 Good afternoon, everyone. I'm very excited that all of you are here. This is such an important topic and please feel free to connect in the chat and I'll see those and reply to them live. Hopefully everyone can hear me and just get ready to truly, truly think outside of the box when it comes to OER open educational resources. This session is titled designing an interactive OER syllabus as an equitable practice. My name is Dr. Jennifer Edwards. I'm here in Texas at Tarleton State University. We're part of the Texas A&M university system. I am a professor of communication and I have been for the last 15 years at Tarleton State. I am a local OER advocate for the last seven years and I truly believe that it has transformed our campus. I also serve as the executive director of the Rural Communication Institute at Tarleton State as well as the Texas Social Media Research Institute. And within both of those institutes is very important to realize that in Texas we have so many rural areas that to get an Amazon delivery of textbooks, it takes a while. I'm especially right now with the supply chain issues and the mail issues. So it's important to make sure that our students are fully equipped for success at our institutions. So my OER story, prior to transitioning back to my faculty role, I served as the Assistant Vice President for Student Success and Multicultural Initiatives at Tarleton State. And one of our premier programs was actually the Mental Freedom Program. As you can see, MEN is in the Mental Freedom part and it is a program for men of color, especially at our rural institutions. One thing that the men truly appreciated, these are mostly undergraduate men, they appreciated the textbook checkout because it was important for them to be fully equipped without having to get a book loan for the supplies and the resources that they needed for class. And so that textbook checkout was a great program, but it was short lived because either A, the textbook author changed maybe modified one or two things in the textbook and the textbook became irrelevant. Or the faculty member chose another textbook all together. So it's just very important that was the turning point for me to say, I don't believe that the system is sustainable and we need to figure out another way to fully equip our students for success. Also, one thing I imagine that all of our campuses are dealing with from high school all the way to graduate school is that our students are graduating with older or antiquated knowledge, and it's knowledge that is not as broad. So I teach these courses at the institution as well as some of the higher education courses. And it's important for me to fully equip our students for their job interviews or for their next steps within their career journey. Unfortunately, by the time textbooks are published, and by the time textbooks reach the hands of our students they are around three to four years old. So we are educating our students with old knowledge and so it's important to make sure that we can do what we can, as information scientists as well as faculty members and staff to make sure our students are well equipped for the work world after they graduate from our institutions. Also, bookways and sustainability is very important as well. If we have many versions of a textbook, I love Goodwill, but one thing that you can truly see in each goodwill store is the fact that there are so many old textbooks there. They still have very relevant information. However, those books are not being utilized and circulated around our institutions to contribute to our knowledge, our students knowledge. And also last but not least social media and relevancy. It's very important for faculty members as well as staff and the community to make sure that our students are reflective of the information learned at our institutions, and that basically means that they can encourage themselves as basically as experts when it comes to, to their subject matter so say if it's public health or even social work or biology with the OER resources they can tweet those out they can communicate with the authors, they can really really get ingrained with the material and make themselves more relevant and more marketable when it comes to their careers. So why do I use open educational resources? I've asked myself that many times because yes, it does take more work. It is not just a textbook with a test with a test bank with all of the bells and whistles that people usually, you know, appreciate from a plug and play with a piece from a, from a book publisher, you have to work for it. However, it is well worth it. So I like open educational resources because it provides our students with day one access. That means I operate in no excuses environment. Day one, let's go ahead, you have homework, and you do not have to wait on Amazon to deliver your book you don't have to walk all the way to the bookstore to get your book is an equitable practice. So no matter if you get financial aid or you do not obtain financial aid, it is something that each student can begin class day one with materials that they need for success. Also is easier for the student, the students truly appreciate not having to buy a textbook but also they can just get the access to the materials on their telephone super easily. So mobile access on their iPad or their mobile device is very, very accessible for the students and also one thing I like is that we were a former Blackboard campus and now we are a canvas campus and it's they the OER resources are easily integrated into our canvas shell. So I'll show you what that looks like in just a few moments. And also it's easier for the professor, every single day. I walk across campus with my phone and say if a student realizes, oh my goodness, well hey Dr. Everest's date, you know, can we update this because instead of a Thursday is probably needs to be a Friday date I'm like okay well that makes sense. As I walk across campus I can update that on my phone, the students get an automatic automatic notification that something has been updated, and it is like a well oiled machine. And also it's simultaneously updated on campus as well. So let me just let you know, after the session, you all will be able to number one, identify how to integrate innovative elements on an OER textbook syllabus. Also know how to identify resources from the library databases one of my favorite places on campus to utilize an OER textbook syllabus, and then also last but not least to know how to adopt and integrate the OER textbook in an online hybrid and face to face format for your courses. So how I use open educational resources and I actually utilize Facebook groups as well as Facebook live and a lot of zoom lately during the pandemic to integrate these OER resources. In face to face classes I taught on classes from entry level, public speaking classes all the way to our graduate classes but I integrate QR codes and almost everything that our department does to reach our students. And so that's very important for the students because they get access to that material from day one, but also I remember so many years I would stand by the copier for like days on end, copying on six to seven pages per student. And we multiply that times 125 students that's a lot of trees. So I utilize QR codes for the syllabus so I put the QR code on my, basically on the black board, but on the board, and the students scan it with their phone, so that they can get access to that syllabus right then. And also I'll say hey click this for your assignment for reading assignment and they can look at it exactly at that time. So this is very interactive and I like that piece because, again, it's a no excuses environment. Yeah, I say no excuses but we want to begin success on day one. Here's an example of my syllabus, and I will actually click that so you guys can see what it looks like with every single semester I actually design a new on long graphics so that the students will know that this is the course that they're enrolled in and they're currently completing the coursework for but also the same graphic lives on my canvas as well so everything is integrated so anytime they see a telephone, then they know that this is the social media campaigns course. It has my contact information at the top. And also one thing that I'm truly is that the students wanted was to know like we take, we take all these social media courses but what makes this course different. And I have it highlighted on every syllabus in Turquoise what makes this class different. And we talk about the importance of launching social media campaigns because they're being used for almost everything. I have my office hours on there as well. And also one thing I do not want to forget about is that we have a weekly journal club so so many things that we do live on the syllabus and never get revisited. Students just read the content which they should. However, I wanted to know that the students were actually getting the content were actually digesting the content. So that means that I created this semester, a weekly journal club is a virtual weekly journal club for our students. I was very jealous my husband attended Texas A&M and so he was in the stimulus. And basically, they had a weekly journal club and I was super jealous about that because they had the chance to discuss articles and literally dig into what the implications of the articles were. So I decided to adopt something just like that for our communication students and I'll introduce you to our journal club. So we have a Twitter chat at every single Thursday at 8pm. And so basically, with the Twitter chat, we answer questions about class, but we also talk about the articles, the resources that are being integrated in class as well. We have the course description but also have a big. It's not an X but like a, we're not doing this. And it's basically telling the students that this is an open educational resources course, and we will access the course materials from the university library databases. My thing is they're already paying for it anyway they might as well know how to use it and know how to use it effectively. So we are learning how to use the library databases and also we're learning through the library databases as well. And because of that I'm not requiring students to purchase any additional course materials whatsoever because it's already in their tuition and fees. These are the intended student outcomes for the course. We have our policies for the institution, just general best practices from our course. And then that leads to the modules on campus and I'll show you what that looks like in a minute. And then we have our class schedule so remember I said day one. We have no excuses, but and these are the things that they will need to do every single week so in purple, that is the weekly topic, and then in green, and well in yellow we have our outcome for the course, and then in green, we have the article so if they click that article, it's going to lead to that article on the web, or the library databases so this one is social networking sites. This is from an a or a and we are article this was from 2007 but it's a good foundational article for social networking sites. So they get to read that, and then also they have activities that they need to complete from from Facebook actually because Facebook has. I like to call them we are resources as well, but they learn how to create Facebook ads they learn how to choose a campaign objective and be Facebook ads manager experience. So not only do I use the library databases but I also utilize the free course based resources from technologies that the students have access to anyway. And last but not least, I'll just tell you these journal club articles have been interesting the students really get into it. So we have a sign up sheet on on Google spreadsheet so basically I have this like for example, using a media campaign to increase engagement with mobile based smoking cessation program. And basically we have that article and the students basically choose whether they want to cover the first half of the article or the second half of the article. And they read it they digested and they present it on Tuesdays. So if anyone's interested in coming to one of our journal clubs, please let me know and I will definitely send an invitation, because it's a great way for the students to digest the content. The journal club is actually in in groups of 1515 and 15. So 15 minutes is focused on digesting the article from presenter one and presenter two. Then the next 15 minutes is focused on the interpretation or basically discussions about the article, and then the last 15 minutes is focused on. Okay, so what does that look like for society, what does it look like for implications how can we use this in other pieces so it's focused on smoking, but maybe something else is focused on on another part of health or, you know, like the flu vaccine or something of that nature, but it's all focused on the implications or the so what factor. Also, within every single week, we had the journal club and we have the activities, these activities are also integrated on campus and I'll show that to you next. As you can see, we are hitting the ground running from week one. With that, and this is our campus model so that syllabus is also located here as well. And then also with our journal club, the students have to log their facilitation points, and also their participants their participation points for participating in the journal club. Each week has their assignments, and then also one thing I did this semester, because this one is an online course actually did on a YouTube series about like any questions that they had about me or you know personal questions or professional questions or whatever. So I answered all of those questions in a three part YouTube series so they can get to know me a little bit better and I divided that up over three weeks. With that, we also had created campaign students have to use the, the articles that they read that week to create a campaign so for example, this one is how to educate elderly individuals. Hey, Dr. God, how to educate elderly individuals in rural areas about community and state resources so every single week they have to think outside of the box in order to create a campaign. That's really, really not the norm for our college students. So with that, let's go back to the presentation. I also adopted this for our intercultural communication class and one thing that is so interesting. I don't know why, but I put all of my lectures on YouTube and because I do that I end up getting a lot of comments from all across the world, which is great for our current students to get to network with people who have different mindsets but also different modes of modes of how they lived live or how they, you know, integrate what they're learning to their, their job or their future career. And so the neat thing is, I actually log all of my, my tours of the syllabus so I do a tour of canvas so I show them my canvas modules, and then also I take them through the syllabus as well. So exactly where things are located. I do that every single semester for every single course. So if students have any problems finding something that can always go back to that YouTube video. With that, I record my lectures as well. And I will tell you that this lecture is about four years old, but it receives comments almost every single week from all across the country and so I utilize this because number one I don't have to recreate something twice. I don't mind doing it, but I don't have to recreate something twice but also the students know that this is our go to thing. And one thing I did not integrate in this presentation that I think is super relevant is the fact that our students graduate. They go on to get these amazing jobs, and then sometimes it hits them like a ton of bricks like pin I really wish I had that resource, because my company is wanting me to do a presentation on intercultural communication. No problem. Just go to my YouTube channel and you can get access to that lecture again for free. You can get access to that lecture piece as well. Okay. So with all of our education, open educational resources is very important that people not only know that they're there, but they're, but how they can be utilized as well. So, if you are from, if you are an information scientist and you work in our library. You're seriously super heroes and if I were to do any other profession I would definitely be an information scientist because you guys are doing such amazing work to educate our faculty staff students in the community about resources that they can utilize to make their lives better. So, it's important to know as information scientists, what library resources are out there but also how people can easily integrate that those resources into their everyday lives. So with that, if you think about our library resources podcast links are amazing to integrate that especially for our students who commute podcast links can be utilized on syllabus on on an interactive syllabus, they can click it they can access to it right there. Also guides from prior semesters so one thing that I do is my students from like two semesters ago would create a guide, the next semester would use a guide build upon that guide and then they would integrated in subsequent guides. So it's very important that your students know that they're contributing to the the literature and to their body of work regarding the communication field or public health or, or counseling that they can build upon subsequent semesters and also that's enabling you to work smarter and not harder, and not creating things every single semester. So with that, also YouTube videos I can't emphasize that enough on the library databases are also videos that can be easily integrated and embedded on your canvas shell or either on your blackboard shell as well. Also database article links that's something I use so often. I use the permalink and I have a a hack is basically a YouTube video, focus on hacks that our students can use in order to use the library databases so I'll talk about the citation guides I talk about the permalink I'll talk about how to save your search, and even if your computer logs often loses the battery, how to go back to your search, because I've been burned by that so many times so I give them hacks that have taken me 12 or 15 years to, to truly get, but the students really appreciate that so anything that can help make their lives easier that you can integrate in your OER course can truly truly help transform learning at your institution. So one thing that our new librarian has truly truly exposed me to this semester have been LibGuide so utilizing the LibGuides for your discipline is very important that our faculty staff and students know that LibGuides can save your life. Some additional considerations that I want everyone to just keep in mind is to take an inventory of all library resources that could be utilized as OERs. Just because you know it's there doesn't mean everyone knows that those resources, new resources are there, but also to know that those library resources can be interpreted differently by different disciplines. And you could have one resource that you think could be used one way but then after you introduce it to like six colleges, they could have like 250 different interpretations of how that library resource can be utilized. So let your library resources live to their, their true potential. So team teaching is a truly interesting concept. So whether it's team teaching at your institution or maybe you're teaching the communication and at a community college you're also teaching the same communication course, then you can actually do team teaching, have a, a syllabus that you utilize an interactive syllabus that you utilize, and then you can actually team teach with that person who is either located across the county or across the state or even across the United States. So it's a great way for students to network with one another, but also it's a great way for you to integrate that teaching research and service to show that you are thinking outside of the box, when it comes to OERs. And also connections with authors. One thing I'm waiting for something to happen is with our journal clubs and putting all of those on YouTube. And because I'm putting all of those on YouTube, I am going to tag those authors of those articles to show them hey yeah so people are reading your stuff, but then also to know that they, how the, the information that they're putting out there that they're publishing is being interpreted by many different audiences not just the pure academic faculty audience or pure academic faculty staff audience but how they're being interpreted by students so that could truly transform the way that people publish as well. Also, some additional considerations. This is enough. Check your links. And after you check your links at the beginning of semester, check it, check them every two weeks, because those links, especially if they're located if they're not a permanent link to the library databases those links can change, and they change often permanent links are usually your friend, but when it's a link to an OER resource from another university or from our to a industry like like the Facebook educational pieces, check your links before you send them to students to send them to something else to just check your links. Also, check for more relevant resources that's super important as well, because after you publish something, then on your syllabus, then you have it from semester to semester which is great, but then you're stuck with something that says on top ways that Facebook can be utilized in 2020. And then a student see that they're like okay well did your professor not do their homework, but you need to check for more relevant resources because you're adding so many features all the time. Then also, just to make sure that you're working smarter not harder, develop a pre and a post semester checklist, I don't care if you put it into your note section on your phone or put it into a spreadsheet and you just check it off, but just make sure that you know I need to check my links. I need to make sure that I update my dates on my syllabus I need to make sure that this this highlighting is still working I need to make sure that the link is still working. So you need to develop a pre and a post semester checklist and also I would keep a running list of things or suggestions that students contribute that they think would be helpful for subsequent semesters I always ask that at the end of the semester, what would be more helpful for the subsequent class and so they always have things to say, I work with communication students they, they love to talk and contribute suggestions so I would definitely make sure that you have a running list that you don't have to think about whenever the fall semester rolls around again, and then also integrate your OER endeavors with your research, your teaching and your service. So I talk about marrying as much as possible. I'm not talking about romantic coupling I'm talking about making sure that what you're doing is integrated with everything single thing that your university values for promotion and tenure. So that basically means if you are since you are teaching, make sure that your OERs are tied to your teaching with your research, make sure that your research is also focused on some aspect of OERs as well especially if you're spending that amount of time utilizing them. And then also with your service. If you are team teaching with someone from a community college that service. If you are offering like basically professional development for people for even high school, high school teachers who are interested in OERs. That is also services well integrate your teaching research and service with your OER endeavors. But that's what we have today. And I am definitely open for questions I know that this is a lot of information, but please let me know what questions you have because OERs, and I say OERs open educational resources are absolutely fabulous and they can truly transform the way that we teach and transform the lives of students not just for this generation of students but for generations to come. And it's truly truly transformative. Okay, I'm looking at the comments. Okay, let's see. Kristen, I feel that this is such a great example of how OERs are removing are about removing barriers and such a great demonstration of the pragmatic aspects for students. Oh, awesome. Thank you. Yes, Kristen just send a message to me. I'm actually going to put my email and invite you to our journal. Okay. Hey, Dr. Guy, I use structured reading groups with my first year students what and you've been teaching for your students for a long time. It's a great introduction to peer review literature for them works online too. And Dr. Guy, just to charge I'm just, I'm just saying, but consider publishing on that as well because there's so many OER outlets and journals that, especially with structured reading groups, especially for first year students that would be that would greatly benefit from your suggestions. Oh, thank you Dr. Guy. Let's see. This is very insightful and well organized. Thank you. Remember that in your evaluations. Yeah, let's see. Kristen, such great advice. Awesome. Thank you. I would love to see a copy or syllabus that looks fantastic. Thank you so much. If you can just send me an email I will definitely send a link to you, as well as to Jackie as well as well as to Dublin. Let's see such great advice. Thank you. Oh, yes. There is a permanent hack for the library databases. I have a YouTube video about permanent hacks, especially for our EBSCO databases, and then also for if you like I'll work with groups of students on undergraduate research and utilizing OER resources, but also if you search for something on on the library databases, and if you like step away from your computer for too long, it will log you out of your search and then you will not ever ever be able to find a search again, in my opinion. So I would say that I'll send you send me an email and I'll send me a direct message on Twitter, and I'll send that hermalink and pack to everyone who sent that to me. Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Guy. As a librarian I appreciate the insight into your workflow. Oh my goodness. And how you integrate OERs into your work helps me to think about how to support faculty and doing that. Yes. Oh my goodness. Thank you for what you do because the librarians truly truly help me on every single day and so I really appreciate how librarians and information scientists think outside of the box and they've helped me think outside of the boxes of faculty members so awesome and if you need any help or if you need, you know, just a sounding board and just let me know. Thanks for the great presentation. Is there one facet of the syllabus that the students find especially engaging or useful. You know what they truly for that class they truly like the color coding to know what they're focused on that week and also one thing I forgot to emphasize is the So today is Monday, I send a an announcement to our group. And so basically to my 25 graduate students in one class and 25 and the other, but I have what to focus on this week it has a checklist, and it has go to a briefest article so I put the links to the OER articles in the actual announcement, then I put what you're supposed to focus on for the Journal Club, who are the Journal Club presenters, the link to get into into the Journal Club. And then also just in case they missed it because they are graduate students at the very bottom. I actually put what we focused on last week just in case they need to catch up because unfortunately, you know things are kind of interesting right now so if they need to catch up they can catch up. Even though I said no excuses. Sometimes I do appreciate excuses as well because life is life. Let's see, and then also they I put on that on that on the announcements I actually put what we're focused on that week for the learning outcome is is and then also what skills they will be able to focus on that week as well, because when it gets to the end of the day of doing evaluations, I don't want a shadow of a doubt to emerge to basically say, Well, we didn't focus on that in class. Yes, we did. Here's the week. Here's what we did. So everything is very streamlined for them. So that's what I would put is things that students felt were especially engaging are useful and then also the fact that they can just click it. They don't have to go to a page, you know in a book to find on the article to read that week. Well, wow. Thanks for the nice presentation. I had a few questions. Hey, you mentioned you put your recorded lectures on your YouTube channel how does the university or students feel about that. You know what my recorded lectures actually record on zoom or on quick time on my Mac. And so I upload those on my personal YouTube channel, and the students are not necessarily in those lectures but they can comment on below the video and so they are interact with one another and also with people all across the country. So it's really neat for them to do that. And they really like it they they ask questions they get ingrained in the content they actually contribute more resources. So they truly truly like that and the university hasn't said one thing or the other so I'll let you guys know. Um, let's see, but good question. Let's see. I'm interested in syllabus and general club. Yes, awesome. Please send an email to me I hear some emails coming in too. That's awesome. Let's see, I mean that students pay tuition and fees to attend those courses then then you offer them for free online. I have this question from one of our faculty members and a librarian. So basically, when we create open educational resources. I believe they're open educational resources. And so that means that they're there for public consumption. So they're so the students are getting, you know, they, they do the assignments or assignments or not on the web, you know, all the pre web their assignments are on canvas. They are also exposed to open educational resources through the YouTube videos and through the open articles but they're not getting everything, you know, in the open environment. The students still have to take their tests the students still have to do their graduate research they still have to do their assignments so they're still getting the, the bulk of the experience, but they're just sharing that experience with others. And then online context that is open for public consumption. And I believe public consumption is very healthy when it comes to academia, because sometimes we can be very insular and we can think that we're the experts on this topic until we're we're challenged or we are we encounter something new. So open educational resources keeps keeps faculty members very relevant, and also keeps faculty members accountable for what we're teaching our students. So I mean I'm all about accountability and I think faculty members should be as well. It's a great way for people to integrate what they're teaching in their class to, to the world. And we're contributing to the discipline as well. Let's see. Oh, yay. Thank you for a great session variance. Thank you. Let's see. And also, oh, thank, thank you for a truly practical session Dr Edwards I too am interested in senior syllabus. Hey, please send me a reminder and an email and also Carla. Well, everyone thank you so much on this. And, you know, we have if you think of anything else that I should have integrated. I didn't. Please let me know and if you have any questions please let me know on my email address is JT Edwards at charlton.edu, and I'm always open for comments so thank you so much. Thank you for sending me I think it's going to close us out. Well everyone else have a good rest of your day and please do not forget your evaluations. And I look forward to getting getting an email from you. I'm poor I will definitely send an email to you.