Project Incubator follow-up: Adoption of Open Educational Resources at FCCU (Forman Christian College)

This is the third in a series of posts about outcomes of the Project Incubator at AMICAL 2023

The rising costs of traditional textbooks and issues of affordability by students are a primary concern for the library, faculty, and students. Open Educational Resources (OERs) remove restrictions around copying resources & reduce the cost of accessing educational materials. It was the need of the hour to introduce OERs into our academic teaching culture. Our project incubator idea was a product of both international (American University of Beirut) and national inter-institute (Library x Center for Learning and Teaching x Faculty member) collaboration.

As a part of the project incubator team, we had a fruitful learning experience, especially during the Collaboration Sprint session. It provided us an opportunity to

• collaborate and have one to one discussion with another international university (Dalal Rahme of American University of Beirut)
• have a deeper understanding of the concept of OERs
• discuss the issues and challenges in-person
• get feedback on our work
• discuss solutions and insights on how to tackle future problems when implementing the project at our institute

Most importantly, AMICAL has given us the opportunity to interact with experts from all around the globe, for an extended period of time during the conference, especially in the Feedback session. Our team got a chance to reflect and their perspectives are mentioned below:

Library’s perspective

Project Incubator was an opportunity to gain knowledge on:

• adopting, adopting and modifying OERs,
• licensing (Creative Commons),
• locating & searching various OER platforms,
• generating LibGuides etc.

CLT’s (Center for Learning and Teaching) perspective

CLT got an opportunity to learn about

• different kinds of tangible (monetary incentives, grant opportunities) and intangible (teacher’s award, certificates) incentives and
• ways like workshops and information sessions to motivate their faculty in adopting OERs in their courses

Faculty member’s perspective

• Incorporating OER into my Writing and Communication course would encourage collaboration and creativity not just for me but for my students too. For instance, I would encourage my students to find and evaluate OER resources relevant to our topics, fostering their critical thinking and research skills.
• Another important reflection point added to my perspective was to not alter the entire course at once but to make alterations step by step.

Moving forward…

• Faculty member who attended the AMICAL Conference, Adeel Khalid, will incorporate OERs to his Writing and Communication course as a pilot
• Library has started searching for OERs in the forms of books, classroom activities, reading, writing, listening and speaking comprehension, and grammar. They plan to develop discipline-wise OER guides for the faculty
• Library will develop OERs training modules for the faculty
• CLT, in collaboration with the Library, will roll out training and workshops for faculty’s professional development to raise awareness on the usage of OERs
• CLT and Library will look for funding opportunities for Library’s capacity building on developing OERs and for faculty’s professional development

Let’s engage!

Feel free to connect with us at farrukhshahzad@fccollege.edu.pk if you or your university are interested in:

• introducing OERs on your campus and need our support in navigating your way, based on our collaborative experience
• helping us through the process and have the expertise in adapting, adopting, or creating OERs

Adoption of Open Educational Resources at FCCU Team

1. Adeel Khalid, Lecturer in Dept of English (Forman Christian College)
2. Anish Arif, Education Developer & Coordinator at the Center for Learning and Teaching (Forman Christian College)
3. Dalal Rahme, Data Services Librarian (American University of Beirut)
4. Madiha Asghar, Circulation & Reader Services Librarian (Forman Christian College)
5. Mehreen Tahir, Information Commons Librarian (Forman Christian College)