OpenEd20

While there are more students than any other type of open education stakeholder on college campuses and are the central reason for our colleges’ existence, they are often underrepresented in program creation and advocacy efforts. Oftentimes, one hears from OER community members that it can be hard to identify and sustain student involvement, given the short period of time that they are enrolled and available.

Including students from the initial planning period through the rollout of a full-scale program not only improves community buy in and participation, but also creates a real call for long-term, sustainable investment in OER. Including students does require some planning, but the efforts are well worth the results.

The session will use a case study of the ongoing CALPIRG Students campaign to establish a UC-wide open textbook grant program, as well as examples from other successful past efforts, to illustrate the best practices of engaging students in open textbook advocacy. Starting with where to find students, to setting goals and common talking points, and co-planning a strategy to gain sustained OER funding and support, this presentation is grounded in the experiences of a full time community organizer and full time students.


Learning Outcomes:
Participants will walk away with the best practices for establishing a working relationship with student leaders, tips for creating effective goals, and ways to build sustainability into plans. We will also cover solving some of the most common issues those engaging with students face - with solutions to those problems suggested by students themselves.