We’re starting off this series with an interview with Erin Fields, a Liaison Librarian Flexible Learning Coordinator at the UBC Library, who is an active leader here at Open UBC.
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What motivated you do adopt/adapt/create open educational resources in your work?What first motivated me to be involved with open education was awareness of the impact of affordability and access to knowledge on an educated society. Librarianship has always aligned its values with equitable access to information and with open education; I see these ideals being put into practice not only for students but also for our global community.
Can you tell us about the open education projects you have been working on?I am working with two co-op students on developing a support model in UBC Library for open education initiatives, services for UBC open education projects and, specifically, the UBC OER Grants. Some projects this term include a supporting the publishing of a population and public health textbook, a social justice zine faire, an Indigenous Writers Wikipedia Edit-athon, and the creation of open encyclopedia of Holocaust artefacts.
What benefits have you seen from using open educational resources in the classroom?The greatest benefit I have seen is when faculty engage in open pedagogy in their classrooms, where students become collaborators and co-creators in their learning environments. They develop an understanding of the value and power of information creation and sharing in a way that is deeply personal and critically engaged.
<br What was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?The biggest challenge was initially finding other advocates and supporters of open education, bringing them together in a community of practice, and developing enough momentum to move projects and initiatives forward. We are seeing some of fruits of that labour now at UBC.</p
> Do you have any advice for other faculty developing OER?Learn what supports are available for you at UBC. CTLT offers technology, education development supports, and UBC Library offers copyright, publishing, and open resource curation and sharing supports. Open education really is a community effort. Find your community at open.ubc.ca
Is there anything else you’d like to add about OER at UBC?Nope 🙂
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Thank you Erin for taking the time to participate!
