OER 101: Incorporating Free and Open Learning Materials into your Classroom

Join us for a panel exploration of Open Educational Resources (OERs) from four faculty members already using them in their classrooms! OERs are educational materials and resources that are freely accessible to use, adapt, and share. As such, they provide a no/low-cost solution to rising textbook costs for students. However, they can also be beneficial in other ways. The ability to share and remix materials allows for a greater exchange of information and ideas and customizing content to a specific course or class can improve student engagement with the material. Learn about practical way OERs have been adopted into the classroom, from using open textbooks, to curating free-to-access resources, to developing your own OERs.

Panelists: 
Sandi Connelly is a Principal Lecturer in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences and the Associate Director of RIT’s Center for Teaching and Learning. She utilizes OpenStax textbooks in almost all her Biology courses, along with videos from JoVE and free web resources from UC Berkeley to help engage her students. 

Dustin Haraden is an assistant professor of Clinical Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts. He aims to create equity and increase access in psychological sciences and clinical practices and is a huge advocate for Open Sciences practices and principles. 

Jesse Redlo is the Program Manager of EMBA & Executive Education and an adjunct faculty member in the Saunders College of Business. Given the rapidly changing landscape of social media, he uses freely accessible podcasts, blogs, and articles from industry leaders. He finds this to be a timely and digestible way to engage with diverse groups of students. He also uses case study examples from colleagues working across a wide range of industries. 

Kaitlin Stack Whitney is an assistant professor in the Science, Technology & Society department in the College of Liberal Arts. She adapts and uses open materials, including readings, lesson plans, activities, case studies, and check-ins for her environmental studies courses. She has also developed her own OERs from her own teaching materials, which she has shared in several repositories such as Figshare and QUBES. 

To request an interpreter, visit: https://myaccess.rit.edu/