Oregon community college and university representatives attended and presented at the 2021 Open Education Conference, an annual convening for sharing and learning about open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open education initiatives. This dynamic gathering celebrates the core values of open education that strive to realize education ecosystems that are accessible, affordable, equitable and inclusive to everyone, regardless of their background.

Conference Takeaways

Here are some of the takeaways that Oregon attendees are thinking about after the event.

As someone new to Open Ed, I appreciated the “Getting started with OER” panel with specifics on where to find resources. There were so many great sessions. I learned there are so many ways to implement, support, promote, and collaborate on open education! – Anonymous

“Open” educational resource has a wider definition than I was previously aware of. – Michal Young, University of Oregon

My favorite presentations are the ones that show you how to do something – how to integrate a new tool, how to use or integrate tech (like google suite). I’m all about the practical presentations! – Anonymous

My takeaway is a professional opportunity to become more involved in an entrepreneurial community. This was both as a learning experience, but also being able to contribute as a presenter, reviewer, and session host. – Anonymous

OERs are not just great for reducing costs for students – they provide a multitude of ways faculty can engage students in scholarship and learning. The co-construction of OER is a valuable experience for students that can provide real-world experience and career readiness. – Anonymous

I reinforced my idea about the importance of open educational resources as a way to practice inclusive teaching and support equity practices. In addition, I learned that there is a strong community of faculty, students, and organizations that focus their efforts to increase the impacts of developing/modifying/adapting open educational resources. After participating in this worksop, I became a strong OER advocate! – Edgar Francisco Rosas Alquicira, Lane Community College

Open Education is a worldwide network. It is exciting to see educators working from all around the globe creating this dynamic public resource. – Anonymous

I have never felt more connected as an educator! – Jesse Bray, M.Ed., Portland Community College

Presentations

Oregonians were represented on the program. Here are the presentation materials created by our colleagues:

We Belong in STEM: Student-Created Scientist Spotlights in Introductory Astronomy Andrea Goering, Lane Community College

Scientist Spotlights are assignments which introduce diverse and counter-stereotypical STEM role models and “possible selves.” Traditionally, in an approach pioneered by Jeff Schinske, students review the biography and work of specific scientists, then write a critical reflection, including describing what they learned about who does science. Spotlights are shown to support students’ sense of belonging and science identity formation, which can improve persistence and success in STEM. While public materials are available for some STEM disciplines (at scientistspotlights.org), the available materials were limited for astronomy. Student-created Spotlights are one way to provide these missing materials. They are also a valuable pedagogical tool on their own, as they help students to sharpen their research skills and draw connections between scientists’ work and course themes. Finally, student-created Spotlights can provide the basis for a classroom conversation on diversity in STEM. I will describe my approach for curating student-created Spotlights, how to leverage the assignment to support student discussion on diversity, share the results of my implementation, and suggest further ideas to extend the assignment (including beyond STEM disciplines).

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Articulate the core purpose of Scientist Spotlights
• Describe how the open (student-created) approach differs from the traditional Spotlight approach, and how traditional Spotlight assignments can be supported by open Spotlight creators
• Explain how student-created Spotlights can provide the basis for classroom conversations on diversity (in STEM, or in other fields)

Slides

Watch the video

OER Development: Working with a Collaborative Community to Create Ancillary Materials Alishia Huntoon, Oregon Institute of Technology

Developing OERs is an important educational task and takes a lot of time and energy. Collaboration with others can make the task less burdensome, the materials more robust, and the process more enjoyable. This lightning talk will go through the process of developing open slides and test banks to accompany an existing open textbook in social psychology. It was accomplished through a collaborative effort of several professors and students across the United States. This was a long process with many stages, successes, and hurdles, with many lessons learned along the way. Collaboration in developing open materials is encouraged.

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Find collaborators to develop OERs
• Identify ways in which students can assist in developing OERs
• Have a process for working with others in OER development

Watch the video

Schedule Designation and Enrollment Research Shauna McNulty, Umpqua Community College; Jennifer Lantrip, Pacific University; Amy Hofer, Open Oregon Educational Resources

This is a research project among individuals representing three of Oregon’s community colleges that seeks to determine whether the no-cost/low-cost schedule designation required at Oregon’s community colleges and universities by HB 2871 has an effect on student enrollment behavior. Additionally, we seek to determine whether the no-cost/low-cost schedule designation has an effect on course completion and whether there is a different effect for traditionally underserved student populations.

Our research questions include:

• Does the presence of no-cost/low-cost schedule designation affect student enrollment behavior?
• Is there an effect on course enrollment (defined as the final number on the last day to add/drop)?
• Is there an effect on course fill rate (how quickly the course filled)?
• Is there an effect on course enrollment and fill rate based upon the time and/or day the course was offered or the delivery method?
• Is there a significant difference in enrollment intensity (number of credits enrolled per quarter per student) in courses with the no-cost/low-cost schedule designation compared to courses without the designation? Is there an additive effect (number of additional credits increases with enrollment in more designated courses)?
• Is there a significant difference in course enrollment, course fill rate, or enrollment intensity if the data is disaggregated by part-time vs full-time status, race/ethnicity, Pell grant eligibility, age, and sex/gender.

This research may be of interest to faculty who want to know whether their course material choice may have an impact on enrollment. Bookstore managers, registrars, schedulers, and others invest considerable effort to implement the no-cost/low-cost schedule designation and want to know that their work has an impact that benefits students. Finally, legislatures and administrators want to know how these designations affect students and any policy recommendations to increase benefits to students.

Join us to learn about our methodology, findings, conclusions, and recommendations for future studies.

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Learn the methodology, results, and conclusions of this study
• Learn about our suggestions for replicating and improving this study

Watch the video

Data for All: Experiences, Current Strategies, and The Future of Open Education Program Data David Ernst, Open Education Network; Jeff Gallant, Affordable Learning Georgia, University System of Georgia; Amy Hofer, Open Oregon Educational Resources; Sophie Rondeau, VIVA; Urooj Nizami, Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Open Education programs of all sizes and contexts regularly require quantitative and qualitative data collection, analysis, and reporting in order to demonstrate their impact. This imperative goes far beyond cost savings; programs often measure (1) faculty and student opinions, (2) student enrollment, persistence, and performance, (3) the level of subject-area or departmental participation, (4) the success of a new outreach or professional development activity, (5) educational equity, and much more. In an emerging field, integrity, reproducibility, and clarity in open education data collection and reporting is crucial to a program’s success and sustainability. Moreover, our data enables us to widely share our stories in order to celebrate champions and draw attention to issues that deeply affect students.

This panel of Open Education leaders from institutions, state systems, and a global network will talk briefly about their past experiences in dealing with data, their current plans and strategies in collecting and managing data, and what the future of Open Education data could, or should, look like. Ending with a 25-minute Discovery-Action-Dialogue microsession from Liberating Structures through a collaborative Google Doc, the panel aims to balance panelists’ input with the experiences and knowledge of attendees.

After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:

• Identify common practices in Open Education data management
• Detect barriers to success in data collection and reporting
• Understand new ways of approaching Open Education data, both current and prospective

Watch the video