Dr. Karen Pikula is a Psychology Instructor for Central Lakes College and OER Faculty Development Coordinator for Minnesota State. Dr. Pikula has created an innovative way to maintain engagement and progress in faculty adoption and creation of OER. Her OER Learning Circles provide facilitated pathways for faculty to author ancillary materials, redesign their courses with OER, or author their own OER. Participants receive not only guidance and encouragement from leaders and peers, but also and importantly recognition and compensation for their OER output.
Open Education is expanding in scope beyond just providing lower-cost textbooks. OER now can provide increased accessibility, new forms of active participatory learning, and can be used to address inequities inside and outside the classroom. The Learning Circle model allows participants to showcase their own efforts and share a variety of experiences and new ideas.
Prior to OER, instructors had been constrained by the materials made available by publishers. OER allows faculty to tailor materials specifically to course objectives, learning outcomes, and student needs. The flexibility to “remix” openly-licensed content allows incredible flexibility, but can be a daunting prospect for new users of OER. The Learning Circle format smooths the path to from adoption to adaptation to authoring.
This session will showcase several faculty and librarians who have participated in and benefited from the OER Learning Circle model. They will describe their experiences, their projects, and how many of them were able to use this opportunity to address issues of accessibility, diversity, equity and cultural relevance.
Several of the panelists are veterans of a number of Learning Circles; some have taken part in an additional Learning Circle Leader cohort and have begun working with administrators to host OER Learning circles on their own campuses, and will share this experience as well.
Learning Outcomes: This session will provide participants with new ideas for how to support, develop, and grow OER adoption on their campus, and improve their use of OER materials in their own professional practice. Participants will receive testimonials from Learning Circle members, describing their OER projects and how the Learning Circle format facilitated their work.
OER Faculty Development Coordinator, Minnesota State
Supporting faculty in adopting OER, redesigning courses and authoring of OER materials through collaborative cross disciplinary OER Learning Circles.Print on Demand Services. Z-Degree (zero Textbook cost AA degree). I am interested in talking to anyone about their experiences in using... Read More →
Asst. Professor/ History, Bemidji State University
I taught Environmental, US, and World History at Bemidji State University (this will be my sixth and final year due to university budget crisis) and write OER textbooks that you can find in the Open Textbook Library. I was the inaugural Director of BSU's Equity Certificate Program... Read More →
Associate Professor of Social Work, Metropolitan State University
I am an associate professor of social work at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. My journey to the use and creation of OERs has provided me with new creative outlets, enhanced teaching strategies, and more connections with students. I've taught for more than 20... Read More →
Librarian/Instructor, Minneapolis Community & Technical College
Rebecca March (she/her/hers) has worked at Minneapolis Community & Technical College as a librarian and instructor since 2011. She loves teaching and does lots of professional development to learn how to make her instruction better. She has also served as a consultant for her school's... Read More →
