This workshop is intentionally designed for:

• All librarians, library staff, or library administrators who are new to the topic of OER
• Library staff or administrators interested in building a foundational knowledge of affordable and open educational resources
• Instructional designers, program administrators, and educational staff who want to learn about, lead, and/or support affordability initiatives
• Student support staff or administrators (e.g. campus bookstore managers, student government representatives, student advisors) interested in affordable educational resources

OER has many practical applications across multiple campus departments and partnerships, and we encourage hosts to think broadly and inclusively when inviting participants.

Workshop participants will be able to:

• Summarize key principles of open educational resources, affordability, and inclusion in order to explain common motivators and opportunities for the adoption, modification, and creation of open and alternative course materials.
• Analyze how existing library skills and tools can be leveraged in order to advance the use of open and affordable resources in a variety of institutional contexts.
• Identify possible roles for librarians and campus partners in supporting open and affordable resource use in order to articulate achievable actions that build community, further knowledge, and/or advance open and affordable resource solutions.

Two of the following presenters will conduct the workshop. More details will be confirmed closer to the time of the workshop. 

Heather Blicher is the Program Director for the Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER) at Open Education Global. Her focus is to advance the field of open education at community and technical colleges across North America, providing support in developing the next phase of open education innovation. She has 20+ years experience working in public and academic libraries, most recently working with Open Oregon Educational Resources as an equity consultant and instructional designer with a focus in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Heather earned a Master of Science in Information and Library Science from Florida State University, is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), completed the Creative Commons Certificate program, and is a recipient of ACRL’s Distance Learning Librarianship Award.

Dr. Kathy Essmiller is an Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University, where she is the Coordinator of OpenOKState/OER Librarian. Kathy holds Masters degrees in trumpet performance and educational technology, a PhD in Learning, Design and Technology, and was a 2019 -2020 Open Education Group OER Research Fellow. Kathy is also a member of GO-GN, and the 2023 recipient of the 2023 Oklahoma Online Excellence | Open Education Impact Award. Kathy’s background is in music education, where she enjoyed over fifteen fantastic years making music with MS/HS band students (including her own two kids).

Ariana Santiago is the Head of Open Education Services at the University of Houston Libraries, where she provides leadership and strategy for open education services. She collaborates with Libraries and campus partners on services and resources that advance open education and pedagogy, including the adoption and creation of open educational resources. Ariana is a graduate of the SPARC Open Education Leadership Program and the American Library Association Emerging Leaders Program. Ariana earned an M.A. in Applied Learning and Instruction from the University of Central Florida, an M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida, and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida.