International Journal of Open Educational Resources Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2019/Winter 2020 | Page 68

International Journal of Open Educational Resources
meeting and subsequent email communications,
the working group members
finalized their mission statement,
solidified the short-term project list
for Fall 2019 with group members volunteering
to collaborate on the various
action items, and outlined a roadmap
and vision for the long-term. Several
short-term projects were initiated in
August. Those projects included establishing
an OER communication group
within the campus web portal, surveying
the faculty to determine current use
of and interest in OER, participating
in the Provost’s Teaching & Learning
Symposium in September, and planning
activities focusing on OER during
National Distance Learning Week in
November. The university web portal,
myUMBC, enables various administrative
offices, academic programs, clubs,
and interest groups to share and posts,
events, and other information with the
university community. The portal provides
the ability to disseminate materials
and inform the campus stakeholders
of activities and upcoming initiatives
in which they may want to participate.
The working group created a subcommittee
charged with establishing and
populating the OER discussion group
within the university portal. Thus far,
the portal has been used to announce
upcoming OER webinars and workshop
events at the state and institutional
levels, such as the OER Lunchtime
Roundtable event in November during
National Distance Learning Week.
To gain a greater understanding
of the level of faculty awareness and use
of OER at UMBC, the OER working
group prepared a survey of 15 branched
questions using the Qualtrics platform
(see Appendix for survey questions).
Questions were collaboratively drafted
and revised using a shared Qualtrics
group project, and then distributed via
email by the Director of the Faculty Development
Center, also a member of the
OER working group. The director sent
out the survey the week prior to the
start of the fall semester, and once again
during the third week of the semester.
The survey included questions such as
“What challenges do you face or anticipate
regarding OER adoption?” and
“How would you rate your awareness/
use of OER?” As of October 15, 2019,
the working group has received 104 faculty
responses from the survey, which
represents about a 12.5% response rate
from the total population of about 830
full and part-time instructional faculty
on campus (University of Maryland
Baltimore County, n.d.-a).
The survey results provide a
snapshot of faculty awareness and use of
OER as it currently stands across a wide
range of departments and disciplines
at UMBC. While information-gathering
regarding faculty awareness needs
to be ongoing, the survey provides insight
into the level of OER involvement
at UMBC within the first six months
of the initiation of the campus OER
working group. The survey responses
indicate that there is an interest in OER
professional development events and
programs on campus. When prompted
at the end of the survey to include
their contact information to learn of
OER resources, events, and grants, 69
respondents did so. This is anindication
that a number of faculty may be willing
60