John Doerr driving a C.H. Doerr & Co. Biscuit & Confectionery delivery sleigh, 1913.
Dare Foods Limited fonds. GA163-31-397_001.
LIBRARY SUPPORTS FACULTY AND STUDENTS IN BETTER LEARNING OUTCOMES:
OER FELLOWS GRANT PROGRAM
“Libraries have a critical voice in the OER conversation; they have the knowledge, expertise, and trust to support the development of new information and formats, all leading to better learning outcomes for students.”
Mike Chee history and political science librarian, formerly open education librarian
For decades now there has been a movement across Canada to support the development of Open Educational Resources (OER), which help to democratize knowledge and provide students affordable access to quality materials. Departments across Waterloo, including the Library, are actively involved in many programs to build OER, such as eCampusOntario. “Libraries have a critical voice in the OER conversation; they have the knowledge, expertise, and trust to support the development of new information and formats, all leading to better learning outcomes for students,” says Mike Chee, history and political science librarian, who played a key role in the Library’s latest OER initiative.
During Open Education Week in March 2022, the Library announced an OER Fellows Grant Program to support the creation of open educational resources at Waterloo. As part of the Library’s mission to make learning materials freely accessible and available, we sponsored $15,000 for this pilot program (up to $5,000 per grant) to create or adapt resources for use in a Waterloo course.
Instructors and faculty take the lead in creating OER but often don’t independently have the time or support needed to prioritize such projects. This Fellows Grant program provides the funding to give them both. In addition to funds, the Library’s partnership with the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) gives ongoing support to the selected projects as they are developed. CEL’s agile development team provides on-the-ground support, while the Library shares expertise in copyright, licensing and publishing.
During this inaugural year, the Library received ten applications from across all Waterloo faculties, with more than $40,000 in requested support. The three projects selected all identified a need for more tailored course materials to support better learning outcomes and included experiential education opportunities for students. By involving students in the development of the OER, they gain hands-on experience in creating academic-level content and have the opportunity to connect course content to real-life work.
The Library is thrilled to announce the grant is continuing for the next five years thanks to a generous donation from Staebler Insurance.
Impact Statements from 2022 recipients
“The OER Fellows Grant allowed me to hire a research assistant [bringing] a student’s view [and], influencing decisions around how to structure the ideas and communicate them accessibly. The collaboration was both a teaching and mutual learning opportunity, which took the ideas for the OER to a higher level of sophistication and ultimately a stronger result.”
Dr. Barb Bloemhof
Lecturer, Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts
“The OER Fellows Grant supported a new collaboration in our faculty, bringing together two instructors who had not previously worked together (Drs. Neiterman and Tong), and allowed us to work with five undergraduate students and two graduate students, who helped collect the digital stories and craft a resource that would resonate with learners. None of this work would have been possible without the OER grant, and the institutional support that came with the funding.”
Dr. Catherine Tong Research Associate. Geriatric Health Systems Research Group and Dr. Elena Neiterman Continuing Lecturer, School of Public Health Sciences
“The OER Fellows Grant has given me the opportunity to assess the accessibility of my OER-in-progress, as well as to incorporate introductions to sections of the project by leading experts, improving the depth of knowledge represented by the project and expanding its reach.”
Dr. Alana Cattapan Canada Research Chair, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts
Supporting STEM students with self-paced academic integrity tutorials
As part of eCampus Ontario’s Virtual Learning Strategy grants, a new series of online self-paced tutorials that build skills in academic integrity for STEM students, was recently launched on the Library’s Online Learning Object Repository.
Available in both English and French and open to all students, the six modules cover foundational knowledge every STEM undergraduate student needs to know as they progress through their studies, including collaboration and sharing materials, citing sources, and strategies to act with integrity. While these topics are often covered in humanities subjects in high school, the same type of knowledge is often not taught in STEM courses at that level.
These modules seek to fill that gap by providing real-world examples specific to all four STEM disciplines (science, computer science, engineering and math) so all undergraduate students can progress through their studies with a standardized base of knowledge and a clear understanding of how these topics relate to circumstances unique to STEM fields.
The project, co-led by Amanda McKenzie (Office of Academic Integrity) and Dr. Kari Weaver (Library), contributes to the University’s strategic commitment to advancing a learning environment that “supports high-quality, open content and digital learning options.” Benefiting heavily from subject expertise and input from a wide variety of external collaborators, the core development team of Weaver, McKenzie, as well as Erin Nearing (Office of Academic Integrity) and Maria Barichello (Student Success Office) created the content, and the Library’s instructional design team designed the modules. Special thanks go to Mike Chee, open education librarian, who kicked-off the project by applying to eCampus Ontario for support.
Early feedback on the tutorials from both students and instructors has been extremely positive. The next step is to share this resource with instructors so they can encourage students to work through the six modules to develop a firm grasp of academic integrity concepts that will serve them well through their undergraduate studies and beyond.
(originally published on Library News, June 3, 2022)