 Hello everyone and welcome. I'm Caitlin Schilling, Associate Program Manager at Rebus Community and I will be facilitating today's session. I'm grateful to be joining you from Winnipeg, Manitoba on Treaty 1 Territory and I'd encourage you all here to let us know in the chat where you're joining from and post questions throughout the session in the chat. So let's meet our panelists. Please introduce yourself and briefly describe your role in this collaboration. My name is Purva Ashok. I am the Assistant Director and Director of Open Education at the Rebus Foundation, which is a Canadian charity that supports open publishing efforts and open education initiatives around the world. I typically work in the traditional territories of the Nishinopeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, but today I'm joining you from the traditional homelands of the Lenape. We at Rebus work to provide professional development via our textbook success program as part of this collaboration and I'm happy to tell you more about what this was like as we go through the session and I'll pass it over maybe to Malita to describe her role and introduce herself. I'm Malita Payne. I'm the Emerging Technologies Librarian at Southern University and Endham College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I served as the Librarian Lead for the Biology General Biology I cohort. Emily Frank, Affordable Learning Administrator with Lewis, the Louisiana Library Network. Lewis is an academic library consortium and a program of the Board of Regents. And our project, the Interactive OER for Dual Enrollment Project, was funded with a nearly $2 million grant from the Open Textbooks pilot program. I just want to briefly acknowledge that the activities that we'll cover today were funded through that Open Textbook pilot grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education and the views represented here do not represent policy of the Department of Education. But this was our project that we spearheaded through Lewis with lots of collaborators. So I'll pass it off to another collaborator, Brian. Hi everybody, I'm Brian McGeary and in my day job I'm the Learning Design and Open Education Engagement Librarian at Penn State University. But for this particular project, I was a facilitator for two of the cohorts in the Redis Textbook Success Program. And my name is Amy Minervini and I'm joining from the traditional lands of the Nimipu in Lewis to Idaho. I teach composition at Lewis Clark State College and I serve as a facilitator for two of the Lewis cohorts and I'm a former Textbook Success Program participant. Thank you all. We hope today's panel session will really highlight the philosophy of creation as a collaborative act and help you envision statewide co-creation networks to support equitable OER. Before we move into our direct response questions, I'll pass it to Emily and Aparva to provide a little context around the Lewis and Rebus partnership. So speaking about this project, the project broadly had three goals to eliminate textbook costs and 25-dole enrollment courses, to design courses that are deployable and redeployable as OER should be, and to create a replicable model of OER development and that's some of what we'll be talking about here today specifically. The work brought together Louisiana academic librarians like Melida and teaching faculty to develop those redeployable open courses for 25-dole enrollment general education courses in the state, dual enrollment being where a high school student takes a class and gets both high school and college credit. Participants were organized into 25 cohorts for the 25 courses, each cohort having one academic librarian acting as a cohort leader and up to five teaching faculty. Thank you. And so those five cohorts that Emily described were actually led and facilitated by Amy, Brian, myself and a former colleague Monica Brown. So Rebus and through our textbook success program course really stepped in to offer hands-on guidance and best practices around publishing OER. We tried to tailor and customize content for those five disciplinary groups, whether it was history, languages and social sciences, STEM, composition and arts or business and communication. With the experience that Amy and Brian brought to this project, we also hoped to pass on lessons learned from having done this work over the past five years and really support Lewis's goals in building a sustainable network for not only dual enrollment OER creation, but OER creation more generally across the state. One of our motivations for partnering with Rebus was the scope of this project and that many of our selected project participants were largely new to OER and open publishing. And we knew that Rebus had a lot of experience that we wanted to leverage, experience guiding authors and collaborators through this process. Additionally, the 25 selected courses that we were working on all had high rates of letter grade D and F and course with course withdrawals and equity gaps. We knew that Rebus had been active specifically in advancing DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion principles in their work and accessibility in OER materials. And that expertise was important to us as we pursued this partnership and designed materials reflective of learners in Louisiana. I'd really like to open the floor to panelists to touch on those experiences that you both mentioned. So Purva, maybe you can kick us off and ask what did working as part of this really unique group allow you to do that maybe would have been close to impossible doing on your own. I really appreciate this question because it allowed me to reflect on the expertise that each partner brought to the group but also how our combined and collaborative efforts made this so much more successful. It allowed Rebus to see how each unique role was central to making a successful open education program. So for instance with Lewis, we learned about state policy and governance structures that inform higher education or dual enrollment courses and curriculum specifically in the Louisiana. We were able to adapt a lot of this learning to our work in other states or with other partners. Librarian leads like Malita shed light on how these types of programs could be maintained within their units or departments, or how skill sets could be developed every year to support this type of work in the longer term. The faculty and industry experts that Emily mentioned that were part of the project teams, they brought subject matter focus to the four, but also helped us continuously keep students success at the core of the work at the core of our decision making. Amy and Brian are alumni facilitators really helped us revise our curriculum and models to be more adaptable and think about how similar systems, systems initiatives trying to create equitable we are could be set up in different contexts so Brian offering his input from working at Penn State University and Amy from her contacts in Idaho for me on a personal note. This was a great chance to also collaborate with other BIPOC educators who are interested in making equitable systems and growing networks for for educators really looking to shape a new future of education and I will pass it over to Emily. The scope of this project was so big. So for us having the librarian cohort leaders having rebus having the facilitators as collaborators lightened my load and I think lightened everyone's load in terms of providing relevant support and having a tried and true publishing framework that could be applied beyond that rebus and the facilitators in the librarians as well were real thought partners for me throughout I could bounce ideas off them and help get direction on next steps when we needed it. I think finally one, perhaps unanticipated value for me was how the facilitators could speak directly from their experience with open textbook publishing, both the challenges and the impacts they had seen as educators applying we are in their students. I think that this firsthand experience that they could speak to was at times comforting for participants and cohorts when times were tough and also was a boost at other times a boost that they would need when they needed to be re energized. I think that's a great answer to Amy next. For me as is was mentioned the, not only was the scope very large but the groups themselves were very large. So during those, those sessions it was really comforting to have rebus staff and librarians readily available to handle any of the questions as they did in the chat. And sometimes before I could even read a chat response. It was, it was answered. So it like Emily had mentioned it really lightened my load and therefore I was able to concentrate more on content delivery and thinking about the approaches to from a faculty perspective but then also bringing in the student experience and how they might engage with the material and librarians are just so adapted mining through the abundance of information that's out there. More efficiently than some of the rest of us. And so they were always able to, it seems find that perfect fit for whatever the participants needed. And they were also quick to share best practices and so I know that along the way. So I was picking up these, you know, tips and tricks from them. And so that was just an added benefit. Okay, I'll jump in next. I would say that working in the library and cohort cohort was a valuable learning experience. For cohort lead Emily frame guided a group of librarians with various degrees of understanding and knowledge of we are with such grace and patients also the exposure to the comprehensive training and collaboration with rebus and press books, allowed me to dive deeper into we are where I build on my understanding of components I didn't fully connect with in my experience, transferring that newly acquired skill set to the librarian led cohort model, seeing this experience through the lens of the faculty member, prove valuable as well. In the stages of my we are experienced the trainer trainer model focused on a librarian's role. This experience along with collaboration with other librarians and other we are experts provided invaluable we are experienced. I didn't have before it would have been me on the campus so you know, generally faculty members on campus teaching faculty on on campuses have that that type of camaraderie but in bringing together we are just to have a skill set with our library and cohorts was just great. And for me, this was a great chance to work with and learn from people outside of my my usual networks and to get different perspectives and ideas that I could bring back and apply to my work at my institution and in my state. And it was also a chance to get to be a part of something and hopefully have a positive impact on something that is much larger and reaches beyond what I would be able to accomplish that just my institution. It sounds like teamwork really does make the dream work right by way of comparison. If you were to do it over again. Is there anything that you would change or maybe leave behind and why. So this one maybe we'll start with Amy. Because the textbook success program is so good at community building, I would have preferred that the those sessions were weekly, instead of monthly. And that's just because I would have liked to see folks every week and and really try to build those relationships. I would have preferred to go more deeply, maybe shorter sessions in a weekly format would have allowed me to sort of get to know them, and their projects, a little bit more intimately. However, I do think it's a testament to the rebus TSP program that even in the monthly sessions, there were still meaningful for me. Thanks, Amy. My suggestion is similar about the restructuring of maybe sessions in the program you talked about timeline. My suggestion would be to maybe make sure that content around best practices is delivered right when teams that are arriving at key points. And it's worth noting that for this particular partnership, we did adapt the usual delivery of our program to better support the cadence and frequency of meetings that the Lewis team had set up. We're actually going to be experimenting with this format the next time around. So we're already getting a chance to make a change and see how that plays out, maybe also ensuring that folks are connecting in our forum space and really to describe that camaraderie with one another and really focusing on community building as well as we are of course creation. I wouldn't change anything. However, I can say that I've grown in my knowledge of open educational resources as a librarian and equally grown in terms of collaboration team building project development editing planning and so much more so just the wealth of information. It was just great. It was invaluable. As I just have said, I would have liked, you know, more opportunities to connect with not only the cohorts that I was working directly with, but also the other cohorts just to have kind of a sense of the bigger picture, a bit more, but I mean I also realize that to some extent it's impractical or goes beyond the remit of what my particular role was in this, but it's just so energizing to work with all these different folks and you can't help but want to be more directly involved with with the work that they're doing. I'll round this out to speak to a change. You know I imagine everyone listening today has a sense from this panel of the importance and the centrality of the librarian cohort leader role the role that Melida was filling and in that role we had a real structured role for it. So that they had a clear team building responsibility project management responsibility associated with that role, the teaching faculty in the cohorts on the other hand, were more under an umbrella role of content expert. I think in retrospect we learned that it was important to design and delegate additional roles beyond content expert, such as instructional design need accessibility lead technology lead with press books and the learning management system that we were using. And that was because in the absence of these designed and delegated roles in many cohorts the librarian took on the role given their varied skill set you know a willingness to step in and fill in the gaps but I think moving forward, designing and delegating those roles throughout the cohort would encourage you know participants to more clearly know who is doing what support success and ensure a more balanced workload throughout the cohort. Thank you. I think what's really apparent by all of those answers and responses is that how intentional all of the feedback around this cohort and partnerships are, you know, community being at the core of it and ensuring that people around these projects are very community focused and then equitable work distribution right. So, speaking of success and maybe I'll start with Emily since you were just on that. What would be one piece of advice that you might give to someone who's really interested in following a similar model of librarian led projects. I think my piece of advice is to do just that to have librarians involved in your open publishing projects and to work to compensate them for their contributions as you would keeping faculty involved. And since they really are significant to the success of projects like this, the librarian involvement for us in the project was really central to our success. Like I said they acted as project managers, they brought in expertise and areas like copyright creative instructional design accessibility other areas, you know projects like this, they're really more than just writing content, the librarians engaged in continuous team building in collaborating and communicating with their cohorts, and it is thanks to them, you know I know that the impacts of their work extend beyond this project, they built capacity within their cohorts with the teaching faculty, and they have really set them up to lead on OER projects separate from this experience. So, so bring in the librarians. Well one practical piece of advice I would say that as a librarian in this process you will be challenged and will grow in areas that will propel you forward in your career as an OER librarian. Hang in there when it becomes challenging and rely on the village that you have in terms of the support you have with our OER experts. As you know, with our librarians we love to share information and that input is always beneficial in keeping the wheels in motion for the project. I might try to combine the recommendations that Malita and Emily made for someone who is organizing a similar type of initiative. Remember that the librarians will be stepping in as Emily described in filling in the gaps, but this is also professional development opportunities as Malita was saying emotional labor is going to inevitably come up as part of that librarian lead role. So when you are organizing and setting up your system, make sure you're building in an intentional support network and offering training and connections to that support network for your librarian leads when those inevitable challenges come up throughout the course of whether it's a one-year project or a three-year project. Creating OER is human first process and as librarians, as educators we will feel compelled to bring that humanity in our work, but we should remember that it's not always at the cost of us as individuals. So keep pointing back to those support networks. And Eileen Passed on to Brian who was part of my support network through this entire project. And you were part of mine as well. But yeah, I think that if you really leverage those support networks that one of the things to take away from this is that you don't have to be the expert on everything. That really think about those different roles and the different pieces of expertise that everybody brings to the table and really try to leverage those. And that way you don't have to be the person to do it all. Everybody brings their own thing to the table. And I'll just book in that, that just go for it. It's one additional expert to have on your team. They're cheering for you, and they're helping to guide your success. As we all know, putting together an OER whether via creation or adaptation takes a lot of work, a lot of hours, a lot of commitment, but as the saying goes, many hands make light work. So, besides being an excellent resource, I think librarians can serve as advocates for faculty and for students. They can serve as sounding boards during those frustrating times because there will be those. And then just be that extra set of eyes when you need a new or fresh perspective. And so I say go all in on library and lead teams. It's been such a wonderful years and seeing how projects have been progressing and it's very apparent through this entire session and the last year, how successful this collaboration was. Not only did this partnership build individual and statewide capacity for creating OER, it also increased the confidence of participants and librarians to develop equitable OER and established a large group of new and emerging OER leaders. Lewis and Rebus, as we mentioned earlier, will be continuing the partnership with another round of OER creation with TSP. And for Rebus, it's allowed us to redesign our curriculum based on the feedback from facilitators and Lewis and participants, as well as support of pathway for interested facilitators such as Amy and Brian, looking to continue their professional development and journey in open education. So for final round, I'd wonder, looking at all of you panelists, what does this look like for you all going forward? Well, looking forward, I could say that we've completed what we set out to do our goals and objectives and getting that creation of that adaptation of that book and having it in a course ready to go forward. As for me as my personal and on my campus, I'm developing an OER webpage where we can start more collaborative efforts here on campus to build momentum with that. Amy, maybe I'll ask you the same as a facilitator. I feel more confident facilitating so that's a that's a bonus and then just knowing, just having a more global perspective of some of the OER that's out there just being familiar with more examples to be able to share with others. I'll chime in next and say, moving forward, we at Lewis are doing this again with collaborators from around the state and read this as well. And I think we'll be stronger having learned so much from this work that you all heard about today. And the collaborators on this panel and everyone involved not here today. They have left me energized to the point that we want to do this again that we're excited about doing this again. And it's thanks to them that there is really an increased awareness of OER across the state that we are is becoming a viable alternative in Louisiana and impacting students, academically, financially and pedagogically. I think for us at Revest, as Emily was describing, it's a chance to continue to invest in individuals and try to bring about systemic change in education. I think going forward it's giving us an opportunity to help people be more aware and mindful of their roles, whether it's as a librarian, a facilitator, a subject matter expert, and how this can positively impact students who are coming on from high school pursuing college degrees and graduating with clear pathway for success beyond college. Thank you. Yeah, for me personally I would love to see us try to do something like this in Pennsylvania I thought that this is such a really cool model and it's been very successful and a great way to bring about the sort of cross institutional collaboration that we would like to see more and so every opportunity I get to try to talk people into doing something like this in Pennsylvania I take that opportunity. And we hope others listening will think of something similar just as to what Brian just said and really thinking about implementing something similar in where you are so thank you very much and please let us know if you have any questions in the chat.