Open Educational Resources: OER at UP

Open Educational Resources Faculty Workshop

Listen to a discussion about what OER is, why it matters, and how you can support it.

On February 11, 2022 the Clark Library hosted an insightful panel discussion about the pros and cons of OERs. The panel included three UP faculty members who have made the switch to open textbooks: Carolyn James (Mathematics), Beth Morton (Chemistry), and Ross Hanig (Economics). Karen Bjork, Head of Digital Initiatives and leader of OER initiatives at Portland State University, opened the panel discussion and shared their experiences with OER. 

In Summer 2022, the Clark Library, in partnership with the Provost's Office and each school and college on campus, offered a $200 stipend to faculty who agreed to review a textbook in their field from the OEN Textbook Library, with the goals of increasing faculty familiarity with open textbooks and contributing to our shared understanding of the quality of these resources.

After reviewing an OER textbook of their choosing, faculty were asked if they were likely to adopt an OER textbook. Our short survey found that 86% of the seven respondents would recommend textbook review to colleagues. 86% of them answered that they were likely to adopt an open educational textbook, and two respondents mentioned adopting portions of the textbook or modules from the textbooks they reviewed. Overall, comments indicated faculty understood the need for affordable access to course materials to save students money.   

2022 Textbook Reviewers

• Deana Julka, CAS Psychological Sciences
• Maria Echenique, CAS International Languages & Cultures
• Rebecca Smith, School of Education
• Naga Vemprala, Pamplin School of Business
• Anne Santiago, CAS Political Science
• Stephanie Sideras, School of Nursing
• Joseph Hoffbeck, Shiley School of Engineering

We were unable to host this program in 2023 but hope to bring it back in the future.

These departments have chosen to use OERs in their classroom and we are hoping that this list continues to grow! We encourage faculty who are currently using OER to contact the Clark Library OER Committee to be added to the list of OER adopters on campus.

• CAS, Department of Chemistry
  Faculty: Eugene Urnezius, Beth Morton, Angela Hoffman
  Textbook: Chemistry, OpenStax
• CAS, Department of Mathematics
  Faculty: Carolyn James
  Textbook: Calculus Volume 2, OpenStax
• Pamplin School of Business
  Ruth Dittrich, Ross Hanig, Economics
  Textbook: The Economy, Core-Econ