What We Found Behind the Door: Insights and Obstacles in OER Adoption

Presenter Information

Bonnie J. Robinson, University of North GeorgiaFollow
Laura J. Getty, University of North GeorgiaFollow

Presentation Type

Presentation

Location

Teams.

Start Date

9-4-2025 2:00 PM

End Date

9-4-2025 2:50 PM

Description

In Spring 2023, a three-workshop online OER Academy challenged faculty to confront the unknown—what OER are, how to find them, and how to integrate them into teaching. Participants embarked on a journey to identify openly-licensed resources, tackle barriers to adoption, and reimagine their courses through scaffolded assignments and final projects. For the 19 faculty involved, the experience ranged from revelation to resistance: five entered with some OER experience, while the rest began at square one, unsure even of what OER meant. The Academy became a crucible where pedagogical doors were opened—to “the lady” of opportunity or “the tiger” of complexity—but for many, the tiger prevailed. Despite this, the series revealed critical insights into the barriers educators face and highlighted the potential of OER to reshape teaching practices for those able to navigate its challenges. This presentation serves its target audience by offering practical strategies for identifying, evaluating, and integrating OER into teaching. It explores real-world barriers and opportunities in OER adoption, highlights methods for stakeholder engagement, and provides actionable insights for building collaborative OER communities across disciplines.

Author Bios

Laura J. Getty is Professor of English at the University of North Georgia. She served as the Editor-in-Chief for an open access World Literature I anthology, a co-editor for a British Literature I anthology, and as a contributing editor for a World Literature II anthology. She is the author of Islands and Captivity in Popular Culture: A Critical Study of Film, Television and Literature (2021).

Bonnie J. (B.J.) Robinson, PhD (University of Virginia), serves as Director of the University of North Georgia Press, an affiliate of the Association of University Presses. In collaboration with Affordable Learning Georgia and eCore, she has overseen the publication of 32 peer-reviewed open textbooks, with three more in progress. She has presented widely on open textbooks and OER and secured numerous OER/OA publishing grants, including a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Start-Up.

Comments

Acquire teaching and learning methods for

(1) Identifying what are and are not OER;

(2) Locating and reviewing readily-available OER across the disciplines;

(3) Identifying and engaging OER stakeholders, including administration, faculty, and students; and

(4) Building a community of practice with OER users and scholars.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.