KOM

It all started on Thursday, February 18, when MTSU broke the news of MTSU’s team winning one of the Tennessee Board of Regents’ $100K grants for OER. We’re not attention mongers – none of us is – but the project made quite a splash. Over the weekend, we received congratulatory phone calls and reposts on Facebook and other social media. (And several of us had to explain that the reason they don’t recognize us is that the photos are either old or pre-pandemic, and it’s been a while between haircuts. Note to self: update the headshot.)

On Friday, February 19, Ryan and Erica presented the first of the six workshops promised in the grant application. After they discussed the basics, we had a great conversation with the attendees. We learned that there’s a choir out there we’re already preaching to. Hallelujah! Our sense is that our Faculty Advisory Council will have some terrific applications for our funds designed to produce OER for use especially in gateway courses with high enrollments.

Over the weekend, our grant was featured in the DNJ, the local newspaper, and on Channel 5 News from Nashville. We expect more opportunities for sharing our project on and off-campus.

We are so excited that our message is resonating widely. Students don’t need to pay for extremely expensive texts when low cost/no cost OER are available. While all students’ pocketbooks will benefit, research suggests that students who can least afford expensive textbooks have the most to gain from our project. And that’s what social justice initiatives like OER are all about: benefitting everyone but especially those who have the most to gain.