Minnesota State Open Education Conference

Concurrent Sessions D | March 26 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.

AI as an Ethical OER Assistant: Using Automation Without Replacing Human Authorship

Presenter(s): Fran Ackerman (Kennedy), Minnesota State

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly accessible in higher education, educators are seeking clear guidance on how to use it ethically in the creation of Open Educational Resources (OER). This session demonstrates practical, responsible ways AI can support accessibility and efficiency — without ever generating original instructional content.

Participants will explore how AI can be used to draft alt text, generate concept‑safe images, create knowledge‑check questions based strictly on instructor‑provided text, and synthesize or summarize human‑authored material. Through demonstrations and examples, attendees will learn how to evaluate AI outputs for accuracy, accessibility, and alignment with Creative Commons licensing standards.

Supporting OER Professional Development

Presenter(s): Michelle Schoenecker and Randi Madisen, Century College

This session offers an in-depth overview of a community college's innovative approach to developing and maintaining a support structure and professional development opportunities to sustain and expand the OER and Z-Degree initiative.

Participants will gain insights into implementing, sustaining, and expanding these initiatives using data-informed methods for continuous improvement from the perspectives of librarians, faculty, instructional designers, and administrators. Furthermore, participants will engage in conversations focused on the opportunities and challenges of promoting OERS (e.g., accessibility compliance, lab kits, and limited resources/support).

The Educator Toolkit: Incorporating Study Skills into Your Classes

Presenter(s): Kathyrn Klopfleisch and Elizabeth Kellett, Inver Hills Community College

Students can succeed, but non-cognitive issues such as anxiety, the inability to plan complex projects, or confusion about expectations get in the way. Faculty and other academic professionals don't always have the resources or time to deal with those issues in the classroom, but Educator Toolkit: Helping Students Cultivate Academic Skills and Habits provides graphic organizers, concrete lesson plans and suggestions for faculty and tutors to help them address executive function issues at the same time they are delivering content.

This OER contains twenty-eight resources faculty or academic professionals can adapt to fit their courses and students. It also provides them with suggestions about class activities that will help students address content and executive functioning skills at the same time.

Educators Redesigning Courses Through Critical Open Practices

Presenter(s): Lori-Beth Larsen, Central Lakes College

What happens when educators treat openness not just as a resource choice, but as a pedagogical stance? This session shares insights from a qualitative case study exploring how educators redesigned their courses using Critical Open Educational Practices (OEPs). Instead of focusing on cost or materials, the study examines how educators wrestled with questions of authority, dialogue, participation, and course structure as they reimagined their teaching.

Participants will explore recurring themes from the redesign process, including moments of uncertainty, shifts in instructional identity, and practical strategies for embedding structured dialogue and reflection into open course design. The session surfaces both the tensions and possibilities that emerge when educators attempt to enact critical openness within real institutional contexts.

Together, we will consider what it means to move from “using OER” to intentionally designing for critical engagement. Attendees will leave with research-informed insights and adaptable ideas for their own redesign work.

Concurrent Sessions F  |  March 26 1:25 - 1:50 p.m.

Faculty Engagement in Business Z-TP System Initiative

Presenter(s): Rebecca Evan, Metro State University

The Z-TP initiative is to create a means for students to complete a transfer pathway using course materials that are no cost. These materials include open educational resources, open textbooks, and library curated materials. Due to the considerable number of students enrolled in the Business Transfer Pathways, business has been strategically selected as the first program for this work.

Developing Z-TP degrees within business will allow a greater number of students to benefit from zero-cost textbooks compared to other disciplines. The Business Z-TP is underway with two different subject areas and involves faculty, faculty leaders, instructional designers, and partners from the system office.

Not Content with “Content”?: Using D2L Announcements for Student-Friendly Communication

Presenter(s): Diana Ostrander, Anoka Technical College

When I began teaching online, I was dismayed to find that it was not enough to put all the materials of the face-to-face class in D2L Content, and expect students to stay engaged and enrolled. After that first less-than-successful attempt at a fully online, asynchronous course, I concluded that I needed to use my English skills of communication to “talk” to the students, and organize the material and weekly tasks in one location.

Content did not seem to be the area to do that, so I began writing fairly long weekly Announcements, detailing what was due each week in a friendly tone, with a clear, navigable structure. Hyperlinks to materials both inside and outside the course; to weekly Discussion assignments (which I also added to create community); and to the Assignment dropboxes, resulted in increased student engagement, completion, and course satisfaction.

Later I began adding images in Announcements; an Audacity-created audio version of the weekly Announcements; and YouTube videos and PowerPoints with audio, presented visually in the weekly Announcements, all supporting the needs of diverse learners. Currently I am also in the process of adding ancillary OER materials to a fully online, open-pedagogy Business and Technical Writing course, as part of my participation in an OER Circles group. This proposal will share an alternative way to present weekly content in D2L, in a student-friendly, OER-supported online course.

Using Perusal in Humanities

Presenter(s): Nick Timmerman, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

In this three-part workshop, learners will be introduced to multimodal learning materials to support effective teaching and learning. This three-part workshop equips educators with practical strategies and assets to streamline feedback and elevate learner engagement.

• Part 1: Participants will learn to implement dot phrases (evidence-based, templated language) for formative and summative feedback. We will then design interactive learning modules using branching, embedded media, and reflective prompts to drive critical thinking online and in the classroom.
• Part 2: Next, participants will learn to use Microsoft Notebook LM, an AI-powered tool that transforms faculty materials into Universal Design for Learning (UDL)-aligned formats. Participants will experience how Notebook LM can convert a journal article into a student-ready podcast, generate summaries or study aids, and interact with the AI -generated podcast. Additionally, they will learn simple to complex podcast production from a phone or studio soundboard with the aim of increasing student access to learning. These tools support UDL principles by offering multiple means of representation and enhancing learner accessibility, flexibility, and autonomy.
• Part 3: Attendees will have the option to engage in small groups to develop dot phrases offering substantive feedback, a completed interactive learning module template, or develop a Notebook LM-generated podcast sample. Together, these tools transform traditional pedagogical methods into rich, interactive, and technology-driven learning.

Writing an OER World History Text

Presenter(s): Joel Juen, Ridgewater College

Previously recorded.

This session presents a practical, replicable workflow for creating a college-level OER textbook as a “living” textbook—openly licensed, continuously improved, and easy to revise or remix. Participants will be guided through a chapter-building process that blends instructor expertise with AI-assisted drafting and editing to increase speed without sacrificing academic rigor or integrity.

The workflow emphasizes three pillars:

1. quality control through iterative accuracy and historical-consensus checks; 
2. inclusive design through accessibility-first captions, alt text, and student-friendly learning supports (glossaries, section summaries, and reflection questions); and
3. visual and source integration through efficient use of public-domain and Creative Commons media, maps, and structured endnote-style documentation.

Using a sample chapter as a live demonstration, the session will show how to move from raw notes to publishable OER content. Attendees will leave with a clear process they can adapt to other disciplines, plus ideas for prompts, templates, and checkpoints that support open collaboration and ongoing textbook transformation.