Writing out Loud with Open Educational Resources and Affordable Textbooks
megan...@oakland.edu
This session topic grew out of my participation during the 2017-2018 academic year on an Open Educational Resources (OER) task force for the College of Arts and Sciences at Oakland University. The dean charged our task force with looking into OER or at least more affordable textbook options at Oakland. I was asked to join because the Department of Writing and Rhetoric was known on campus for having a relatively affordable textbook written in house by our own faculty.
My participation on the task force, including learning about what other universities in Michigan were doing to pursue OER initiatives, made me wonder specifically what other writing programs and writing program administrators throughout the state might be doing with OER and/or affordable textbook initiatives.
This session will foster discussion among attendees about how writing programs and writing instructors in Michigan think about OER and affordable textbook initiatives, including current practices and future goals.
Questions we will consider during the session will
include:
- As a student-centered discipline, writing studies is particularly concerned with student success. What are the benefits and drawbacks for student success when we pursue OER and affordable textbook initiatives?
- How do we balance the needs of instructors and students when pursuing OER and affordable textbook initiatives?
- What concepts and resources can we share in Michigan for developing initiatives to lower costs of textbooks for students while maintaining high quality teaching resources and supporting instructors’ academic freedom and autonomy?
- What other tensions and obstacles exist for affordable textbook initiatives, and what are viable courses of action?