Document Type
Blog
Publication Date
2-23-2022
Abstract
In late July 2021, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), in partnership with OpenStax and ISKME, convened its inaugural Institute on Open Educational Resources. The year-long institute began with a two-day synchronous virtual kickoff event. I was invited to participate as a member of the institute faculty. I welcomed this opportunity to take part and broaden my OER connections. Sixty-six institutions and consortia groups were selected to participate. As a faculty member, I was assigned mentoring duties for three campuses developing and implementing OER action plans. Each campus’s plan focuses on launching or expanding OER awareness and use on their respective campuses. I have been working with teams representing three diverse campuses. The three teams include a public historically Black university (HBCU), a mid-sized public suburban midwestern university that primarily serves undergraduates, and a small urban university with an enrollment almost evenly split between graduate and professional students and undergraduates. My one-year assignment entails meeting with each group, corresponding with team leaders throughout the year, and facilitating individual campus and joint sessions at the three virtual institute events. Halfway through the program, I re ected on my experiences working with these teams and found that through this experience, I have gained further con rmation of some beliefs about OER work I already held but have also gained new insight into others.