How do librarians navigate subscription and open educational resources (OER) to meet the curriculum needs of their institutions? This session will chronicle how librarians from three campuses navigate the complex information environment of business education with a focus on open and affordable course materials. The presenters will provide an overview of OER and highlight the similarities and differences between the disciplines. Business programs often have the largest enrollments on campuses, and so OER efforts in business can potentially have the biggest impact on campus OER goals. However, there are special challenges of OER in business: the importance of commercial publishers who focus on corporate markets, not academic markets; and the wide use of diverse publishing formats, including case studies. Further, faculty perceptions and awareness of OER have also impacted the use of OER in teaching and learning. During the presentation, these factors will be discussed as opportunities and challenges. The presenters will share their insights and experiences on promoting OER strategies for librarians, educators, and publishers. One presenter will confess to being a co-author of a commercial textbook required for an undergraduate marketing class, and will discuss how he later proposed open access options instead. Lastly, a case study will be presented on the collaboration between the library and entrepreneurship faculty to revise curriculum materials for Fundamentals on Entrepreneurship, a core, high-enrollment, introductory course on entrepreneurship, using both proprietary business sources and OER. We will conclude by inviting attendees to share their own issues, strategies, and success stories. The key outcome of this session will be best practices for librarians to evaluate and promote OER resources that are relevant to the teaching and learning needs of their institution.
How do librarians navigate subscription and open educational resources (OER) to meet the curriculum needs of their institutions? This session will chronicle how librarians from three campuses navigate the complex information environment of business education with a focus on open and affordable course materials. The presenters will provide an overview of OER and highlight the similarities and differences between the disciplines. Business programs often have the largest enrollments on campuses, and so OER efforts in business can potentially have the biggest impact on campus OER goals. However, there are special challenges of OER in business: the importance of commercial publishers who focus on corporate markets, not academic markets; and the wide use of diverse publishing formats, including case studies. Further, faculty perceptions and awareness of OER have also impacted the use of OER in teaching and learning. During the presentation, these factors will be discussed as opportunities and challenges. The presenters will share their insights and experiences on promoting OER strategies for librarians, educators, and publishers. One presenter will confess to being a co-author of a commercial textbook required for an undergraduate marketing class, and will discuss how he later proposed open access options instead. Lastly, a case study will be presented on the collaboration between the library and entrepreneurship faculty to revise curriculum materials for Fundamentals on Entrepreneurship, a core, high-enrollment, introductory course on entrepreneurship, using both proprietary business sources and OER. We will conclude by inviting attendees to share their own issues, strategies, and success stories. The key outcome of this session will be best practices for librarians to evaluate and promote OER resources that are relevant to the teaching and learning needs of their institution.
