Four new Open Educational Resources, along with two more OER in development, have been developed by faculty who participated in the Open Education Development Series, the eCampus Center announced. OER and open pedagogy have many benefits for students including affordability, accessibility of content and empowerment through knowledge creation. Publishing these OER will not only have local impact, by benefiting Boise State University students, but will also benefit students in similar courses around the globe.
Faculty received support from Sarah Saia, the eCampus Center’s research and innovation consultant focused on innovation adoptions, like OER. She facilities this series and other collaborations with faculty across the university.
The Open Education Development Series program is a five-part, scaffolded exploration of Open Education (to include OER and Open Pedagogy), targeted to faculty teaching in online courses and designed to support their understanding and engagement with this innovative instructional approach. This series helps to build the expertise needed for the successful adaptation of OER and bridge the gap between a great idea and practical application in the classroom. Visit the Open Education Development Series website to learn more about this opportunity.
Kelly Arispe
Kelly Arispe authored the OER Textbook, “Spanish Conversation”. This OER will be used in the course, Spanish 301 Conversational Spanish. Arispe’s research and scholarship focus is on using new digital tools to support second language development. She is a leading scholar in the field of Computer Assisted Language Acquisition and has presented her work with OER internationally.
“Spanish Conversation” is designed to facilitate opportunities for Spanish students to practice meaningful interactions centered on interpretive and interpersonal communication that is critical for meaningfully engaging in the global, multilingual world, as well as successfully participating in upper-division coursework compulsory for the minor and major. The book is grounded in frequency theory and functional linguistics which prioritizes the most frequent words for practical and strategic linguistic development. Featuring podcasts, videos, infographics, advertisements, poetry, short stories, and contemporary news, Spanish Conversations provides students the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of “authentic texts” or real materials that exist for the Spanish-speaking community.
Manuel Gómez-Navarro
Manuel Gómez-Navarro authored the OER, “Caminando. Panorama de culturas y colectivos en Latinoamérica.” This OER will be used in the course, Spanish 377 Latin American Cultures. Gómez-Navarro’s research and scholarship focus is on exploring Hispanic culture within the context of the Digital Humanities framework. Further, he is the founder and creative director of 360topia, an immersive, multimedia project that promotes virtual educational and cultural learning experiences.
“Caminando. Panorama de culturas y colectivos en Latinoamérica” is a textbook designed especially for advanced level students of Spanish and for anyone interested in learning more about the various communities and countries of Latin America. The main focus of the book is to highlight the historically marginalized groups in the region, both in the past and today. The title of the book, “Caminando” (which translates to “Walking”,) reflects a recurring idea that is addressed in the different topics covered: that Latin America is a society in constant movement and evolution, where individuals and social groups are continuously forging their culture and society, yet they never stray far from the path of their historical roots.
Kendall House
Kendall House has created an open text, “Histories for a More Inclusive Anthropology.” This OER is being tested this fall in Anthropology 303 History and Theory in Anthropology. Alongside the history of anthropology, House’s interests include design ethnography and user research. For seven years, he has taught the three seminar sequence comprising the graduate Certificate in User Research alongside the undergraduate User Experience Research Certificate.
“Histories for a More Inclusive Anthropology” provides an undergraduate introduction to new perspectives on the history of anthropology. The text reflects a shift away from adding ever greater detail to our knowledge of a few dozen canonical thinkers. Current research addresses a broad range of scholars whose work has been overlooked or marginalized, especially indigenous, minority, and female researchers. Additionally, recent histories of the field address wider social contexts and long term relationships between anthropologists and the communities they have studied. Most of this new research consists of advanced or highly circumscribed studies that are not well suited to undergraduate instruction. This OER fills the gap between current research and introductory courses. Currently, the first six chapters are visible.
Veronica Van Ry
Veronica Van Ry has remixed a collection of OER and adapted these resources to create a novel text that brings together concepts from both communication and sociological domains. Her text, “Sociological Communication,” provides a unique exploration into the sociological influences on communication and interaction and will be used in the course, Sociology 122 – Sociological Communication. Van Ry’s research and scholarship focus is in online education and building community.
“Sociological Communication” is a compilation of resources designed to support students’ exploration of theoretical frameworks of communication and practice oral communication in various forms. Communication does not occur in isolation. Communication occurs in social, historical, and cultural contexts. Regardless of your major or current/future occupation, you will present, discuss, and communicate in those contexts. Understanding formal and informal contexts, the social construction of meaning, discourse analysis, and powerful differentials in oral communication are necessary to all majors and important for an educated democracy.