Findings
Finding 2: Engagement and Shared Responsibility
Maria Teresa "Tessy" Torres
Due to the holistic nature of the Rubric, grantees quickly discovered it was imperative that many departments within each institution participate. As most departments on campuses across the country deal with very specific populations of stakeholders, a multi-departmental approach to leverage various expertise is invaluable to the grantees completing this extensive self-assessment. Fostering intra-campus connections and communication was the most conducive to identifying equity gaps, according to grantees.
Observations
Institutional Silos and Reaching Across Units
Exit interviews revealed that many participants didn’t realize how siloed they were in their respective departments until work on the self-assessment began. The Rubric served as a stimulus for departments to understand and confront their own limitations. The fragmented resources could have allowed for further inequality due to poor communication about resources amongst faculty, staff, and administration. One set of participants acknowledged a gap even within the designated team members themselves and mentioned plans on continuing this work by inviting more departments to further the progress already made in this program.
Administrative Support and Partnership with Internal Senior Staff
Because of the extensive collaboration from various departments around campus, administration needs to not only be aware, but highly supportive of this work. One grantee mentioned that a roadblock to gaining more traction was their administration – specifically, interim leaders. While a previous provost was supportive, the interim provost in particular had misconceptions and misinformation on how and what OER could do to benefit the campus, and therefore was reluctant to support the members working on the Rubric. Various education efforts from outside supporters were able to convince the interim leadership that support and buy-in was needed from high-level administrators and decision-makers.
Blueprint as a Starting Point to Engage in Conversations Around Open
In addition to educating higher-level administration of the broader benefits of using Open resources, engagement with the Rubric allowed for informational conversations to happen more organically when OER practitioners and grantees involved various departments on campus. The self-assessment is designed to be collaborative in nature and promote transparency, which in turn fosters a culture of knowledge sharing about resources.
Recommendations
- The Rubric allows grantees to move past “maintenance-only mode” stages and toward “growth” stages. To encourage continuous improvement, it is recommended that future users and grantees utilize the Rubric to transition from maintenance-oriented practices to a growth-focused approach.
- The Rubric allowed grantees to easily see existing gaps in their work and pointed toward ways to resolve them. To effectively identify and address institutional gaps, it is suggested that future users and grantees utilize the Rubric as a diagnostic tool to easily detect existing gaps and inform strategic planning and implementation.
The first step to administrative support is education or awareness surrounding a problem. OER librarians or practitioners (if they exist in an institution) can provide the best information to administration as to why OER is important and how it addresses equity, affordability, academic freedom, and overall student success. The more empowered and informed the institution is as a whole, the more likely the administration will back the growth of OER adoption even during leadership changes.
As higher education institutions continue to operate at understaffed levels, current conditions necessitate faculty and staff to fulfill multiple roles and duties. This could lead to a culture of “business as usual” that focuses on maintaining the current processes and outcomes. The prioritization of the status quo can inadvertently hinder genuine progress and growth, particularly in terms of equity in student success. By reflecting on limitations uncovered in their self-assessment, departments campus-wide can work on addressing significant gaps and achieving true growth, rising above the “maintenance-only” mode.
Additionally, it is important that users of the assessment be honest in their reflections, as this will best identify gaps in the institution’s work toward equity. The Rubric was designed to facilitate a collaborative and illuminating examination of the equity work done through OER at academic institutions. By acknowledging these gaps truthfully, decision-makers and practitioners alike can advance social justice and academic success for all students, especially marginalized and underrepresented learners.