Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Review existing surveys to develop our survey instrument 

• Create survey using Qualtrics 

• Seek feedback from members of my department – Research, Instruction, Technology – and modify questions based on feedback

• Determine if IRB approval is needed and apply if necessary

• Analyze the results of the survey and develop marketing and communication materials to share the results  

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• Partner with the Trinity ConnPIRG, Library Student Advisory Board, Student Government Association, and the Office of Student Success to develop and administer the survey, and to create communication and marketing materials to share the results  

• Partner with our student engagement librarian to create the survey using Qualtrics 

• Available resources include the Florida Virtual Campus survey, the OER Research Toolkit from the Open Education Group, and American University’s student survey, which was designed to assess the need for textbook affordability initiatives at private colleges and universities 

Potential Barriers: 

• Survey fatigue on our campus and, consequently, a low response rate 

• Potentially not having permission to survey students  

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• Developing strategies to counteract survey fatigue  

• Achieving an acceptable student response rate (5-10%) 

• Gaining permission to survey students  

Desired Outcome(s): 

• Having concrete data to establish the extent to which textbook affordability is an issue on our campus 

• Having data to connect the issue of textbook affordability to strategic initiatives outlined in the college’s Summit strategic plan; namely, the twin goals of reducing financial barriers for all students to access the full Trinity educational experience and enhancing resources to support an increasingly diverse community of students where all are welcome 

• Over the long-term, use the findings from the student survey to increase faculty awareness, engagement, and adoption of OER

• Over the long-term, use the findings from the student survey to build buy-in among select administrators (e.g., Dean of students, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)

Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Reach out to my contact at Temple University Libraries to learn about her experience creating Temple’s textbook listening tour and any recommendations she has for best practices, scalability, and resources (Fall 2020) 

• Identify and recruit interview team members (Spring 2021) 

• Develop open-ended questions (Summer 2021) 

• Pilot tour with one or two academic departments (Summer 2021) 

• Modify/refine open-ended questions based on pilot (Summer 2021) 

• Organize meetings with academic departments (interviews will not exceed one hour) 

• Implement the tour during Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters 

• Prepare a report for the Provost that summarizes our findings and offers recommendations for creating a sustainable, institution wide OER (or open education) initiative (Fall 2022)  

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• Collaborate with my contact at Temple University to design, implement, and analyze the results of the tour 

• Gain buy-in and develop partnerships with the Dean of Faculty, the Provost, members of the faculty senate, department chairs and program directors, and liaison librarians and instructional technologist assigned to the various academic departments 

• Key resources include Temple University Libraries Final Report of the Textbook Listening tour and Annie Johnson, Library Publishing and Scholarly Communications Specialist at Temple University Libraries. Annie Johnson is one of the librarians who led the listening tour at Temple and wrote the final report 

Potential Barriers: 

• Organizing the meetings with each academic department 

• Time required to design, implement, and analyze the results 

• Not gaining buy-in from the necessary stakeholders (e.g., department chairs and program directors, the Dean of Faculty, the Provost and other upper level administrators, the new CIO of our Information Services division)  

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• Figuring out the logistics of organizing a project of this scale 

• Building relationships and buy-in among key stakeholders 

• Balancing the responsibilities of this project with other job-related duties, especially library instruction sessions and research consultations  

Desired Outcome(s): 

• Gather information that will help us to move our OER initiative forward. This includes understanding department level goals and challenges and how OER might address those goals and challenges 

• Discover OER activity already happening on campus and faculty/departments who are interested in using open materials  

• A latent function of the listening tour is that it can help to build important relationships and future partnerships with faculty, and to get other librarians and instructional technologist invested and engaged in OER through their participation in the tour 

• Another latent function is that it can help us determine how to frame our OER initiative in a way that will resonate with our faculty and campus community (e.g., an OER initiative vs an open education initiative) 

• Sharing the findings from our listening tour with key administrators may help to build broader institutional support for OER/open education

• Over the long-term, use the findings from the listening tour to increase faculty engagement and adoption of OER

Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Research the OER initiatives of comparable liberal arts colleges in the Northeast to identify model programs 

• Review program case studies provided by CCCOER and OER Hub 

• Link model programs to SMART goals 

• Identify specific elements of programs we want to borrow/adapt/build upon 

• Identify and carry out next steps for reaching out to selected model programs  

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• Wesleyan and Connecticut College Libraries. Together we make up the CTW Library Consortium. Both institutions have active and successful OER programs 

• Other comparable liberal arts colleges in the Northeast that are part of the Oberlin Group of Libraries of which Trinity is also a member 

• Resources to draw on include the Model Programs worksheet, SPARC’s connect OER, list of OER and Textbook Affordability Initiatives, OER World Map, CCCOER Case Studies, and OER Hub Case Studies  

Potential Barriers: 

• Time constraints for myself and contacts from selected model programs 

• Adapting borrowed program elements to ensure they align with our institution’s culture, mission, and strategic initiatives as outlined in the college’s strategic plan  

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• Defining what constitutes a “comparable” institution for benchmarking purposes 

• Identifying meeting times that work for all schedules 

• Determining how to adapt and scale elements of model programs to our institution  

Desired Outcome(s): 

• Identify successful program strategies to borrow or adapt, identify best practices, establish benchmarks for success, and build external partnerships

• Apply the strategies and best practices learned to increase faculty engagement and adoption of OER 

Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Gather the information needed to complete the application. This includes 

• Total duplicated seat count enrollment (annual) 

• OER budget 

• Current OER impact (i.e., number of faculty currently using OER, number of students at our institution currently being impacted by OER, two teaching faculty willing to be “textbook heroes”) 

• The biggest challenges to student success on our campus 

• Minimum of two letters of support from senior administrators   

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• The Offices of Admissions and Financial Aid 

• Center for Student Success and Career Development 

• Office of Student and Community Life 

• Our Director of Collections, Discovery, and Access Services 

• Trinity ConnPIRG 

• At least two senior administrators (possibly the Provost and the Vice President of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) 

• Faculty who have expressed an interest in OER and/or received the OER mini grant last cycle 

• Resource: OER Playbook: Measuring Impact with OER  

Potential Barriers: 

• Obtaining needed data around enrollment and OER impact 

• Obtaining letters of support from senior administrators  

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• Determining how to measure the current impact of our burgeoning OER initiative 

• Determining what information to impart to senior administrators to gain buy-in and support  

Desired Outcome(s): 

• Learn and apply new strategies to expand our OER program and increase awareness, engagement, and use of open materials on our campus 

• Refine our OER action plan to accomplish our SMART goals 

• Form external partnerships with their community of partner institutions to share ideas, challenges, successes, and advice 

• Professional development around OER for me and, presumably, other members of our staff 

• Templates for marketing materials that we can tailor to our institutional needs, mission, and culture 

Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Reach out to potential partners to get them on board 

• Work with partners to identify the goals and target audience(s) for our digital stories 

• Find examples of digital storytelling with an advocacy/social justice lens to use as a blueprint for developing our content 

• Identify tools and platforms to develop, brand, and share the stories 

• Create digital stories and share them out 

• Identify and develop complementary programming for Open Education Week

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• Trinity ConnPIRG 

• Student Library Advisory Board 

• Staff from our Research, Instruction, Technology group (this includes instructional technologists, the digital scholarship coordinator, and the director of planning and operations) 

• Office of Communications (includes the college’s social media coordinator) 

• Resources: Hackastory Tools, Story Center (Free webinars), OpenEd Week Menu, Interactive whiteboards, OER Playbook: Building Awareness & Enthusiasm, OTN Student Video Creation Tips, OTN videos on textbook costs, Open Textbooks at Northwestern video, Open Textbook Alliance SGA Toolkit  

Potential Barriers: 

• Getting buy-in from the Office of Communications to helps us brand and share the digital stories to the entire campus community 

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• This project will be completed in close collaboration with our student PIRG and student library advisory board. How do we keep the students motivated to see the project to completion and to stay on task?  

Desired Outcome(s): 

• Raise awareness of the problem of textbook affordability on our campus 

• Raise awareness of OER and its benefits to students and faculty, especially as it relates to student success, access, and inclusion 

• Inspire students to advocate for OER on our campus 

• Inspire faculty and staff to get involved with our OER initiative and/or to engage with OER

Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Meet with my director and the CIO of our division about the rationale for forming a working group 

• Compile a list of potential members from key stakeholder groups  

• Select chairperson and co-chair 

• Develop a work plan and timeline for meetings (including frequency and duration) 

• Send e-mail invitations to prospective members 

• Determine the formal charge of the group once the group is convened  

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• Students (SGA and/or PIRG) 

• Faculty 

• Librarians 

• Instructional technologists 

• Student Accessibility Center 

• Office of Student Success 

• Admissions and Financial Aid 

• Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

• The Center for Teaching and Learning 

• The Campus Bookstore 

• Office of Communications

• Resources: Locate other examples of OER working groups to help determine the charge and activities of the working group  

Potential Barriers: 

• Lack of time and/or interest among prospective members 

• Lack of awareness of OER and its benefits  

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• Identifying and including relevant talking points to key stakeholders in our invitations to prospective members  

Desired Outcome(s): 

• Generate institutional support for our OER initiative by forming partnerships with key stakeholders and empowering them to shape our initiative 

• Move our initiative forward and start building the necessary institutional supports to ensure its sustainability 

• Over the long-term, increase faculty engagement and adoption of OER

Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Reach out to potential collaborators to gauge interest in partnering to develop a series of workshops 

• Determine the number, format, focus, and timeline for workshops 

• Identify the budget and resources needed to develop and deliver workshops (including spaces) 

• Develop the content of each workshop (i.e., slide deck, activities, registration forms, and assessments)

• Develop communication and marketing materials to generate interest and attendance

• Evaluate and assess each workshop 

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• Center for Teaching and Learning 

• CTW Library Consortium 

• Librarians, instructional technologists, and the digital scholarship coordinator

• Members of the planning committee for our annual Faculty JumpStart Day 

• Resources: My previous ideas for workshops, OER Course Redesign Training, OER Playbook: Supporting Faculty  

Potential Barriers: 

• Other campus events that compete for faculty time 

• Faculty time constraints 

• Potential lack of interest  

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• Scheduling workshops for a time when faculty can attend 

• Generating interest so faculty will attend  

Desired Outcome(s) 

• Reduce barriers to OER adoption by linking faculty to the necessary knowledge, tools/technologies, and supports needed to transition courses to OER, create OER, or engage in OER-enabled pedagogy 

• Use the workshops as a method for cultivating the institutional infrastructure needed to support faculty adoption of OER

• Increase faculty engagement and adoption of OER

Specific Steps I Can Take: 

• Build relationships with faculty involved in faculty governance groups (to put out feelers about whether this is possible and how to go about it) 

• Contact the chair of the Appointments and Promotion Committee (or persons responsible for updating the guidelines) for a meeting 

• Prepare for meeting by reviewing the existing guidelines and identifying sections where open education can be included 

• Draft sample wording for those sections to share as examples of places where open education can be incorporated into tenure and promotion guidelines  

Potential Collaborators & Resources: 

• Student Government Association 

• Center for Teaching and Learning 

• OpenStax (if our application is accepted) 

• OER Working Group (if this comes to fruition) 

• Resources: OER Playbook: Develop OER Policy, Free to Learn OER Policy Development Guidebook, Trinity College Faculty Manual, The University of British Columbia’s revised promotion and tenure guidelines  

Potential Barriers: 

• Resistance on the part of faculty to have open education included in promotion and tenure guidelines (could be read as infringing on academic freedom) 

• The institution may not update its guidelines often 

• The politics of tenure and promotion 

• Lack of leverage and institutional power to be able to implement this 

Questions/Issues I Need to Resolve: 

• This may be a politically sensitive issue, so this is a long-term goal that will depend on developing relationships with key stakeholders first  

Desired Outcome(s) 

• Begin the process of developing non-monetary incentives for faculty engagement and adoption of OER 

• Reward faculty who opt to go open 

• Increase faculty engagement and adoption of OER