Minnesota State Open Education Conference

Keynote: Helping as Hope

March 25 from 9:15 - 9:50 a.m.

Presenter: David Ernst, University of Minnesota

Join long-time open education advocate David Ernst to hear his reflections on the difference your open education work makes on the world.

Dr. David Ernst is the founder and past executive director of the Open Education Network, a community representing nearly 1,800 higher education institutions advancing the use of open educational resources and practices throughout the U.S. and internationally.

David was a junior/high school science teacher for 12 years before moving to the University of Minnesota where he is now the Senior Director for Academic and Information Technology in the College of Education and Human Development. He earned his PhD in Learning Technologies from the University of Minnesota.

Crowd-Sourcing your OER: Collaboration and Partnerships

March 25 from 10:00 - 10:50 a.m.

Presenter(s): Mark Johnson, Minnesota State Community and Technical College; and Katie Nelson, Inver Hills Community College

 In this session, we will share tips and advice on identifying possible partners, managing deadlines and common content formats, considerations for intellectual property and publishing rights, and identifying and managing funding sources.

Katie Nelson teaches Anthropology at Inver Hills Community College. She has worked on two multi-author OER projects: a Bio-Anthropology textbook, and a Gender in Global Studies book, with faculty collaborators in the California system and SUNY.

Mark L. Johnson teaches Political Science and Geography at M-State in Moorhead. He was the lead editor and co-author on a crowd-sourced Casebook in Comparative Politics, involving contributing authors from ten institutions and nine states.

The Learning Circle Story 

March 25 from 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.

Presenter(s): Karen Pikula, Central Lakes College

Minnesota State Learning Circles are the foundation responsible for so much of the OER work and so many of the programs that are now the foundation of the Minnesota State OER program. Many of the system’s OER initiatives have evolved or have leveraged the community and skills that Learning Circles have fostered.

This presentation will tell the story of how this model was created, piloted, and then scaled from an institutional level to the system level. How system level grants and a collaboration with the Open Textbook Library were the catalyst for the imagination of this model and how the of the creation of the model became the agent for inspiration for many of the core components of our current Minnesota State OER Learning Circle program.

Past Learning Circle participants will speak the value that this faculty led support system provides as they journey through a transition from commercial resources to open/free student resources.

Q&A about OER

March 25 from 3:00 - 3:50 p.m.

Presenter(s): Heather McIntosh, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Karen Pikula, Central Lakes College; and Emma Schmidtke, Minnesota State University, Mankato

In this open question-and-answer session, audience members will have the opportunity to learn more about open educational resources from a variety of expert perspectives, including the faculty learning circles coordinator, faculty, a librarian, an administrator, a technologist, and a student.

This range of perspectives will demonstrate the range of stakeholders and support for open educational resources. It will show the vested interests of each of these stakeholders, providing a well-rounded picture of the team approach to OER. It also will demonstrate the different perspectives of these stakeholders, revealing the deeper values of open educational resources beyond the student's perspective. Beyond these, audience members will have a safe space to engage questions about open educational resources, their possibilities, and their challenges.

Concurrent Sessions B | March 25 from 2:00 – 2:50 p.m.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Open Pedagogy, OER & You

Elizabeth Harsma, Minnesota State

This session introduces librarians to Open Pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We will start by connecting these ideas to your own experience and background knowledge. You will learn a simple thinking routine that helps you look at open pedagogy through a UDL lens. This routine can spark new ideas and support more inclusive practices. Participants will also work together to review an example of open pedagogy and identify ways to apply UDL principles. Although the session is designed for librarians, people in many roles may find it useful.

Accessible by Design: Using AI to Support Different Learning Styles in Open Courses

Dane Seelen, Central Lakes College

This session explores how artificial intelligence can be used as a co instructor to support open and accessible teaching practices. Rather than replacing faculty, AI is presented as a tool that helps create clear consistent and free learning materials that can be shared and reused across courses. The session focuses on practical ways to design materials that support audio visual and hands on learning while improving accessibility for a wide range of students.

Participants will see examples of how AI can help simplify complex topics create multiple explanations and improve consistency across instructions assignments and assessments. The session also highlights how accessibility can be built into materials from the start through plain language predictable structure and support for different learning needs. Attention is given to using AI responsibly and transparently within open educational practices.

By the end of the session participants will better understand how AI can support collaboration between faculty librarians and instructional designers. Attendees will leave with concrete ideas they can apply immediately to improve student access engagement and success using open and inclusive course design.

Knowledge, Needs, and Support Networks: Library Survey Results and Discussion

Kayla Olson, Winona State University

In this session, attendees will hear preliminary results from an Open Educational Practices and Open Access Publications Survey that was disseminated by a librarian this spring. The goal of the survey was to assess instructor familiarity with and participation in certain open education and open knowledge practices. These results will act as a springboard for discussion.

Attendees will be invited to discuss whether the results from our institution reflect common themes that they see among their own patrons and/or colleagues, and they will have time to share about what services, whether that be from their library or instructional support staff, have been the most useful for their professional development or for reaching open education or open access publishing goals.

We hope that establishing our library as a supporter of open goals and as a contributor to our developing campus community of practice will help strengthen the support network needed for educators to not only thrive, but to do so sustainably, since burnout is incredibly common among professionals committed to open education.

Course Markings Pilot Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Chris Corley, Heidi Southworth, Jackie Schickling, Peggy Borgmeier, and Emma Schmidtke, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Course markings are a key technical support to enhance student and faculty awareness of textbook affordability efforts. The markings advance equity initiatives and system guided learning pathways by informing students which courses, and which sections, qualify as zero cost for their materials.

Inspired by the work of Karen Qualey and her colleagues from Livingston Lord Library at Minnesota State University Moorhead, our team sought to develop a pilot course markings program, including developing processes and procedures, a form, and a guide for faculty. The team, comprised of representatives from Library Services, the Registrar’s Office, IT Solutions, and administrative professionals from the partnering academic colleges. What started as an initial rollout to five academic departments has now included most departments in the Colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Allied Health and Nursing.

The presentation will review the initial collaboration with MSU Moorhead colleagues, key literature, processes and procedures, and communications that we are utilizing to move toward a full implementation of course markings at the university.