UBC Library Open Education Impact & Activity Report
2024/2025
UBC Library’s Open Education services seek to support the UBC community in finding, adapting, and creating high-quality open educational resources, as well as planning and implementing innovative Open Education projects and Open Practices.
UBC Library’s Open Education services play an active role in moving forward UBC Vancouver Library’s Strategic Framework vision of,
…leading and collaborating to advance open scholarship…
Additionally, the supports and services for open education reinforce UBC Okanagan Library’s commitment to,
… support(ing) transformative learning experiences.
The following report was developed by Erin Fields, Open Education & Scholarly Communications Librarian (Vancouver Campus), Donna Langille, Open Education Librarian (Okanagan Campus) and Leila Malkin, Scholarly Communications Assistant (Vancouver Campus) to highlight UBC Library’s combined impact on open educational practices at UBC for 2024/2025.
The core of UBC Library’s open education program is our focus on helping and supporting faculty, students, and staff in their open practices.
Total Consultations 75
Consultations by Campus & Department
Okanagan Departments
- Irving K Barber School of Sciences UBCO (11)
- UBCO Employee (4)
- Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (3)
- Faculty of Health and Social Development (1)
- Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Social Sciences (1)
Vancouver Departments
- Faculty of Applied Science (5)
- Faculty of Arts (23)
- Faculty of Education (2)
- Faculty of Forestry (1)
- Peter A. Allard School of Law (1)
- Faculty of Medicine (9)
- Non-UBC (3)
- School of Nursing (3)
- Faculty of Science (3)
- UBC Employee (5)
UBC Library organized 20 events with 735 participants to build awareness and advocate for open practices and resources on campus. Sessions included topics on creating OER using digital tools (e.g. Pressbooks, Scalar etc.), open licensing, sharing and discoverability of OER, and open pedagogy.
“Stop Generating”: Generative AI in the Contexts of Indigenous Studies 218 participants
David Gaerner (Associate Professor, Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies and Associate Member of English Language and Literatures ) presented his thinking on the use of GenerativeAI and Indigenous Knowledge. This present engages with Indigenous theorists and authors to situate generative AI and large language models (LLMs) within a long colonial history of extraction. Just as colonial states declare Indigenous lands terra nullius, allowing settlers to exploit resources through mining, clear-cutting, and other forms of extraction, generative AI similarly depends on the unchecked extraction of data, including Indigenous knowledge and cultural resources, often without consent.
The Influence of AI on Academic Publishing
104 participants
Taylor & Francis VP External Affairs and Policy, Priya Madina, provide a session on Generative AI and academic publishing. This session will provide an overview of AI and opportunities and challenges of utilising AI, illustrated by academic publisher use cases of AI. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer period.
UBC Library works with many internal and external partners in providing open education services, training, and advocacy. The following are highlights of collaborations that have had a significant impact on open education awareness and advocacy efforts this year.
UBC OER Collection
Developed in partnership with the UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), UBC Library and UBC Okanagan Library, the UBC OER Collection is a curated database full of openly accessible teaching and learning materials. The UBC OER Collection showcases UBC open educational resources (OER) in a searchable interface to support both UBC faculty and the general community in incorporating open educational resources and practices into their curriculum.
The collection was launched March 7, 2022 and currently houses 106 OER developed by UBC faculty, students, and staff.
Watch the video to learn how to find resources and submit your own to the UBC OER Collection. Transcript [Word File]
OER in cIRcle
This past year, UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan has worked to include open educational resources into cIRcle, UBC’s institional repository. cIRcle is the University of British Columbia’s institutional repository for research and teaching materials created by the UBC community and its partners. Materials in cIRcle are openly accessible to anyone anywhere, and is preserved for future generations
To support discoverability for users seeking OER, the team developed a series with enhanced metadata for the record abstracts using LRMI standards. Additionally, a remediation project was completed to include past cIRcle teaching material records in the new University of British Columbia. Open Educational Resources series.
The University of British Columbia. Open Educational Resources series contains 24 OER with enhanced abstracts.
OER & UDL Champions
In partnership with the UBC Vancouver Alma Mater Society, Student’s Union UBC Okanagan, the VP Academic and Provost, and CTLT, the OER Champions Recognition Awards recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to the use of open educational resources (OER) at UBC.
UBC Vancouver recognized 30 faculty and staff members and their OER efforts in an event hosted at the Great Hall in The AMS Student Nest. Faculty and staff members enjoyed an evening of speakers and socializing with other open education advocates.
UBC Library supports open educational resource projects by faculty, including creating, finding, and sharing processes. The following highlights the projects supported by the library in 2024/2025.
Open Texts
UBC Library offered support and training for 6 projects, including technical support for Pressbooks, an open text publisher.
In support of sharing and discoverability of UBC community-created Pressbook texts, UBC Library created the Open UBC Open Text Catalogue. The texts in the catalogue were made with support from UBC Library open education service. The collection currently houses 33 texts, 12 of which were developed/in-development in 2024-2025, including:
Trans* Journeys: Illustrated Essays of Trans Persons Autobiographies (UBC Vancouver)
Faculty Lead:Isabel Machado and CSIS 301 Students
Published: December 2024
1990Visitors (December 2024 – June 2025 )
This collection of essays was developed by students in CSIS 301 – Intro to Trans* Studies at the University of British Columbia – Vancouver Campus. These essays are the outputs of a course assignment using a set of teaching and learning practices known as open pedagogy that involve open educational resources and students-as-creators. The CSIS 301 – Intro to Trans* Studies course introduces students to the field of Trans Studies through various conceptual and theoretical frameworks. This collection of essays is a culmination of the students’ learning throughout the course and their effort to openly share what they have learned in a visual and textual format.
Discipline-based Approaches to Academic Integrity (UBC Okanagan)
Faculty Lead: Anita Chaudhuri
Published: July 2024
1445 Visitors (July 2024 – June 2025)
This edited collection bridges the gap between research in academic integrity and classroom practice by offering: Discipline specific perspectives; Theoretical concepts articulated for undergraduate readership; and Learning tips, activities and discussion items to facilitate instruction on academic integrity.
Current/Upcoming Projects
- Aqueous Pathways: The Principles of Hydrometallurgy
- UBC Legal Career Guide
- Speaking and Writing Physics, 101
- Pediatric Rheumatology
- Trans* Journeys: Illustrated Essays of Trans Persons Autobiographies
- Discipline-based Approaches to Academic Integrity
- Kʷu cyʕap: A Locally Situated Salishan tmixʷ-centered and Land-based Indigenous Writing Guide (Pre-publication)
- Genetic Principles (Pre-publication)
- Grimm’s Fairytales – A Reader (Pre-publication)
- Drag Around the World (Pre-publication)
- Open Scholarship and Education (Pre-publication)
Trans* Journeys: Centering Marginalized Voices Through Open Pedagogy and Open Publishing
Dr. Isabel Machado is a Lecturer at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ). Machado teaches Introduction to Trans Studies (CSIS 301), as well as other introductory and critical studies courses at UBC that engage with topics like social justice, intersectionality and sexuality. Like all Machado’s courses, CSIS 301 is project-driven, where students work on a single project by completing scaffolding assignments throughout the term. The course also follows open pedagogy practices, where students create, share and openly license new work as part of the course.
In the fall 2024, CSIS 301 students were tasked with creating illustrated essays on a memoir or autobiography written by a trans person. Everyone was also given the choice to submit their work privately or as part of a published essay collection. Read More
UBC Library worked closely with faculty to incorporate open pedagogical practices into courses, engaging students as active participants in open knowledge creation and circulation. The following highlights open pedagogy projects in 2024/2025.
- CENS 308 – Provided support on copyright and intellectual property and zine creation
- APBI_V 422 – Provided support on copyright and intellectual property, with focus on Indigneous knowledge, and zine creation
- CSIS 301, 450 – Provided support with copyright and intellctual poroperty, open copyright licenses, and the use of Pressbooks for publishing two edited books
- BIOL 420N – Provided support with copyright and open copyright licenses, students created social media campaigns
- ANTH 311 – Provided support with copyright and open copyright licenses, students created digital exhibits using CollectionBuilder
- CRWR 474 – Provided support with podcast creation, finding openly licensed audio, students created podcasts
- GWST 110 – Provided support with copyright and open copyright licenses, students created zines
- CORH 203, 216, 499 – Provided support with copyright and open copyright licenses, students created digital media (e.g. infographics, blogs)
- SOCI 370 Provided support with copyright and open copyright licenses, students created infographics
As we look to the future of open education in the library, we recognize the importance of campus policies, recommendations, and granting opportunities that will directly impact educational resource selection,use, and creation within the classroom. We will work with faculty to address these directions through engagement with open education and open practices.
OER Campus Grants
Vancouver
UBC Library is a full partner in the development and adjudication of the OER Fund. This past year the 2 OER Rapid Innovation Grant were awarded and 6 Implementation Grants. See funded projects.
OER Excellence and Impact Awards
This year was the inaugural OER Excellence and Impact Awards. The awards, a collaboration between the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, UBC AMS, SUO Okanagan, UBC Vancouver and Okanagan Library, are teaching and learning awards that recognize outstanding work done by faculty at both UBC campuses who materially advance the use and impact of open educational resources in credit courses at UBC. The award program consists of one individual and one team-based award of $5,000 each year per campus.
Congratulations to the 2025 OER Excellence and Impact Award recipients. Learn more about their work
UBC Vancouver: Individual Award
- Dr. Lindsay Cuff, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Faculty of Land & Food Systems and Faculty of Forestry
UBC Vancouver: Group Award
- Kelly Allison, Assistant Professor of Teaching, School of Social Work, Faculty of Arts
- Marie Nightbird, Associate Professor of Teaching, School of Social Work, Faculty of Arts
UBC Okanagan: Individual Award
- Dr. Ramon Lawrence, Computer Science, Faculty of Scienceofessor of Teaching, Computer Science
UBC Okanagan: Group Award
- Dr. Claire Yan, Professor of Teaching, School of Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
- Dr. Casey Keulen, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
- Dr. Amir M. Dehkhoda, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
- Ali Doustahadi, Master’s Degree, Department of Materials Engineering
- Hariharan (Hari) Umashankar, Graduate Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Department of Materials Engineering
