Converting paralegal program to OER

[Brandon Board]

Hi all,

 

The folks who run our paralegal associate’s degree program have made the decision that they’d like to convert all courses in the program to a zero-cost textbook model, with the intention of leaning heavily on OERs.  I’ve done a bit of looking in the usual places and haven’t come up with many quality/current resources for them to use.  I’m wondering:

 

1. Are there any other paralegal programs that have made a similar transition?  Care to share your experience?
2. Any suggestions on where to go to broaden my search?  Any recommendations for specific resources?

 

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

(Apologies for cross-posting!)

 

Brandon Board

Digital Services Coordinator

Waubonsee Community College Libraries

630.466.6643

 

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[Casey, Cheryl - (ccuillie)]

Hi Brandon,

 

As we’ve worked on zero-cost textbook models in subjects where there aren’t enough OER yet, we’ve heavily relied on unlimited-user ebooks purchased by the library. Many titles aren’t available as ebooks to academic libraries (we can only get about 20% of required textbooks) but we’ve often been able to work with faculty to find alternative ebook titles if their first choice isn’t available. Often, only a 1-user or 3-user license may be available and we’ve learned that those can create a lot of frustration in course situations. We warn students that they’re welcome to use ebooks with a 1-user or 3-user license, but the library can’t guarantee access and they should plan ahead by downloading chapters as PDFs at the start of the class to avoid turnaways.

 

Best,

Cheryl

 

Cheryl (Cuillier) Casey, Open Education Librarian

Main Library A501

1510 E. University Blvd.

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

(520) 310-9874

ORCID: 0000-0002-6010-4405

 

From: lib...@sparcopen.org <lib...@sparcopen.org> On Behalf Of Brandon Board
Sent: Friday, July 8, 2022 7:18 AM
To: cccoer-...@googlegroups.com; lib...@sparcopen.org
Subject: [EXT][LibOER] Converting paralegal program to OER

 

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[Andrea Dunn]

Cornell has a good site ( LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu) ) that we leverage in our paralegal courses, as well as  Oyez  .  We also subscribe to CALI ( Home | CALI), which has affordable lesson content.  LawShelf.com is another resource. We also try and use the free Bluebook citation information they provide online, but some of our courses require the full book.