"OER is important because it allows me to provide creativity to the classroom. You can find resources that speak to your audience when working with OER. As a result, the learning can become very personalized and individualized. OER is a sharing community that believes in freely giving learning materials to all its learners."

Dr. Deidre Tyler, Professor, Sociology
Full-Time Faculty Open Champion

"OER impacts student learning in many positive ways. It improves access to content that is current, relevant, and relatable, enhancing our students’ educational experience. It lowers barriers that students face in achieving their goals. It enables open pedagogical practices to engage students as content co-creators. OER empowers the use and creation of materials that better serve our students."

Jen Hughes, New Media & Educational Initiatives Librarian, Library Services
Staff Open Champion

“Julia Ellis is being highlighted for her efforts in OER advocacy, creation, project management, and teaching within the Criminal Justice program. She has enjoyed connecting and presenting with others nationally through the OER Consortium. As a first-generation student and single mother, she knows OER would have reduced the financial burden and time it took to complete her degrees. Her personal experiences and love for the community strengthen her engagement in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity efforts. Her student’s feedback around the positive impact of OER offerings has intensified her support to continue this work.”

Julia Ellis, Program Manager, Public Safety, Criminal Justice
Adjunct Faculty Open Champion

"Student access is the reason I have shifted to OER. Finances should not limit students' access to course materials and having these materials available is especially important in the online setting. OER also enables me to update materials and provide students access to diverse knowledge they may not attain from a traditional textbook."

Ashley Givens, Assistant Professor, Communications
The School of Arts, Communication and Media

"I was inspired to create an OER to support our students learning clinical skills. We took an open pedagogical approach, recording instructional videos of each skill and having students write descriptions of each skill, compile resources, and reflect on learning. Creating and implementing an OER has allowed us to flip the classroom and give students more time to practice and apply what they are learning, while at the same time providing them a long-term instructional resource."

Gabe Byars, Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy
The School of Health Sciences

"Conducting research for the OER geography textbooks I've created for students offers profound reminders about how dynamic, expansive, and integral geography is to culture, geopolitics, economics, history, human innovation, environment, and our responses to planetary challenges. OER affords students a multimedia platform for understanding the 'power of place' as they explore the expanses and minutia of Earth, of which humans are only a small part."

Adam Dastrup, Professor, Geosciences
The School of Science, Math and Engineering

"Moving courses from expensive textbooks to freely available resources has been among the most important work I have done in my academic career. For potential students, the (sometimes unexpected) cost of even a single textbook can make the difference between starting college and becoming discouraged. I am profoundly gratified to have the opportunity to directly improve the accessibility of education."

Jeff Davis, Associate Professor, Business Management
The School of Business