Despite growing OER awareness among faculty, many higher education institutions lack a full-time, dedicated person who leads and works exclusively on open education initiatives (BayView Analytics 2020 Report). If there is a dedicated person, they seem to require an all-encompassing range of skill sets and knowledge, ranging from program development and conference planning to open education, scholarly communication, and instructional design (Larson). So it is no surprise that OER efforts across U.S. academic libraries are often directed by individuals with other responsibilities. How can libraries of any size (or other departments outside of the library) create roles, manage projects, and mobilize stakeholders so that their open education initiatives are scalable, sustainable, and impactful? What skill sets and expertise levels are needed?
Temple University Libraries established an Open Education Working Group in Fall 2019, a cross-functional group formed with staff and librarians from various units of the Libraries. Two members will discuss the creation of this group, how we developed shared goals, which initiatives we manage and how we assess our progress. We will also discuss the various campus stakeholders who help us advance a culture of “open” on our campus and with whom we collaborate to varying levels of success. We will talk about our marketing and outreach strategies to keep the campus updated about open education.
Attendees will have time to brainstorm one or more of the following: new ways to engage their own campus community around open education initiatives, identify potential stakeholders on their campus, or articulate a change they want to make to the way they run their own campus open education group.
After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
- Articulate roles in an open education working group
- Brainstorm a shared vision and goals for an open education working group
- Identify partners on campus to advance open education goals
- Take away ideas for possible open education initiatives
- Discuss strategies for marketing open education initiatives
