Overview
Open educational resources (OER) offer significant benefits to both UTSA and faculty and students. OER are freely accessible and customizable materials that allow faculty to tailor content to their specific courses, fostering greater student engagement. By eliminating the financial burden of traditional textbooks, OER ensures that students have immediate and continuous access to high-quality educational materials, supporting their academic success. The flexibility to adapt and modify resources enables instructors to create more relevant content, ultimately enhancing teaching outcomes and meeting students’ learning needs.
Charge
Drawing on the leadership and expertise of UTSA faculty, students, staff and administrators, the Open Educational Resources Task Force will support and accelerate institutional efforts to expand the availability and affordability of high-quality, low- or no-cost, cutting-edge and next-generation instructional and learning resources to students.
Goals
The Task Force will deliver:
- Assessment of the awareness and use of OER at UTSA
- Success metrics for OER usage
- Prioritized five-year plan to integrate OER more fully in the Core Curriculum
- Preliminary language around faculty rewards (workload, evaluations, etc.) that colleges could use or adapt
- Procedures to clearly and comprehensively identify courses that adopt and use OER
- Opportunities for training UTSA faculty on open education and open pedagogy
- Communications plan promoting faculty and student awareness of OER
Timeline
- December 2024 – Deliver recommendations
- Spring 2025 – Begin implementation
Benefits
Curricular Innovation
Increased flexibility allows faculty to teach what they want to teach and how they want to teach it
Affordability
Reduces financial barriers to a UTSA education
Role of AI
Explore novel methods in which artificial intelligence can foster adoption and improve learning experiences
Faculty Engagement
Targeted communications; standardizing faculty rewards
Legal Compliance
Optimize and ensure continued compliance with SB 810 (2017)
Task Force Members
| Dean Hendrix Vice Provost and University Librarian Co-Chair |
| Melissa Vito Vice Provost, Academic Innovation Co-Chair |
| August (Gus) Allo Associate Professor of Instruction, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty Senate Representative |
| Mark Appleford Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies |
| Claudia Arcolin Executive Director, Teaching & Learning Experiences, Academic Innovation |
| Jonathan Brucks Senior Lecturer, Mathematics |
| Andrew Dotson Undergraduate Student, Cyber Security |
| Eden Ewing Assessment Coordinator, UTSA Libraries |
| Christina Frasier Assistant Professor of Practice, The Writing Program |
| Paul Gonzalez Academic Affairs Chair, Student Government Association |
| DeeAnn Ivie OER Coordinator & Political Science Librarian, UTSA Libraries |
| Kim Massaro Assistant Professor of Practice, Management Science and Statistics |
| Alan Meca Associate Professor, Psychology |
| Gregg Michel Professor and Assistant Department Chair, History |
| Rita Mitra Associate Professor of Practice, Information Systems and Cyber Security Department |
| Michael Newell Associate Professor of Instruction, Academic Introduction and Strategies |
| Debra Peña Program Director and Associate Professor of Instruction, the Writing Program, Department Chairs Council Representative |
| Jon Taylor Department Chair, Associate Dean for Faculty Success, Professor, Political Science and Geography |
| Heather Trepal Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Success, Professor, Counseling |
Resource Members
| Laura Everett Associate Director, Academic Support Programs |
| Martin Gallegos Institutional Research Analyst |
| Rebecca Luther Senior Director, Academic Strategic Communications |
| John Palmer UTSA Bookstore |
| Tiffany Robinson Assistant Vice Provost and University Registrar |
