8 Morehead State University
In early 2023, Morehead State University embarked on integrating open educational resources (OER) into its academic landscape. A dedicated committee participated in the American Association of College and Universities’ Institute on Open Educational Resources, crafting an action plan focused on faculty engagement and library resource integration. The immediate goal involves gathering data on faculty experiences and developing professional development initiatives on creative commons licensing and copyright law. For the 2024-2025 academic year, the focus shifts to faculty authorship, aiming to prepare them to create their own OER. Morehead State aims not only to save costs but also to enhance student retention and success through OER.
Two librarians, Stacy Scott and Lucinda Ward, are working collaboratively to develop a Pressbook OER and pursue Creative Commons certification courses. Their expertise will be shared to raise community awareness of the legalities surrounding OER. Morehead State University plans to showcase its journey and insights at the end of the fiscal year, celebrating its commitment to accessible and innovative education through OER.
Number of faculty starting: 2
Common questions:
- “Some of my students say they are having trouble editing or adding to existing chapters. I have tried to remedy this problem by adding them as authors to each chapter and by changing their status on the book from “author” to “editor” (after they told me they could only view the chapters and not edit them). Even after these changes, a student e-mailed me this afternoon and told me that, after another classmate added content to Chapter 2, she could not get in there and add to the chapter herself (she formed the assumption that only one person could author a chapter, which does not seem possible to me?). Do you have any insight as to what she might be doing wrong or what I might be doing wrong?“
- Which license should I pick?
- Why does the catalog view of my book not show an immediate update?
Marketing strategy:
- Advertising during an OER professional development
- Libguide
- Library meeting
- OER committee
- Faculty Senate
Graphic Design:
- Asked for graphic design students but this late in the semester, it couldn’t be incorporated into lesson plans nor were students available. Graphic design professor offered to do the books for free this semester. Created contact between author and graphic designer via email.
Administrative buy in:
- Dean of Libraries let the dean’s council know about pressbooks and made the provost aware.
Tutorials:
- 2 faculty involved thus far were shown the tutorials available via pressbooks.
Professional development:
- Brief overview of OER without demonstration.