Open Educational Resources in Kentucky

Open educational resources (OER) play an increasingly important role in the education landscape, with increased awareness and use year over year (Coffey). Often, academic libraries play a supporting role for instructors as they locate, adopt, and create OER for their courses. In this article, we will provide an introduction to OER, outline some current trends in open education, and describe a few of the OER initiatives currently underway in Kentucky’s college and university libraries

Kate 2007 Spring

Each year, kate seeks to: explore ideas about normative gender, sex, and sexuality work against oppression and hierarchies of power in any and all forms serve as a voice for race and gender equity as well as queer positivity encourage the silent to speak and feel less afraid build a zine and community that we care about and trusthttps://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/kate/1006/thumbnail.jp

Kate 2006 Fall

Each year, kate seeks to: explore ideas about normative gender, sex, and sexuality work against oppression and hierarchies of power in any and all forms serve as a voice for race and gender equity as well as queer positivity encourage the silent to speak and feel less afraid build a zine and community that we care about and trusthttps://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/kate/1004/thumbnail.jp

Building Community Out in the Open

In 2022 the first OER Librarians in Kentucky were hired and began to develop open education programs at their respective institutions. Along with the excitement of their new roles, Colleen at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) and Todd at Western Kentucky University (WKU) felt isolated as they navigated their unique responsibilities on their own. This soon changed after a chance meeting between the two where they shared their struggle and decided to do something about it. Their initial conversation became the foundation of an innovative community open to all Kentucky library professionals who have an interest in the open education and open access movements and want to grow their networks, learn from their peers, and seek out opportunities for new collaborations. In this lightning talk, the founders of the Kentucky Open Access/Open Educational Resources (KY OA/OER) Community of Practice will describe the process they undertook to co-create the community. They will provide their framework and share tips for developing a community of your own. Next, they will share lessons learned and describe how the group helps to develop strong relationships and leads to new opportunities across the commonwealth. Finally, the presenters will reflect on how this innovation strengthens their own day-to-day work and mitigates the feelings of isolation previously felt