 Hello, everyone. My name is Sabrina Davis. My pronouns are she, her. I am the Open Educational Resources Librarian at Texas Tech University, and today I'm going to be giving you some examples of how you can apply the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines to OER Outreach. So here's just a very brief overview of what all I'm going to be talking about in this presentation. So first I'll start out by defining what Universal Design for Learning or UDL is. I'll then be talking about how to connect UDL to OER and Outreach, specifically. And for the purposes of this presentation, I will be focusing explicitly on the principle of engagement and the principle of representation. So what is Universal Design for Learning or UDL, as I will call it from here on out in this presentation? Well, according to the Center for Applied Special Technology, UDL is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. UDL has a set of guidelines, and these are tools that can be used to implement the UDL framework. So as you can see at the top there, there are three principles within these guidelines. And the guidelines are listed there on the side, those guidelines being access, build, and internalize. So the principle of engagement means that there are multiple ways for learners to engage with material, and that's really just because every learner is a little bit different and how they will be motivated to learn. The principle of representation focuses on the ways in which learners perceive and comprehend the information that is presented to them. And then the principle of action and expression focuses on the different ways in which learners can navigate a learning environment and really show what they know. So for example, there may be some learners who are able to express themselves really, really well in written text, but they may struggle with speech or other types of expression. So just keeping in mind that there are just different ways that learners will be able to express themselves and what they know is really important. And then as I mentioned in the matrix, there are also three guidelines. And those guidelines are access, build, and internalize. So every guideline is going to also have corresponding checkpoints to kind of keep you on track as you're maybe moving through the matrix or applying some of the principles and guidelines. Okay, so how does UDL connect to OER and then how does that then tie into outreach? Well, open educational resources or OER, open access, and other areas focused on open values have pretty clear connections with UDL. Much like UDL, open values are focused on student success, accessibility, and educational equity. For this presentation, I will briefly discuss ways for academic librarians to apply the UDL principles of engagement and representation. So again, focusing on only the two. When they are creating marketing and outreach strategies to promote OER, open access, and other areas focused on open educational principles to the various stakeholders on their campus. For this presentation, the stakeholders that I will focus on specifically are faculty, students, staff departments just in general, and then academic administration. One thing that's important to note is that each stakeholder group is likely to have different needs and agendas based on their varying positions and responsibilities. So it's important that librarians are marketing OER accordingly for each group in order to achieve maximum adoption at their various institutions. Okay, so let's jump right in and talk about the principle of engagement or as I like to say, getting to know your audience. So according to the principle of engagement, there will be many things that can influence how someone learns material. Some of these influences can include subjectivity and background knowledge, culture, and personal relevance. What is important to remember, though, is that one form of engagement will not be optimal for everyone in all context. So there will be times when catering your outreach efforts to a specific group will be necessary in order for the information being presented to be relevant. Those responsible for OER efforts and advocacy on their campuses will also usually interact with all kinds of stakeholder groups. And each of these groups will are likely to have different motivations, again, just based on their roles within the campus community. And thus will require different levels of engagement to recruit them for OER and open access support. Okay, so let's jump right in here and give you some concrete examples. So let's start with academic administration, so specifically provost and deeds. So it's imperative that librarians and OER advocates are able to communicate the value of OER in institutional terms that are able to illustrate the connection between OER and institutional missions, such as the institution's strategic plan. Many institutions will have projects that may be competing for attention and resources, so ensuring that OER initiatives connect to institutional missions and priorities can help keep the attention of executive administration. This relates to the engagement guideline 8 and checkpoint 8.1 specifically. Checkpoint 8.1 encourages the building of reminders of both the goal and its value. So again, just remind the administration of the goals that they have from the strategic plan and then how OER can add value to them succeeding in achieving those strategic priorities. So having the ability to align the value of OER and institutional missions can also be critical in gaining leadership support for investment in OER. So keep in mind that aligning OER initiatives and subsequent outreach efforts to the institutional strategic plan and priorities will need to be done often as strategic plans, priorities, and honestly those in executive positions are likely to change, so just something to keep in mind. Like most members of the executive administration, the provost will also be concerned with the various ways in which the institution generates revenue. When advocating for OER, it is important to inquire on how the revenue generated by the campus bookstore, for example, affects the institution. While OER adoption could positively impact student retention, librarians and OER advocates should communicate with the bookstore to determine the institution's textbook revenue as opposed to revenue generated by, say, merchandise. When preparing a presentation or outreach material, it's important to anticipate and attempt to reduce what could be considered a threat. And this is explicitly outlined in UD Checkpoint 7.3. This can help create trust between your efforts in the executive administration and being able to demonstrate little to no loss in revenue for the institution may help gain support from your provost on OER initiatives. Okay, so let's go down to the deans. So the deans are likely to have similar concerns as your provost, but your institution's budget structure could also affect the roles and responsibilities of the deans on your campus. So for example, your deans may be responsible for helping to develop programs that will increase enrollment and revenue for their areas. So applying Checkpoint 7.2 and emphasizing relevance will also be important when creating outreach materials to academic deans. When marketing OER to deans, it's important to effectively communicate not only the alignments between OER and the institutional missions, but also emphasizing how OER can increase enrollment and retention areas efforts in their respective areas. So for example, if your institution or your state requires course markings that are using OER, this could be important to let your deans know as you're communicating with them or conducting your outreach. Okay, so let's go down to faculty. So when marketing to faculty, it's important to not only address the cost savings that OER have for students, but to also understand the reasons that faculty choose to adopt or not to adopt OER. While there are many reasons that a faculty member may or may not decide to adopt, there are four concerns that are commonly mentioned in literature. Those concerns being the quality of the OER, copyright, technical confidence, and just sustainability or time needed to adopt or create OER materials. Another thing to keep in mind when marketing to your faculty is to understand the tenure and promotion guidelines and expectations for not only the institution, but for the individual colleges or schools at your institution as well. There may be faculty who are open to OER, but the time needed to search for, evaluate, and adapt these resources is just simply not possible while they are also working toward achieving tenure. So if you know a faculty member who is working toward tenure and does not have a lot of extra time, you may offer to locate existing OER for them to evaluate at their leisure rather than telling them how to create OER for their class. Kind of anticipating some of these potential threats aligns with checkpoint 7.3. So you're basically creating a space where the process of OER adoption has minimal threats or distractions. And then marketing your services and expertise in a way that can help any process seem less daunting is so, so critical, especially when you're talking to your faculty. All right, so let's move to staff departments. Now, many are familiar with the phrase, it takes a village. And I think this is absolutely true when it comes to outreach and marketing OER on campuses. So fostering collaboration and community, which is a direct correlation to checkpoint 8.3 at an institution is one way to create a network of support for OER advocates and their initiatives. So, you know, if possible, one way you can do this is by forming a committee that brings together expertise for multiple areas on campus. But again, just keeping collaboration and community in mind as you're conducting your outreach efforts. And then next is students. So marketing the value of OER to the student population may not be difficult, but it is important to remember that students can actually be their own advocates for textbook affordability on their campuses. So when you're talking to them, try to understand some of the concerns that they may have with the current course materials that they are being asked to use by their faculty. And while the primary concern for most students will likely be related to cost, there are other things that may be hindering their ability to be successful. OK, so the principle of representation or as I like to say, create based on your audience. So there may be barriers in the way such as language or symbols that can really hinder your audience from understanding information. So if we go back to the principle of engagement, you know, which said that, you know, there's not one form of engagement that is optimal for all lawyers. That same thing applies to the principle of representation. So deploying a variety of methods and techniques when you're creating marketing and promotional materials will ultimately help you be successful. So, for example, when you're creating promotional materials such as websites, library guides, flyers, presentation slides, etc., it's important to understand how the information will be displayed to the stakeholders to ensure that there is as little confusion as possible. All right, so there are many ways that you can actually tackle this principle of representation, and I'm going to start with mixed media. So when you're creating materials that are likely to be seen by all stakeholder groups such as web pages or library guides, it's important to use mixed media rather than relying only on text or only on visuals or only on audio, etc. So as you're creating materials with mixed media, you are actually offering alternatives to make your media and material more accessible. Which aligns perfectly with UDL checkpoints 1.2 and 1.3. So, you know, again, providing alternative formats. So, for example, if you use or create a video, be sure to provide either a script or ensure that captions are available. You can also ensure that any text is formatted correctly so that it is understood by the learner if you are using text-to-speech software. The next is language and acronyms. So like many professions, librarianship has its own language and acronyms. The same is true within the world of OER. Representation checkpoint 2.1 states that in order for information to be accessible to all, vocabulary and other symbols should be clarified. So as you're making marketing materials, try to anticipate language or acronyms that may be confusing to your stakeholders. And then to help your audience understand the information being presented to them, say, on a poster, you'll really kind of want to avoid acronyms as much as you can. Which is mentioned in checkpoint 2.1. And the reason being that acronyms can actually be a barrier to those who do not have background knowledge of a particular topic or subject. So basically, you know, don't go into a presentation with your provost and just use acronyms like OER or OA or OEP and, you know, expect they're going to know what you mean. So just, you know, try to keep that in mind. The next is comprehending the information in the materials. So now that your marketing materials are represented in a way that is accessible to your target stakeholder group, representation guideline 3, comprehension states that it's also important to ensure that the learner is able to take the information provided and make it into usable knowledge. So one way to do this is actually outlined in checkpoint 3.1. This checkpoint outlines the necessity of providing prerequisite background knowledge that will assist the learner in both understanding the information being presented to them and it can also aid in eliminating barriers. So for example, one common language misconception in the OER world is the difference between OER, open access, and then library licensed materials. So being able to address that early on can kind of help eliminate any sort of barriers to comprehending the materials. And another thing that's important is to remember to highlight critical components of OER. So for example, representation checkpoint 3.2 notes there are a number of ways that this can be done. So for example, you may remember that I'd said earlier that one of the concerns for faculty who are hesitant to adopt OER is copyright. And many of your advocates, I know I certainly do, are likely to get questions from faculty about the relationship between open licensing, which is commonly done through Creative Commons, and then copyright. So when you're making marketing material such as a web page or a library guide, it could be really helpful to address these larger concepts in very clear, distinct ways. Again, especially because they are critical components of the OER world and they're likely very common questions. So some ways to do this would be to provide pictures and text from Creative Commons to help explain the various kinds of licenses, maybe devoting an entire web page or a library guide tab to explaining the differences and the connections between Creative Commons and copyright. Making sure you clearly illustrate the connections between Creative Commons licensing and copyright. And again, copyright being a term that most faculty are probably at least slightly familiar with. And you could also provide examples of how Creative Commons licensing is actually in use in a lot of things and maybe highlighting a commonly known product. My favorite one is talking about how the game Cards Against Humanity is under a Creative Commons license. So marketing valuable services to certain stakeholders on a college or university campus can seem a bit daunting, especially if you do not interact with a particular group on a regular basis. My hope is that this presentation demonstrated that one way to make this process a little less daunting is to apply some of the universal design for learning principles, guidelines, and checkpoints when you are planning and creating outreach strategies. And really, I just want to end by saying, you do got this. And that, you know, keeping some of these principles in mind will hopefully help you. So thank you so much for listening to my presentation. I'm more than happy to chat more about this. You can always email me at sabredav at ttu.edu. And then if you want, I'm also fairly active on Twitter, so feel free to follow me there. Thank you.