“Integrating OER and DEI goals requires moving beyond a focus on expanded learning access and affordability to an emphasis on equitable student outcomes, the retention of underserved students, and an enhanced sense of belonging among those whose perspectives have been excluded or marginalized within the curriculum,” said AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella. “The authors provide campus OER advocates with evidence-based guidance on how to sustain and accelerate their efforts by evoking myriad benefits of OER and intentionally collaborating with, and connecting to, institutional DEI efforts.”
The report outlines seven strategies institutions can use to align their OER initiatives with their DEI goals:
- Engaging Multiple Institutional Partners
- Developing Communication Strategies That Explicitly Connect DEI and OER
- Offering Professional Learning for Faculty and Leaders That Aligns With DEI and OER
- Using Data to Understand the Impact of DEI-OER Implementation
- Building External Collaborations
- Embedding DEI Into OER Course Redesign or Development Grant Programs
- Connecting DEI-OER With Institutional Mission Statements, Strategic Plans, and Internal
Governance Structures
This new publication draws on the results of a recently concluded research project designed to discover, document, and disseminate strategies for aligning OER initiatives and DEI goals. Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the project examined how OER and DEI can most effectively be connected as well as how to assess the impact of those connections on institutional culture, policy, and curriculum; on teaching and learning; and on student success. The research focused on the sixty-six colleges, universities, and state systems that participated in AAC&U’s inaugural yearlong Institute on Open Educational Resources (2021–22).
Leveraging Open Educational Resources to Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is co-published by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), a global education nonprofit working to make learning and knowledge-sharing participatory, equitable, and open. It is authored by C. Edward Watson, associate vice president for curricular and pedagogical innovation and executive director of open educational resources and digital innovation at AAC&U; Lisa Petrides, CEO and founder of ISKME; Anastasia Karaglani, research associate at ISKME; Selena Burns, senior research associate at ISKME; and Judith Sebesta, former vice president of ISKME Labs.
This press release originally appeared online.
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