SPARC Projects

Connect OER

Open Education

University of Guelph

Guelph, ON, Canada
Official Website @uofg

Type: Public 4-Year, Research University
Annual Enrollment: 28,687

  SPARC Member  

OER Webpage

Overview

The University of Guelph is a research intensive, learner-centred university. Our mission to value the highest standards of pedagogy and place the learner at the centre of all that we do provides us with a focus for our advocacy efforts in the areas of open education and open pedagogy.

An institutional Open and Affordable Course Content (OACC) Task Force was formed in January 2017 with the support of the Provost and University Librarian, and its mandate was recently renewed until 2021. The group has representation from librarians, faculty, staff, and students.

The goals of the task force are to:
- Improve the availability, affordability, and accessibility of course materials
- Increase awareness of OER among educational developers and faculty
- Respond to student concerns raised via campaigns such as #textbookbroke
- Support faculty in the creation, adaption, and adoption of OER

Some of the projects that the Task Force and the Research & Scholarship Librarian (OER Lead) have been working on are the following:
-data analysis and reporting of findings of student textbook surveys
-implementing a Reserve Textbook Purchasing Program to enable access to all required textbooks for undergraduate courses
-analysis of faculty interviews to better understand selection and use of course materials
-supporting the creation and adaptation of open resources in Physiology, Microbiology, Management, and Veterinary Science
-design and deliver workshops, as well as student and faculty-focused events

Campus Details

Campus Entities Most Active in Efforts Advancing OER:

Library Departments Active in Efforts Advancing OER:

Academic Subjects With Greatest OER Traction:

Mechanisms to Support OER Included in the Following:

OER Staff Location:



OER Programs

Open and Affordable Course Content Task Force

An institutional Open and Affordable Course Content (OACC) Task Force was formed in January 2017 with the support of the Provost and University Librarian, and its mandate was recently renewed until 2020. The goals of the task force are to:
- Improve the availability, affordability, and accessibility of course materials
- Increase awareness of OERs among educational developers and faculty
- Respond to student concerns raised via campaigns such as #textbookbroke
- Support faculty in the creation, adaption, and adoption of OERs
Membership of the Task Force includes the OER Librarian, Library Senior Research Officer, Manager of ELearning and Reserves, members from Open Learning and Educational Support, a member of student government, and two faculty members.

Program Type:

Duration: 01/2017 - Present

Program Webpage: https://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/find/find-type-resource/open-and-affordable-course-content

Scope: Affordable course content, including cost-free course content and OER

Primary OER Strategy: OER Awareness

Secondary OER Strategies: OER Adaptation, OER Adoption, OER Curation, OER Pedagogy, OER Publication

Unit Housing the Program:

Program Partners:

Source of Program Funding:

Funding from Library Departments:

Total Program Funding to Date: $ 16,000

Incentives Offered by the Program:


OER Events

Faculty Forum

The Faculty Forum kicked off with a keynote by Dr. Arthur Green, Okanagan College, followed by a panel of several University of Guelph faculty and students speaking about their experiences going open: why they decided to make the move, what impact it has had on their teaching and learning experiences, what they’ve learned, and what their next steps will be. The University of Guelph’s Open and Affordable Course Content Task Force also provided an update on their projects, initiatives, and priorities for the coming year.

Date: March 4, 2019

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 30

Links:
Event Summary

Introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER) Workshop

This 1 hour introductory workshop was targeted to faculty and instructors. It was delivered by OER Librarian Ali Versluis.

In this session, Ali provided an introduction to Open Educational Resources (including what they are, why they matter, and how to determine whether something is open), an overview of Creative Commons licensing, and an explanation of how OER can improve the teaching and learning experience.

Date: Oct. 17, 2019

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 8

Links:
Event Summary

TextbookBroke Postcard Campaign

The #TextbookBroke postcard campaign encouraged students at the University of Guelph to share their experience with purchasing textbooks and other course materials. Students had a chance to chat with the Central Student Association in the UC Courtyard from 12 noon to 3 p.m. on Monday March 4, and then again on Tuesday, March 5 and Wednesday, March 6 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the library! Students were encouraged to fill out a postcard and share why open educational resources matter to them! The postcards were mailed to the Deans of the students' academic departments, to raise awareness of the importance of open course materials to the students in their programs.

Date: March 4, 2019 - March 6, 2019

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 200

Event Hashtag: #textbookbroke

Links:
Event Summary

Introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER) Workshop

This 1 hour introductory workshop was delivered by OER Librarian Ali Versluis. In this session, she provided an introduction to Open Educational Resources (including the what they are, why they matter, and how to determine whether something is open), an overview of Creative Commons licensing, and an explanation of how OER can improve the teaching and learning experience.

Date: March 5, 2019

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 12

Links:
Event Summary

Finding Open Educational Resources (OER) For Your Course Workshop

This 1 hour workshop was taught by OER Librarian Ali Versluis. In this session, participants learned how to find and evaluate openly-licensed content that would be appropriate for use in their courses. Topics covered included an introduction to OER, a brief introduction to Creative Commons, an overview of different resources (repositories, referatories, discipline specific resources, aggregators, and platforms), functionality, best practices for searching, and some tools/frameworks for evaluation.

Date: March 6, 2019

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 10

Links:
Event Summary

Playing With Pressbooks Publishing Software (Beginner) Workshop

This 90 minute workshop on Pressbooks open publishing software was delivered by OER Librarian Ali Versluis.

The covered content was an overview of basic functionality (including importing content, adding collaborators, providing metadata), was well as more hands-on activities such as creating chapters, adding media, inserting references, and building in accessibility.

Date: Feb. 20, 2020

Event Type:

Event themes:

Approximate Attendees: 8

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Event Summary

Introduction to Open Educational Practices (OEP) Workshop

This 1.5 hour workshop was taught by OER Librarian Ali Versluis. Topics covered included: an introduction to open educational resources, an introduction to open educational practices, examples of OEP happening at both UG and other institutions, and best practices for using OEP in the classroom. Attendees included faculty, staff, graduate students, and library staff.

Date: June 18, 2019

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 19

Links:
Event Summary

Playing With Pressbooks Publishing Software (Beginner) Workshop

This 90 minute workshop on Pressbooks open publishing software was delivered by OER Librarian Ali Versluis.

The covered content was an overview of basic functionality (including importing content, adding collaborators, providing metadata), was well as more hands-on activities such as creating chapters, adding media, inserting references, and building in accessibility.

Date: March 4, 2020

Event Type:

Event themes:

Approximate Attendees: 7

Links:
Event Summary

DIY Teaching: Create Digital Course Content with the Library Workshop

This 2.5 hour workshop was team-taught by OER Librarian Ali Versluis, Digital Media Librarian Melanie Parlette-Stewart, Digital Learning Specialist Lindsey Robinson, and Digital Media Studio MLIS Co-op Students Anne He and Allie Fallis. In this session, attendees learned about the practice and benefits of integrating open educational practices (OEP) and resources (OER) into their classroom. Participants had the opportunity to develop skills to create their own open content (including diagrams and videos) using free tools. Topics covered included: an introduction to OER, a discussion about why OER matter, the difference between OER and open access/library licensed content, introduction to open educational practices (OEP), and an orientation to Google Draw and Powtoon.

Date: Dec. 3, 2018

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: Cost-free course content, including OER

Approximate Attendees: 10

Links:
Event Summary

OEP and KMB: Building Relationships with Learners Inside and Outside the Classroom Workshop

This 1 hour workshop was delivered by OER Librarian Ali Versluis, in collaboration with the Knowledge Mobilization Community of Practice.

It provided an overview of what open educational practices (OEP) are, why they matter, and what their impact could be. This workshop highlighted tangible examples of how OEP could be used to support knowledge mobilization in classroom and community-focused settings.

Date: Feb. 28, 2020

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 10

Links:
Event Summary

Design Thinking Workshop: How Might We Shift the University of Guelph's Campus Culture to Open?

This intensive (4 hour) invite-only workshop was delivered by OER Librarian Ali Versluis and Manager of eLearning/Copyright Officer Heather Martin. Participants engaged with design thinking, a human-centred process that focuses on finding innovative, tangible solutions to a real world question. Participants collaborated in teams to generate contextual, actionable strategies on how to shift the University of Guelph’s campus culture to open. Attendees included librarians, faculty, instructional designers, and staff members.

Date: March 7, 2019

Event Type:

Event themes:

Scope: OER (open course content)

Approximate Attendees: 15

Links:
Event Summary


OER Resources

University of Guelph Student Textbook Survey

In the fall of 2016, the McLaughlin Library partnered with the Central Student Association to survey students on the issue of textbook affordability. The goal of the survey was to determine whether textbook affordability was an issue on the Guelph campus, and if so, how students were affected by it. More than 4,000 undergraduates responded to the survey. Some 3,200 responses also included written comments.

Resource Permissions:
CC BY NC SA

Resource Citation:
Cassidy, M.,Cheskes, R., Green, N., Martin, H., Versluis, A., and Ward, R. (2017) University of Guelph Student Textbook Survey. https://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/sites/default/files/uofg_student_textbooksurvey_report.pdf



Point of Contact

Ali Versluis
Research & Scholarship Librarian, UofG Library
@aliversluis