OER Storytelling - Chun-Hung Wang
Overview
This is my OER Journey
My OER Story of Impact
I am a chemistry instructor in Northland Pioneer College (NPC). I teach introductory chemistry and general chemistry, sometimes general biology laboratory. My OER story is described in this video:
At 4:30, I mentioned the importance of using OER. I know it takes more efforts for instructors to convert all teaching materials into OER. But I know I am doing the right thing to help students alleviate their financial burden. Students really appreciate I made such decision to save them money. Meanwhile, my teaching materials are more specific to match what I think it is important to help students learn chemistry, not the publisher.
My OER journey started in 2021-2022 school year. I have worked in NPC since 2020. The first year teaching in NPC, I saw students attending classes without textbook. It was a tough year because of the pandemic. I was struggling converting everything into online teaching. While students are struggling with internet bandwidth and textbook, it made things challenging. I wanted to help students pass my class. But things are complicated during the pandemic.
My biology colleagues started using OER for more than one year. They suggested me to switch to OER. So, I started looking for OER textbooks. It was painful at the beginning because I felt I take too much effort than I expected. But, when everything is ready, I can see how grateful I made such decision. Now my other chemistry instructor in NPC is using OER as well. And I am helping other full-time and part-time faculties to convert their teaching materials into OER. I will keep doing so. I am happy to see students grow!