“Attaining and Retaining OER Course Marking Information: One Texas Institution’s Approach” was a short session by Art Brownlow, a Faculty Fellow and Professor of Music at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and Gabby Hernandez, an Open Education Librarian at the same institution. Brownlow is helping coordinate the OER initiative from the academic side, and Hernandez is working on the research side. Their presentation was about how they collect data for their zero and low-cost courses. Their institution has two main campuses and 90% Hispanic population with 61% Pell-eligible. Texas Senate Bill 810 includes information about the designation of courses with low or no cost. Before 2021, they had no systematic approach and it was inefficient. In the spring of 2021, they developed and integrated an approach to report textbook costs. The form is dynamic and allows instructors to submit textbook orders and also list course materials. Instructors select options for the materials they use: OER, library-licensed, for example. This now provides data for the types of materials used by instructors. The form is easy to complete and yet provides powerful data. Hernandez mentioned that once the faculty report information, they receive data weekly that is copied and pasted from Excel to Airtable. I have heard about Airtable before. It is “a relational database” and allows users to interact with the data. They collected thousands of data points. Hernandez mentioned that Airtable allows powerful synchronization of graphs and views. The information is sent to the bookstore to provide the necessary materials when needed. The information is also shared with the registrar’s office to share with students. Hernandez explained that they have created a list of zero and <$40 in materials courses. They now have a structure to find, collect, and share OER use. Interestingly, Hernandez mentioned that thanks to Airtable, they were able to respond to a Student Government request to identify courses not using zero and low-cost materials. I am going to look into Airtable now… Importantly, Hernandez and Brownlow have a great system and use for the data!
