UNE Welcomes On-Site OEN Workshops

This fall, the University of New England (UNE) kicked off the new academic year with a full-day event at the institution’s Biddeford, Maine, campus. The lineup welcomed undergraduate faculty and staff back to school with a fun run/walk, engaging presentations including an address by UNE President James Herbert, and an outdoor barbecue lunch in what is arguably one of the most scenic waterfront university settings in the region.

David Tully, Librarian for Student Success and Affordability at North Carolina State Universities, and Jamie Witman, Open Educational Practices Specialist for the Open Education Network (OEN), were also enjoying the barbecue that day. The two presenters were on campus in person, set to deliver OEN workshops on open educational resources (OER) at the request of UNE Library Services. 

“It’s really helpful for faculty to hear about the importance of OER from people like Jamie and David,” said Sonya Durney, UNE Scholarly Communication, Research & Teaching Librarian. With a smile, she added, “In Library Services we joke that we’re afraid faculty are going to hide when they see us coming because, it’s like, ‘Here come the OER ladies again!’ It’s great when our faculty can also get the OER message from professionals in the field.”

UNE Library Services has been steadily building momentum for OER in recent years, collaborating with support from UNE administration, faculty, students, and a campus-wide OER Steering Committee. Their collective effort resulted in a Davis Educational Foundation grant awarded to UNE in July 2024. The grant has enabled UNE to realize several goals, including the ability to offer faculty incentives and host OER workshops to raise awareness and increase OER use on campus.

“We’ve found some champions and they’re growing in number,” said Elizabeth (Beth) Dyer, UNE Dean of Library Services who shares Sonya’s excitement and supports her OER advocacy. “It’s exciting for us to gain this momentum. We feel like we really have some traction now, especially after the OEN workshops.”

The two workshops on August 21st  marked the return of live, on-site presentations that had been the OEN’s standard method before the pandemic necessitated virtual delivery. The current, updated selection of workshop topics and delivery options for OEN members is outlined on the OEN Workshops webpage.

First up at UNE, the Introduction to OER Adoption Workshop began with an introduction by Provost Gwendolyn Mahon. The provost offered an encouraging reminder about OER’s capacity to transform educational outcomes, setting the tone for David’s 90-minute presentation. 

An experienced presenter, David tailored this workshop with local data and OER project examples ranging from basic to extraordinary, each intended to inspire without overwhelming. His delivery touched on the financial burden that high tuition and textbook costs impose on students, as well as adverse impacts to their sense of belonging in the classroom. He proposed open textbooks as one solution - another tool to help UNE faculty address educational equity.

David also invited them to review an open textbook from the Open Textbook Library, a practice shown to significantly increase the likelihood these instructors will adopt OER for their own courses. And at the workshop's conclusion, the conversations continued. “To be honest,” said David, “It’s the folks coming up to you immediately following, or in the corridor, or at the end of the day that can sometimes have the most meaningful impact.”

From his perspective, these “water cooler conversations” provide important one-on-one time for instructors to ask questions. In UNE’s case, those questions revolved around creative commons licensing, finding OER, advantages of OER, commonalities between OER and open access publishing, the value of OER in promotion and tenure, and much more.



Sailboats and beachfront, as seen from UNE’s Biddeford campus on
August 21, 2024, provided a relaxed, casual setting for the faculty and 
staff barbecue lunch. Photo courtesy of Jamie Witman.

Later that day, the Introduction to OER Publishing Workshop served a smaller group of UNE faculty. Jamie’s conversational presentation delved into definitions of publishing, motivations for writing an open textbook, OER’s impact on student success, and an abundance of authorship considerations. Among her key points for UNE, she emphasized, “Starting small is okay.” 

“Right now, UNE’s focus is largely on the OER adoption aspect,” said Jamie. “I intentionally let these instructors know that OER publishing doesn’t necessarily mean they need to take on a full textbook.” Instead, she recommended they start by thinking about materials they already have, considering whether a smaller undertaking might turn one of these into an open resource for students. 

As her presentation wrapped up, another spontaneous chat brought Jamie, David, UNE staff, and a UNE instructor together to discuss his publishing projects and goals.

“It was a really positive interaction,” said Jamie, recalling the relevant experiences and helpful connections they shared. “There’s a lot of support for and resources around both the OER adoption and OER publishing workshops, so it’s nice to be able to share that with folks.”

Looking back, Sonya and Beth say they’re glad they built OEN workshops into the UNE grant application. “I feel like the return on investment was really good,” concludes Sonya, who’s watching Library Services’ interest in OER spread throughout the university. “It’s amazing to think long-term, how we can build this out and the impact it can make. That drives my excitement!”

OEN members, are you excited to host an OEN workshop for your institution? Visit the OEN website to learn about your options. You can invite an OEN presenter or use resources available to you on the Community Hub to lead the workshop yourself. Contact Barb Thees with questions.