Reflections and Lessons from Open Education Week 2024

The journey of Open Educational Resources (OER), at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), may have started in 2017 but as a department we are entering a new phase of accelerated growth and expansion of opportunities. The OER department at the UTA Libraries is devoted to “supporting educators in identifying, using, customizing, creating, and publishing teaching and learning materials available at no cost to UTA students. OER are free resources that are licensed to allow for revision and reuse” (Open Educational Resources, 2024). Our team is new, with three of our four full-time staff members approaching or just reaching their six-month anniversary with the department. The Director of the Open Education Resources Department, Jessica McClean, expresses that, “with this new team it was a great opportunity for us to re-establish the services and support our OER team provides” (McClean, 2024). Our team was enthusiastic about the opportunity for department development as we started planning our first big project together, Open Education Week (OEW) held March 4-8, 2024. Open Education Week is an “international celebration sharing the latest achievements in the world of open education” (Open Education Week, 2024). This celebration highlights the core identity of the OER team giving us the chance to participate in the global conversation.  

The OER team's goals for 2024 were to build stronger bonds and establish a shared vision. OEW events were developed by the OER team in collaboration with other library staff, creating the OEW planning team. As a collaborative group we focused on creating events that fostered connections with campus stakeholders, “which is so important because successful OER work needs buy-in from stakeholders all across campus at every level” (McClean, 2024). For the 2024 celebration, we created three programs that highlighted the mission of the OER department and outlined our work.  

The Open Textbook Workshop, presented by Megan Zara the OER Librarian on March 4, was an informative program that outlined UTA’s OER progress and achievements from 2017 to 2023, highlighting the support to student success and student cost avoidance (roughly $6 million for UTA students in Fall 2023). It described the benefits of adopting and/or creating OER. Also calling attention to the resources published through the assistance of the UTA OER department on Pressbooks. The presentation was an example of ongoing conversations between the OER team and faculty members that invite and encourage them to become more involved with the greater OER community (Zara, 2024a).

A presentation developed for a larger audience was “OER at UTA: Lessons & Directions”, presented by Megan Zara on March 6 in collaboration with a research team (Allen, et. al., 2024). The presentation discussed the “journey, from the OER department’s inception to its community impact” (Zara, 2024b). It was exciting and affirming to see the curiosity of our colleges and interested stakeholders, as they asked questions that invoked further discussions. Such discussions emphasize the collaborative and innovative nature of OER. Since it is a relatively new subject in the field of higher education, it is thrilling to consider the potential evolution and projects envisioned through collaboration with interested parties.  

One of the most rewarding parts of OEW 2024 was the student engagement activities, on March 7th hosted by Joshua Fakuade and Lainie Allen. These events were positioned to meet students in high traffic areas, like inside the Central Library on the 1st floor and outside the Central Library main entrance. These events generated discussions to gather insight from students’ experiences and facilitated open conversations to inform them of OER programs. As a primer to these conversations, we asked the students "If you did not have to buy a textbook, what would you do with the money?” It was delightful to see their “faces lit up at the thought of spending their money on something other than textbooks” (Morse, 2024). In considering how they would reallocate their resources the students often cited that they would pay for essentials like medical needs, gas, or food. “The array of responses underscored the tangible impact that accessible educational resources can have on students' lives beyond the classroom” (Misba, 2024).  

Through further conversations: 

The OER Graduate Research Assistant Asfiya Misba, remarked on her experience, both as a student and as an OER team member: 

Through all the excitement and engagement from the OEW, the OER team is encouraged by the success of our first big project. Reflecting on our experiences and lessons learned from these events invigorated our shared purpose to support student success through adoption and creation of OER.  

In addition, we would again like to say thank you to all who volunteered their time to assist with the planning and hosting of the OEW 2024 events.  

Allen, L., Row-Morris, J., Streeter, S., Zara, M. (March 6, 2024). OER @ UTA Lessons and Directions [Presentation]. Open Education Week at the University of Texas at Arlington Library. Arlington, TX United States. 

McClean, J. (March 28, 2024). Response to Open Education Week 2024.  

Misba, A. (March 29, 2024). Response to Open Education Week 2024.  

Morse, A. (March27, 2024). Response to Open Education Week 2024.  

Open Educational Resources. (2024, March). UTA Libraries. https://libraries.uta.edu/about/dept/oer 

Open Education Week. (2024, March). Open Education Global Activities. https://www.oeglobal.org/activities/open-education-                   week/#:~:text=An%20annual%20celebration%2C%20Open%20Education%20Week%20%28OE%20Week%29,Education%20Global%20as%20a%20colla   borative%2C%20community-built%20open%20forum. 

Zara, M. (March 24, 2024a). Access, Affordability and Academic Sucess, Education, Open Education Network [Presentation]. Open Education Week at the         University of Texas at Arlington Library. Arlington, TX United States.  

Zara, M. (March 29, 2024b). Response to Open Education Week 2024.