Open Educational Resources Committee Meeting: February 5, 2025

Teams / Conference Call

Members attending: Dorinne Banks, (Adler University), Brandon Board (Waubonsee Community College), Zachariah Claybaugh (Dominican University), Kelly Hallisy (DePaul University), Lauren Kosrow, (College of DuPage), Jayna Leipart Guttilla, co-chair (Illinois State University), Shelly McDavid (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Dee Anna Phares, co-chair (Northern Illinois University)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage Anne Craig, Michele Leigh, Wyn Schell, Nicole Swanson

Decisions

• Minutes discussed, edited, and approved from January 8, 2025 meeting.

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Jayna Leipart Guttilla.

Announcements

• New CARLI Staff Member Wyn Schell and Committee shared introductions.
• Member announcements: none
• CARLI announcements: none

Discussion

• Minutes taking discussion
  • Information about the minutes format, the template, access to Teams AI notes, and Box instructions were discussed.
• Update from Anne Craig on Illinois Open Educational Resources Statewide Proposal
  • As background,
    • Sarah Zehr Gantz, Senior Assistant Vice President of Academic Initiatives and Policies, University of Illinois System Office created the document after joining the committee’s last couple meetings. The UI System Office is an umbrella office that provides support to the entire University of Illinois System. CARLI is part of a unit in the UI System Office. Sarah is interested in providing support for OER initiatives across the state of Illinois.
    • Illinois State Representative Norma Hernandez inserted a $3 million appropriation for grants for open educational resources to academic libraries into the FY24 appropriations bill.
  • CARLI has been in close touch with the Illinois Secretary of State’s office in regard to funding. The grants from both the Federal and State are soon ending. At the risk of losing engagement in OER, the UI System and the State Library have been working with the Illinois Secretary of State’s staff to continue funding for grants for open educational resources to Academic Libraries. The FY26 State Budget is expected to have a lot of cuts, and we are advocating for appropriation in the expectation of upcoming cuts.
  • This is a document to advocate for a proposal to eliminate textbook costs by 2035. It is a proposal for $3 million dollars for OER creation. No bill has been introduced yet, but once the document is shared, it would be time to contact legislators to ask for their support.
  • The shared document is open for feedback.
  • The OER Committee stated that the document would be great to introduce at the OER Summit in April. The varied institution types would have different perspectives and feedback for the document. Stakeholders should also include academic administrators as they are the ones advocating for open initiatives at the institutional level.
  • The sense of urgency is based on the legislative calendar. This document is supposed to be something that could be handed to legislators to provide background.
  • How could we distribute this widely? The OER Summit is a great opportunity to provide feedback broadly.
  • We need to have a consensus as a committee and a consortium first. The structure to get something into the State’s budget is difficult and time-sensitive but the committee thinks the burden is on CARLI to provide members with the opportunity to give feedback.
  • Is there an opportunity to send this document out as a letter of garner support?
  • Getting something to the legislators so they can have a document in hand to look at is the goal.
  • How can the committee help to do the work and contribute to the process? We will continue to talk to discuss this at the next meeting.
• Continuing Education
  • OER Faculty Workshop
    • Volunteers and program dates
      • February 7, 2025, 11:00 – 12:30, Amber Burtis and Julie Murphy
        • 24 registrants
      • February 20, 2025, 11:30 – 1:00, Lauren Kosrow and Evangeline Reid
        • 18 registrants
  • OER Course: Understanding and Promoting Open Educational Resources
    • Volunteers and program dates
      • February 13, 20, & 27, 9:00 – 10:30, Dorinne Banks and Shelly McDavid
      • May 1, 8, and 15, 11:30-1:00, Zachariah Claybaugh and Stephanie Fletcher
  • Open Pedagogy Workshop
    • The committee discussed the January 10, Open Pedagogy Workshop for Librarians.
    • The program went well. There was an engaging conversation.
    • Committee members are curious to see the next workshop.
    • It would be good to know what institutions faculty are from and to provide information back to libraries/OER Committee.
    • SIUE is promoting Open Pedagogy on campus and faculty seem receptive, especially STEM faculty.
    • Open practices are good to model and encourage people to adopt these practices.
    • There are 14 registrants for the February 27 Open Pedagogy Workshop (for faculty) with Chris Sweet and Kelly Hallisy as the instructors.
  • OER Community Chats  
    • February 2025
      • Accessibility, February 26, 10:00-11:00 Community Chat will have Ann Fredricksen, Coordinator of Accessibility Media Services at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign lead the conversation.
        • There are 9 registrants.
    • April 2025
      • The topic for the session will be Measuring Success Beyond Student Savings. Lauren, Zach, and Dee Anna will lead the conversation.
        • Still in planning stages and date is TBD.
  • Open Education Week, March 3-7, 2025
    • Identified ideas:
      • Student Panel: Student Experience Using OER
        • Lauren and Brandon: status of student recruitment
          • No progress yet. Dates are TBD based on student availability. May shift to later in the semester based on short timeline. Another option for the program is to create a recording and post on CARLI website.
      • March 4: PDA Program: Turning Data into Action: Responding to Illinois Students' Need for Equity of Course Materials
      • Measuring OER Success Beyond Student Savings
        • Will move this April. Is this a Community Chat or a formal program? TBD.
• CARLI Funding Support for Member Continuing Education
  • Creative Commons Certificate Program
    • Money is still available and can be used for the course in June.
• Illinois Secretary of State/Illinois State Library OER Grant Program
  • Second reports were due; Good progress so far.  
• DOE Open Textbook Pilot Grant: Illinois SCOERs: Support for the Creation of Open Educational Resources
  • Funding issues with federal monies. Until we are told to stop, CARLI will continue its work.
  • Meeting with someone to do data analysis to help “tell the SCOERs story.”
• FY25 Activities
  • Illinois OER Summit, April 7, 2025, Illinois State University Alumni Center
    • Registration for institutional teams is open.

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The next committee meeting is March 5, 2025 at 9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Notetaker will be Kelly Hallisy.

Committee Meetings:
March 5, 2025; Minutes taker: Kelly Hallisy
April 2, 2025; Minutes taker: Lauren Kosrow
May TBD, 2025; Minutes taker: Jayna Leipart Guttilla
June 4, 2025; Minutes taker: TBD