Faculty Using OER: Recognition Letter Template
Overview
The following resource was shared by Jonas Lamb at the University of Alaska Southeast.
Each year, Faculty Champions are recognized for their efforts to utilize Open Educational Resources (OER) or Affordable Educational Resources (AER) as required materials in their course(s). Increasing the use of OER is a strategic goal for Academics at UAS and use of OER and AER is recognized as as a form of academic leadership which advances innovation in teaching (a component of the UAS Value of Excellence) and learning with impact beyond UAS classrooms. The resources here are sample faculty recognition letter templates used to recognize faculty using OER and how the adoption of OER in their classroom has impacted students.
You can learn more on their website.
Faculty Recognition Letter Templates for Using OER
The following resource was shared by Jonas Lamb at the University of Alaska Southeast.
Each year, Faculty Champions are recognized for their efforts to utilize Open Educational Resources (OER) or Affordable Educational Resources (AER) as required materials in their course(s). Increasing the use of OER is a strategic goal for Academics at UAS and use of OER and AER is recognized as as a form of academic leadership which advances innovation in teaching (a component of the UAS Value of Excellence) and learning with impact beyond UAS classrooms. The resources here are sample faculty recognition letter templates used to recognize faculty using OER and how the adoption of OER in their classroom has impacted students.
You can learn more on their website.
The following sample email is sent to all faculty listing "No Required Textbook" during the Proposed Course Offering/Textbook Adoption process. I've saved it as a Gmail email template. Don't know about Gmail Templates, check it out.
____
Subject: Open UAS | No Textbook Required
Hello UAS Faculty,
I'm reaching out to the instructors for all Fall 2020 courses that listed "No Text Required for this Course" during the textbook order process. If you have a second to respond, I'd love to know what course materials you are using (if any) instead of a commercial textbook.
As part of the affordable course materials work I coordinate through the Egan Library program, Open UAS, I'm excited to see faculty taking a step to reduce the financial barrier that an expensive textbook can create for students. I try to track all these adoptions in order to promote the work faculty are doing to reduce the cost of higher education for our students. So far, 47 faculty teaching 59 unique course sections have saved 1700 students $163,000 using OER or ACM instead of commercial textbooks. Let's add your Fall 2020 courses to this list!.
Did you know at the national level, several large-scale surveys of undergraduate students have found that 6 of 10 students report not purchasing a required course text due to the cost? How does that decision impact their success in the course?
Since 2016, I've been advocating for the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) which are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions. Additionally I've been helping faculty identify OER or library licensed e-books (I refer to these as Affordable Educational Resources/AER since they are no-cost for students) to use instead of commercial textbooks. As more and more classes eliminate expensive textbooks, UAS will join other institutions (mandated in part by the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act) in creating "no-cost" and "low-cost" designations/graphics that can be added to the semester course schedules so students have a better idea of the complete cost of the course: tuition, fees, materials.
Thanks-