Michelle Reed
Director of Open Educational Resources at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
Transforming Higher Education with Open Educational Resources
Initiatives supporting the use and creation of open educational resources (OER) can provide cost, access, and student success solutions for higher education. The affordability argument often associated with OER gets significant attention because commercial textbook prices are startling and cost savings accumulate quickly when transitioning to free resources. However, the pedagogical innovation enabled by openness is as highly valued by both educators and their students. In this presentation, we’ll define OER, examine the impact of OER use in higher education, explore values that are fundamental to open education, discuss concepts of information ownership and authority, and highlight examples of open education that have empowered educators, improved information access, and increased student agency.
Biography:
Michelle Reed is Director of Open Educational Resources at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. She leads efforts to support the adoption, modification, and creation of open educational resources (OER) and assists educators in developing learning opportunities that foster collaboration, increase engagement, and empower students as content creators. She manages the UTA CARES Grant Program, which has awarded 14 grants since 2017 to support educators in transitioning course materials to OER. In Fall 2019, she assumed leadership of a new university-sponsored $500,000 recurring investment in OER. Michelle is a presenter for the Open Textbook Network, Presenter Coordinator for the Association of College and Research Libraries’ OER and Affordability Roadshow, and a former fellow of the SPARC Open Education Leadership Program and the Open Education Group’s OER Research Fellowship Program. Her research interests include librarianship at the intersections of information literacy and scholarly communication, the impact of OER, and undergraduate perceptions of open principles.
Learn more about open education at UTA, or read Michelle's contributions to UTA Libraries' Intersections of Research, Innovation, and Sharing (IRIS) blog.