International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 36

International Journal of Open Educational Resources
able to locate suitable resources for this
course, but they did identify OER materials
ideal for their 100-level course.
They did not have time to rework their
100-level course for Fall 2019, but they
anticipate amending their proposal and
teaching with OER in a future term.
Based on these experiences, it is realistic
to incorporate a one-year course
implementation period for OER course
revisions, beginning after faculty members
have completed training.
Changes were made to the grant
application in Fall 2019 to more specifically
identify and reward the types of
projects expected to have the highest
impact. The new application clarifies
the priority of the grant to fund faculty
adoption of OER materials in course
sections offered on a recurring basis for
first-, second-, and third-year students.
It now excludes applicants who teach
courses that currently utilize OER or
have little or no materials costs to students
unless the course is substantially
revised during the award period (CofC,
2019).
Conclusions
Overall, faculty perceptions of
the OER grant program initiative
have been positive. Faculty
stated that they found the program to
provide an opportunity to reduce costs
for students, add flexibility in course
design by using open-access digital materials,
and provide instructors with the
opportunity to utilize current content
not generally available in printed textbooks.
Instructors found this particularly
germane in technology-focused
classes. Some instructors were overwhelmed
by the number of resources
available for their discipline but stated
that working with a librarian on their
specific learning goals and sharing resources
with others was a valuable part
of the experience. Grant recipients reported
that they found the grant program
useful and indicated that it encouraged
them to take a new approach
to their course design.
In particular, the CoI model appears
to be a useful approach for a faculty
development program. By considering
each element—teaching, social, and
cognitive presence—librarians facilitated
a full educational experience for
faculty, who in turn are better equipped
to facilitate the same for their students.
There are early indications that the
OER grant program has impacted educational
experiences at the classroom
level. For example, one participant
teaching a Women’s and Gender Studies
course was motivated to apply for a
grant because she wanted to reduce the
cost burden for her students. In an October
2019 interview shared on CofC’s
private social media site for faculty and
staff (Rose, 2019), she shared that she
initially felt intimidated by some of the
technical terms and technology being
discussed by other participants in the
course. Once she completed the course
and began experimenting with her
course redesign, however, she found
herself incorporating more and more
non-traditional resources and technology
components, such as blogs and videos.
She even created a website to contain
her syllabus and all class readings,
making her course content fully open
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