U of A Faculty Share Experiences Creating Open Educational Resources

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From left: Jingxian Wu, Claretha Hughes and Russell Sharman

Three University of Arkansas faculty members representing three colleges will share their experiences creating Open Educational Resources (OER) through the OER Course Materials Conversion Program at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 2, via Zoom. All U of A instructors are encouraged to attend this virtual event in observance of Open Education Week 2021. The presentations are offered at no cost to attendees, and registration is required.

Jingxian Wu, professor of electrical engineering, will discuss his experience creating and using OER in his upper-division course, Signals and Systems. Wu created lecture notes, a homework manual and a lab manual. His OER replaced a $120 textbook, and he teaches about 70 students a year.

"I found that most off-the-shelf textbooks did not directly meet my needs in the classroom," said Wu. "This program gave me a chance to create a comprehensive set of materials based on the experiences that I accumulated through teaching and research over the years."

Russell Sharman, assistant professor of practice in communication, teaches a 1000-level film course. He created an open textbook to replace the $90 textbook he previously assigned to the 400-plus students he teaches every semester. He will discuss why he decided to create the textbook, his experiences completing the work and feedback he received from both students in his course and faculty at other institutions.

"The creation process is not difficult at all," said Sharman. "I knew what I wanted to say; I had been teaching it in the classroom for years. And the OER interface for online publishing was fairly straightforward. The OER Team at the Libraries, led by Elaine Thornton, was always ready to answer questions or troubleshoot if any issues arose."

Claretha Hughes, professor of human resources and workforce development, will discuss the creation of her case studies text. Created to supplement the academic journal articles she regularly assigns in the graduate courses she teaches, this collection of mini-cases can be utilized in various HRWD courses.

"I chose to participate in this program because there are very few resources for students in Human Resource and Workforce Development on workplace incident analysis," said Hughes. "Being able to create a new resource for students that is accessible worldwide was a very positive experience for me."

These presentations are part of the Third Annual Faculty OER Mingle held in celebration of  Open Education Week. An afternoon session of the Mingle will include presentations from U of A OER Team members. View all of the week's events in the Open Education Week research guide. Visit the OER website to learn more about programs available at the U of A.