OER Liaisons

Welcome! As someone who is newer to OER, your fresh perspective is especially valued and appreciated. Please remember that there are no bad questions – use the OERI team – and our resources – as needed. While there may be things that others have figured out and you’ll be the beneficiary of the lessons learned, there are sure to be instances where your challenge is a shared one – and your fresh perspective just might be what is needed to find a resolution. Sharing and problem-solving is part of the OER culture – embrace it.

As a new OERL, what should you do?

• Complete your tasks as delineated in the term’s expectancies document.
• Introduce yourself locally. Share with your faculty colleagues, part-time and full-time, that you are the college’s OERL and that your role is to share resources with them – as well as communicate their needs to the OERI. An e-mail to your colleagues would be appropriate, as would a visit to your local senate and other relevant committees. If you are not actively connected to the college governance system, consult with your local senate president to determine what connections you should be making.
• Determine the status of OER at your college.
  • If no one has provided the OERI with information regarding the number of courses and sections at your college using the no-cost designation (as required by SB 1359) during the fall term of the current academic year, provide that information to the OERI. If you are not sure what to do, please ask for assistance.
  • If information regarding the use of the no-cost designation has been provided, explore the criteria used for making this determination and determine whether or not these course sections tend to be using OER or not. In other words, educate yourself regarding the use of this designation as an initial exploration into the status of OER at your college.
• Engage faculty in one or more disciplines about their use of OER – why or why not are they using OER?

As someone who is very familiar with OER, you’re in a unique position to formalize your role as an OER advocate and to impact local OER attitudes and adoption. As someone with an intermediate knowledge base, we look forward to having you share your expertise, as well as your local OER challenges. Nothing about the OERI is top-down – as a faculty-lead initiative, our focus is on leveraging the existing knowledge and experience in our system – please don’t ever be afraid to share. Please note that some of the tasks listed below may be things that you have done or that simply are not necessary given your OER background. We’ve included the steps we are encouraging our beginners to take as a starting point to ensure that there is some consistency, as appropriate, to your local OER advocacy efforts.

As an intermediate OERL, what should you be doing?

1. Complete your tasks as delineated in the term’s expectancies document.
2. Introduce yourself locally. Share with your faculty colleagues, part-time and full-time, that you are the college’s OERL and that your role is to share resources with them – as well as communicate their needs to the OERI. An e-mail to your colleagues would be appropriate, as would a visit to your local senate and other relevant committees.
3. Determine the status of OER at your college.
   • If no one has provided the OERI with information regarding the number of courses and sections at your college using the no-cost designation (as required by SB 1359) during the fall term of the current academic year, provide that information to the OERI. If you are not sure what to do, please ask for assistance.
   • If information regarding the use of the no-cost designation has been provided, explore the criteria used for making this determination and determine whether or not these course sections tend to be using OER or not. In other words, educate yourself regarding the use of this designation as an initial exploration into the status of OER at your college.
4. Engage faculty in one or more disciplines about their use of OER – why or why not are they using OER?
5. Explore the following:
   • Printing OER. Has a process for making printed OER available been established? If not, what are the barriers?
   • Informing students of OER. What information does your course schedule provide to students regarding the OER being employed in a given course? Are students provided with information for accessing or obtaining OER resources in advance of a course’s start? Is there room for improvement in how this communication is handled?
   • Has your local senate formally indicated it’s support for the use of OER?
6. Identify next steps related to the items in #5 – and take them.