OpenEd20

The start of the Covid-19 pandemic meant that both libraries and centers for teaching and learning were critical go-to resources for faculty who had to quickly move to remote instruction. This quick shift to remote instruction was challenging in many ways and brought the inequities and hurdles present for our students into stark relief for staff and faculty. This includes the critical issues of affordability and accessibility. With the move to remote instruction and with the inequities for students revealed, the partnership between libraries and the educational developers at our center for teaching and learning was natural: Our libraries helped with open-access digital resources, leveraging existing library resources, supported faculty in the search for relevant resources, and helped with copyright issues. Center for teaching and learning staff, which include educational developers and online teaching experts, helped with shifting quickly from face-to-face to online instruction, provided supports for curriculum and course design, and provide expertise in effective instructor professional development. As we move from an emergency remote teaching mode to intentional online instruction, we are seizing this moment to build on all of the above to move OER forward at South Central College. This session will share how a community and technical college, pretty new to OER, can benefit and grow from the teamwork of librarians and centers for teaching and learning staff, enhancing accessibility and bringing much needed affordable resources to the campus.

Learning Outcomes: Participants will learn about the process of bringing OER to a community and technical college through the teamwork of the library and the center for teaching and learning. The skillsets of the two groups will be explored and will demonstrate the value of tapping into the strengths and expertise of these two college service departments. The presentation will provide insights in how to leverage existing campus expertise in order to bring OER to a rural community college.