outside
experts were brought to campus,
including Will Cross, Director of the
Copyright & Digital Scholarship Center
at North Carolina State University,
who led two days of OER information
sessions and a workshop about finding
and adapting OER for the classroom.
The library worked to bring the ACRL
Roadshow, Scholarly Communications:
From Understanding to Engagement, to
campus, an event aimed at librarians
and instructional designers from our
campus and the surrounding region.
Although these events were successful,
they only reached a limited number of
our campus instructors.
Results of the survey support
continuation of efforts to promote and
educate the campus community about
OER as a critical aspect of achieving
the aspiration of the strategic plan.
The working group is looking at other
potential outside speakers to invite to
campus. In addition, the working group
feels strongly that part of raising awareness
should include promoting the expertise
and services of librarians and
instructional designers on campus who
can help with the challenges identified
in the survey data, while offering practical
training on OER collections, tools,
and other assets. To that end they are
planning a series of talks/workshops
led by working group members on topics
such as using library tools to locate
OER, integrating OER into Canvas, and
customizing OER for the classroom. A
project to leverage LibGuides to highlight
quality OER resources by subject
is already underway.
A key component of the working
groups efforts will be offering a
grant program to instructors who
adopt, adapt, or create OER to help
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