Connecting Research Grants and OER Pathways

I fell asleep so this is an early morning post that was supposed to be yesterday. I watched the Open Ed 2021 session “New Pathways to Open: OER Education, Advocacy, and Partnerships Through Research Grants” by Nina Exner and Jessica Kirschner from Virginia Commonwealth University. They are both librarians at VCU. Kirchner talked about the importance of research at some institutions. I did not know that funding is dependent on the Carnegie classification in some states! Kirschner spoke about using OER as a deliverable related to research. Exner spoke about grants for research activities usually from federal agencies. Exner noted that the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation are the three main funders. At the NSF, Exner noted, Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts are equally weighed in the peer review. Exner explained that “improving STEM education and educator development at any level” and “development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM stakeholders” can be achieved through OER. We just submitted a proposal that included OER. I agree with Exner about the importance of how we describe the work and products. The important part, Exner stated, is to “commit in the proposal to… take the content that they would make anyway; add a license; and upload it to an OER site.” While this was focused on the NSF, Exner did explain that dissemination and impact are also part of NIH and CDC funding mechanisms. Adding a propagation plan to encourage further uptake was mentioned as the next level of dissemination. They did a workshop in which Kirschner presented information about OER and research grant activities. This helped reach new faculty and make new connections. They plan on repeating the workshop. Their slides were shared at https://bit.ly/3F0oW3k. Kirschner suggested planning carefully and thinking about what your staffing and time can support. For example, they would start with partnerships and consultations. Then, they want to develop a starting resource such as a LibGuide. This presentation helped me think about connections I can make with our Libraries and improvements to our Broader Impacts plans.

ripples in water
How can we partner with OER Librarians for the Broader Impacts of research proposals? Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com