Cowles Library: OER Initiatives at Drake: Helpful Resources

Open and Affordable Textbook Programs

"... [An] Affordable Textbook Program awards individual faculty members incentive grants for transitioning to open educational resources (OER) or library licensed materials in place of traditional textbooks. The goal of the Affordable Textbook Initiative is to make course materials available at no or low cost..."

Source: Western Kentucky University Libraries by Todd Seguin

OER Research & Surveys

OER Equity - Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics
By comparing the before and after results of these eight courses, the study found that switching to OER increased the number of A and A-minus grades students received by 5.50 percent and 7.73 percent, respectively. The number of students who withdrew or were awarded D or F grades (known as the DFW rate) fell by 2.68 percent.
Florida Virtual Campus Survey -Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey
A link to large scale studies across various Florida university campuses on student perceptions of how the cost of textbooks and instructional materials affects their educational experience. Includes data from 2022, 2018, and 2016

Promotion & Tenure and OER

"Open Education in Promotion, Tenure, and Faculty Development." by Abbey Elder (ISU), Anne Marie Gruber (UNI), Mahrya Burnett (U of Iowa), and Teri Koch (Drake).
This resource was developed by a working group from the Iowa Open Education Action Team (Iowa OER). It builds upon DOERS3's OER in Tenure & Promotion Matrix to help faculty and staff advocate for the inclusion of open educational practices (OEP) in promotion, tenure, and faculty evaluation practices at their institutions.

OER & DEIJ

Anti-Racist, Culturally Responsive, and Inclusive (ACRI)
Library Research Guide created by Highline Community College in Des Moines, Washington. It contains a listing of many OER and Open Access materials related to these topics, and includes the Creative Commons (CC) licensing.
Building Community: Introduction to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (2022)
Ontario Commons License.
Created by the Office of Diversity and Human Rights, University of Guelph. "This thought-provoking book helps us recognize systems of oppression that manifest in our society, and encourages us to work proactively, consciously, and continuously to interrupt oppression." (excerpt from introduction)
Cases on Social Issues: For Class Discussion - 2nd Edition (2023)
CC-BY-NC
"This book consists of short and easy-to-follow cases, focused on the issues of discrimination, equity, inclusion, and social justice, among others. The events are portrayed in a comprehensive, yet simple and realistic way. It´s an excellent source for a stimulating discussion about social issues and it encourages critical thinking, analysis, judgment, and decision-making among the students." (excerpt of review by Adriana Molina Garzon)
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion OER Images
Library Research Guide (Davenport University, Grand Rapids, MI) links to images.
Diversity Equity and Inclusion in OER
University of Maryland resource links
Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in Open Educational Resources (OER) - Australian Edition (2022)
CC BY-NC-SA
"This book provides a very comprehensive overview of how Open Educational Resources (OERs) can be designed with Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in mind. The audience appears to be educators/academics/scholars who wish to create OER using frameworks and principles that reflect social justice, recognitive justice, and representational justice." (excerpt from review by Caroline Toscano).
Open at the Margins: Critical Perspectives on Open Education (2020)
CC-BY-SA
"This book represents a starting point towards curating and centering marginal voices and non-dominant epistemic stances in open education. It includes the work of 43 diverse authors whose perspectives challenge the dominant hegemony."
Trans Inclusion in OER (2022)
CC-BY
"This resource is a guide on how to make OER more inclusive and representative of trans and gender diverse people." (excerpt from introduction)
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) (2023)
CC-BY
"The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) project was a collaboration between 10 universities and colleges across Ontario to develop a 6-module open educational resource for post-secondary educators to help them understand their responsibilities under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). It will help instructors and others to incorporate principles of UDL and considerations of EDI and Indigenisation in their learning environments." (excerpt from introduction)
Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice (2022)
CC-BY-NC
"This book covers a wide range of topics related to social justice and how OER can be harnessed to remove obstacles for marginalized populations. Further, the chapters critically examine the institutional policies and approaches prevalent in higher education that have traditionally prevented the type of access championed by the OER movement." (excerpt of review by Joel Leader)

Accessibility

In addition to general quality, the accessibility of OER is also an important consideration, particularly because most OER are online. These resources provide information about creating and evaluating the accessibility of OER.

OER Accessibility Toolkit
WebAim: WAVE Web. Accessibility Evaluation Tool
This tool provides accessibility information for specific webpages. Paste a URL to see how accessible the website is, based on WebAim's ratings.

Inclusive Access

SPARC - Inclusiveaccess.org
Inclusiveaccess.org is a community-driven initiative to raise awareness of the facts about automatic textbook billing.

OER Initiatives at Drake

Open and Affordable Textbook Programs

OER Research & Surveys

Promotion & Tenure and OER

OER & DEIJ

Accessibility

Inclusive Access

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