Track Session Type
Sustainability: Grant Acquisition & Management, Sustainability, Engaging Student Leaders, OER for Resilience, OER Community Building, OER and Technology
Presentation Type
Panel Presentation
OER Level of Expertise
Intermediate, Advanced
Audience
Faculty, Librarian, instructional designer, Administrator, Staff
A Conversation: Independent Institutions Weigh in on Course Marking
Session Abstract
In 2023, four independent institutions with a Pell threshold of ≥ 27% were regranted funds from the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) to support course marking implementation. Course marking, or tagging courses that utilize OER, low-cost, or other no-cost course materials provides students with the power and agency to make more informed decisions at the time of registration based on their financial situations and helps to amplify redistributive justice, making sure all students have the required materials they need to meaningfully engage and succeed in their courses. Panelists from Johnson and Wales University, New England College, Saint John Fisher University, and Thomas College will dissect and discuss their experiences implementing course marking at their respective institutions, addressing ongoing successes and challenges as well as showing a behind-the-scenes peek at their workflows. Panelists will leave time at the end to address attendee questions.
Keywords
Course marking; Financial autonomy; OER
Objectives of the Session
After attending this panel, attendees will be able to
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Visualize four different course marking workflows
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Identify potential challenges when starting a course marking initiative
Full Description of the Session
Our session is intended to help spread awareness of the actual processes of course marking, particularly for independent institutions which are sometimes left on the periphery of Open Education. Through the voices of four independent institution representatives, participants will get to hear an overview of the experiences of why and how course marking was implemented and what it means for their students. Each panelist will touch on successes and challenges and their unique workflows developed over the last year of this initiative as well as technology, staffing, and marketing considerations.
The session is open to all levels of attendees. Lindsey will start the session off with a brief definition of course marking to ensure that everyone can participate even if they’re not as informed on the topic. We will utilize real-time polling and a shared Google Doc for participants to help us compile a larger and more thorough resource list that we will share back into the community.
Presenter Bios
Lindsey Gwozdz is an Associate Professor and Scholarly Communications Librarian at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, and she also serves as the Open Education Fellow at the New England Board of Higher Education in Boston, Massachusetts. With an active interest in the intersections of information literacy, open education, and critical librarianship, Lindsey works with faculty on her campus and region-wide to push the awareness of open education from a cost-savings tool to be more inclusive of pedagogies that allow for opportunities to create systemic changes in more representative and equitable information creation, evaluation, and access. She resides in Rhode Island with her family and together they enjoy the beach, hiking, gardening, and their animals.
Katie Rybakova is an Associate Professor of Education and the Chair of the Lunder School of Education at Thomas College. She is the current Executive Director of the Maine Association for Middle Level Education. Katie has acted as the OER project manager for several grant iterations at Thomas College. Her Ph.D. is in Curriculum and Instruction from Florida State University and her research interests include the impacts of screentime, young adult literature, and digital literacies.
Katrina Herold is committed to providing opportunities for JWU faculty and staff professional development, collaboration, research and scholarship. She earned an Ed.D. from Northeastern University with a concentration in higher education administration. Her research interests include Universal Design for Learning (UDL), university faculty well-being, and the impact of alternative instructional modalities on student learning.
Alex Lattner is the Registrar at New England College in Henniker, NH where she has worked since she moved to the state in 2017. She has worked in higher education for the last 10 years, always in the Registrar office roles. Her passion has focused on developing technology solutions to support operations and the student experience, including participating in the launch of two automated degree audit systems, converting student forms to electronic workflows, and streamlining processes to lighten the administrative burden of being a student. Alex lives outside of Concord with her husband and two boys. The family spends their time playing board games, digging in the dirt for worms, and making oddities like cardboard sleds and catapults.
Dr. Railey is responsible for academic leadership in the areas of planning, implementing, and assessing all academic programs and services. He provides guidance and supervision for the University’s five academic schools, Lavery Library, community engagement, academic support, teaching and learning, and sponsored research. He also serves as a member of the President’s Cabinet.
He has received several awards for his work: the President’s Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Equity and Diversity in 2003, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2005, and the Muriel A. Howard Award for Service Leadership in 2016. In 2021 he was recognized as one of the “Power 30” in higher education by the Rochester Business Journal. Dr. Railey has a BA from SUNY Albany, and an MA and PhD from SUNY Stony Brook.
Publishing Permission
1
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Start Date
4-4-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
4-4-2024 9:50 AM
A Conversation: Independent Institutions Weigh in on Course Marking
Our session is intended to help spread awareness of the actual processes of course marking, particularly for independent institutions which are sometimes left on the periphery of Open Education. Through the voices of four independent institution representatives, participants will get to hear an overview of the experiences of why and how course marking was implemented and what it means for their students. Each panelist will touch on successes and challenges and their unique workflows developed over the last year of this initiative as well as technology, staffing, and marketing considerations.
The session is open to all levels of attendees. Lindsey will start the session off with a brief definition of course marking to ensure that everyone can participate even if they’re not as informed on the topic. We will utilize real-time polling and a shared Google Doc for participants to help us compile a larger and more thorough resource list that we will share back into the community.