April 1, 2022, was full of funny events at work and home. I am glad to wind down and watch the Open Ed 2021 session entitled “Sowing Seeds for Sustainability: How a Small Grant Helped a Library-Led OER Initiative Grow.” Sara Tabaei, Timothy Valente, and Kick Snyder from Touro College and University system presented. Tabaei provided history on how the Touro College system started an OER initiative across their campuses. Since 2018, they have saved students over $100,000. They suggested learning about grants and working with administrative services and the Office of Sponsorship for assistance in preparing a grant proposal. Snyder described the OER Health Sciences and Allied Health Faculty Fellowship. Over six months, Snyder and library staff help train fellows with monthly sessions. The projects described included both adoption and original OER creation. In just one year, they saved students $100,000 in textbook costs. The Faculty OER Ambassador plaques they shared with Fellows will help share and encourage others to participate. Snyder mentioned that now librarians will not be the only people with OER knowledge, which I thought was thought-provoking. Valente described the OER Committee. Eight members worked together to plan the train-the-trainer workshop. The committee is charged with introducing, embedding, and sustaining OER on their campus. Valente described a workshop to Train the Trainer that they launched in April 2021. Surveyed participants spoke about an increase in confidence about using and defining OER. They will now launch a series of workshops. It was informative to learn how other campuses started OER committees, and fellowships, and obtained funding. Sustainability of efforts is a challenge. The train-the-trainer emphasis of this project will be helpful.
