Course Marking Information Gathering

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Amy Hofer

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Feb 16, 2024, 11:31:20 AMFeb 16

to Open Oregon, CCCOER Advisory, SPARC OE Forum, Open Textbook Network

Hi all, this message is cross-posted.

Open Oregon Educational Resources has been invited to submit a proposal for IMLS funding to develop open-source software that will enable any Student Information System to interface with any bookstore software system in order to automate the process of marking courses with a no-cost/low-cost designation in the course schedule. More info: SIS/Bookstore Connection Preliminary Proposal Narrative.

I'm looking for information that will help us demonstrate two key points to the IMLS:

- Course marking is librarians' work

- Automating course marking has a national impact

You can share this information however is easiest for you - either by replying to this email or by filling out this form. Replies will be most useful if received by Feb 23 from librarians in the US.

To be really clear: this isn't an official IRB-approved survey but rather an information-gathering ask among colleagues. I'll share an anonymized summary of replies on these lists, so that all of us can use the replies to back up claims that course marking is librarians' work and has national impact. I plan to use the replies in my grant proposal and in other settings where I talk about course marking workflows, and may write a blog post as well.

Thanks,

Amy

Amy Hofer (she/her)

Statewide Open Education Program Director

Open Oregon Educational Resources

Schedule a meeting with me

Amy Hofer

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Mar 1, 2024, 10:28:15 AMMar 1

to Open Oregon, CCCOER Advisory, SPARC OE Forum, Open Textbook Network

Hi all, thanks so much to everyone who replied by email or by google form! Here is a roundup of what I learned.

Regarding course marking being librarians' work:

- All respondents from institutions where state policy requires course marking said that library employees are involved in the course marking workflow.

Regarding the nation-wide scope of the issue:

- Course marking is required in 10 US states according to SPARC's OER State Policy Tracker.

- In states with legislative requirements, there are institutions that implemented course marking before it was required; examples include Columbia Gorge Community College in Oregon and North Shore Community College in Massachusetts.

- In states without legislative requirements, institutions in Minnesota, Utah, Indiana, Rhode Island, and Illinois decided to implement course marking.

- In three more states without legislative requirements, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida, librarians are currently working on proposals to implement course marking.

- All respondents affirmed that their workflow would be improved by open-source software that enables any SIS to interface with any bookstore software system.

I got lots of affirmation that this automation would be valuable. I also got several replies highlighting issues with the underlying data that a technical problem won't fix:

There is a lot of interpretation that occurs with marking up the pdf from the bookstore so I think that job needs to stay with the library. This also allows me to see if classes have switched to or from OER.

I am curious about how this might work in the equitable access sphere. Where all courses are billed the same, what gets marked? This is why we had to stop efforts here to pursue course marking. Our university pays B&N out of operating funds. The students aren't billed directly on a line item. So marking a course low or no cost would confuse them.

I'm very new to course marking and working with the bookstore on course marking, and automation would help streamline some things. I would, however, worry about inaccuracies with an automated system. I'm still trying to tease out how the bookstore report handles faculty who don't report their textbook to the bookstore (I'm worried it's getting lumped in with "No titles required" the way OER/zero-cost courses are). Additionally, some courses require textbook package purchases but don't go through the bookstore, so an automated system would classify them as "zero-cost" even though they're far from it.

Thanks again :)

Amy

Fedrick Mike

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Mar 7, 2024, 10:15:01 AMMar 7

to Open Oregon Educational Resources

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