Presentation Type
Panel Presentation
Session Abstract
The Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative began with a challenge from the governor to save students $5 million in 5 years. Collaboration between 11 participating institutions and the state requires flexibility, shared responsibility and communication. We will share our successes and lessons learned in expanding campus efforts across the state.
Full Description of the Session
Following the announcement of the governor’s challenge in September 2016, the Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative formed a steering committee, comprised of one librarian from each participating institution. Over the past two years, we have rapidly expanded OER outreach and advocacy with faculty and administration, data collection, and self-education into the nuances of OER. Concurrent to expanding campus efforts, the committee has also set goals, created a robust community of practice, and established shared data management strategies. The organic evolution of the original steering committee into a true community of practice has strengthened our communication and engagement with each other, with an increased understanding of each member institution’s strengths and common challenges.
Participants will engage with the panel and each other to draft a set of questions in order to identify potential new partner institutions, to align institutional missions and cultures, or to find common ground in sometimes unlikely places. Panelists will share individual perspectives of how the initiative has worked from their unique vantage points (a public college, a private university, and the state government). This intermediate-level panel will be of interest to anyone seeking to explore ways of identifying new or different partnership opportunities and mapping out the practicalities of scaling such initiatives. There will be time for audience Q&A via Twitter, Sli.do, and/or in-person questions.
Presenter Bios
Dragan is co-chair of the Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative Steering Committee, with Lindsey Gumb, and a reference librarian at Rhode Island College. In addition to providing the campus and state with support for OER adoption, she is involved in several cross-campus projects to support data collection, management and sharing.
Daniela runs the education portfolio for the Rhode Island Office of Innovation. Through this role, she supports data collection and reporting, as well as marketing/messaging of the effort and elevation and support of librarians within and across campuses. Daniela’s work at the RI Office of Innovation broadly supports non-traditional projects and initiatives that improve how Rhode Island residents interact with our state’s systems and bureaucracies.
Lindsey is an Assistant Professor and the Scholarly Communications Librarian at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. Along with Dragan Gill, she serves as the co-chair of the Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative Steering Committee and has been leading the charge on OER adoption on her campus for the past three years.
Start Date
31-5-2018 10:10 AM
Small State, Big Challenge: Creating a Community of Practice for Rhode Island Librarians
Following the announcement of the governor’s challenge in September 2016, the Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative formed a steering committee, comprised of one librarian from each participating institution. Over the past two years, we have rapidly expanded OER outreach and advocacy with faculty and administration, data collection, and self-education into the nuances of OER. Concurrent to expanding campus efforts, the committee has also set goals, created a robust community of practice, and established shared data management strategies. The organic evolution of the original steering committee into a true community of practice has strengthened our communication and engagement with each other, with an increased understanding of each member institution’s strengths and common challenges.
Participants will engage with the panel and each other to draft a set of questions in order to identify potential new partner institutions, to align institutional missions and cultures, or to find common ground in sometimes unlikely places. Panelists will share individual perspectives of how the initiative has worked from their unique vantage points (a public college, a private university, and the state government). This intermediate-level panel will be of interest to anyone seeking to explore ways of identifying new or different partnership opportunities and mapping out the practicalities of scaling such initiatives. There will be time for audience Q&A via Twitter, Sli.do, and/or in-person questions.