This course is intended to support leads in developing and expanding Open Educational Resource (OER) work at institutions of higher education. This asynchronous course is designed to complement the OER in Texas Statewide Playbook, which outlines the steps needed to implement the change management inherent in an institutional shift to OER. Institutional leads are invited to explore the Playbook before beginning the Course, and can complete all of the lessons in order or select which lessons are most applicable to their work. At the end of each section of the lessons are planning prompts that will assist participants in identifying and articulating their OER initiatives goals, success indicators, coalitions, programs & partnerships, and outreach communication plans. Participants have two options to use to share their plans. Option 1 is to reply to the planning prompts in the group discussions. Participants will need be logged in and join the OER Playbook Group to be able reply to the group discussions. Option 2 is to download and/or remix the OER in Texas Statewide Planning Template which guides participants through all of the planning activities and provides space to respond to the prompts in the template. Participants can download the template to use, or they can remix it to customize it for their institution and they publish it when they are ready to share. To receive a certificate of completion, please email digitallearning@highered.texas.gov and include the link to your group discussions or published template remix, or attach your template remix. 

Institutional leads are invited to remix this OER Playbook Planning Template to articulate a) a plan to assess your institution's current state of OER awareness and implementation b) your goals for OER adoption and use, and their targeted success indicators; c) a plan for building and engaging your OER Coalition, Programs, and Partnerships; d) a plan for the development and roll out of campus-level policies, guidelines, and resolutions in support of OER; d) an OER outreach and advocacy plan; and e) a plan for building capacity of your OER initiative.

The Open Educational Resources (OER) in Texas Statewide Playbook is a resource developed by practitioners and advocates actively involved in the labor of open education to guide new and expanding OER work at institutions of higher education. The Playbook is the result of partnerships between the Division of Digital Learning, the Institution for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) – creators of OER Commons and experts in open education practice and research – and faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators from institutions and systems across Texas. It aims to support institutions as they work to build capacity and drive systems change around OER. It also serves as a guiding document for institutions that have not yet engaged in OER work or taken advantage of existing programs and opportunities. The hope is that the Texas OER Playbook will serve as a companion on the journey towards OER awareness and advocacy at your institution.

All participating SUNY institutions are required to develop OER sustainability plans. rpk GROUP has worked with the SUNY System Office and OER implementation teams at four institutions to develop a set of resources to assist campuses with OER sustainability planning. In addition to this overview, an OER sustainability Self-Assessment tool, instructive Field Guide, and template-based Planning Guide are also available.

This document represents the planning, strategy, logistics, and timeline for the TCC Connect Digital OER program. Use this resource as a guide to help build an OER program at your institution.