SFU stepping into the open: OER and OEP survey inspires new community of practice

According to the results of a recent survey of SFU instructors and staff, open educational resources (OERs) and open educational practices (OEPs) are valuable for enhancing student access and engagement—but help is needed.

OERs are teaching and learning resources created with the intention of being freely accessible to all. OEPs refers to teaching approaches and methods in which students develop and share OERs.

The survey was led by the Library and Learning Experiences Assessment and Planning. Teaching and learning librarian Hope Power says the results demonstrate there is a strong appetite at SFU to bring education into the open.

"We are excited to see faculty report such broad interests in using OER and OEP.  The survey results showed us that the main reasons faculty use OER is to make education more affordable and accessible and that one of the main reasons they use OEP is to increase student engagement. OEPs offer this potential by facilitating opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing within and beyond the classroom,” says Power.

However, the survey also indicated there are some significant challenges with finding and integrating OERs. "As indicated in the survey, one of the biggest challenges that instructors face in adopting OER into their teaching are finding relevant and high-quality resources to use,” says Power.

To address these challenges, the Library is partnering with the Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE) to help address by launching SFU’s first open education community of practice for instructors, students and staff.

“Our hope is that the community of practice can help with this by providing a space where faculty can share the resources they are using and access support from instructional staff,” says CEE manager John Born.

The event marks International Open Access Week, an annual global event that promotes open access to scholarly research and encourages conversations about how removing access barriers can benefit learning, knowledge-sharing, and innovation.

The SFU Open Education Community of Practice launches October 23, 10:00 –11:00 a.m.. This hybrid event will feature a presentation on the survey's findings and a dialogue on OER and OEP challenges and supports at SFU.

Visit the Library’s event page for more information and to register.