By Jenni Breems, Director of Library Services, Dordt University

In 2021-2022, the Iowa Private Academic Libraries Open Educational Resources Project (IPAL OER Project) used grant funding to promote the adoption and creation of open educational resources at 18 participating private colleges and universities in Iowa. Faculty at these institutions applied for mini-grants to adopt or create OER materials for their courses. IPAL librarians promoted the grant opportunities on their campuses, selected the 62 faculty mini-grant recipients, and learned alongside them. Through these projects, faculty adopted or remixed OER texts for the classes, created supplemental OER materials, redesigned courses to incorporate OER, or created new OER texts.

Much of the existing OER literature comes from state university systems and large universities. In contrast, IPAL’s 29 member institutions have an average enrollment of approximately 1,500 students. The challenge of the IPAL OER Project was to take a model from large, state university systems and adapt it for the needs of multiple small private institutions. Each of these institutions has its own governance, policies, procedures, and capacity for institutional support.

When the project was complete, we realized that we had been given a unique view of OER implementation at 18 small, private, colleges and universities. As project co-coordinators, we conducted a literature review, reviewed the final reports from faculty mini-grant recipients, and spoke with several IPAL library directors about their experiences. This led to the publication of the article “Be the Spark: Institutional Recommendations for Open Educational Resources.” We recommend these considerations for institutions who are planning OER initiatives:

• External funding may be needed.
• Invest in training for grant writing and grant management.
• Don’t underestimate administrative costs and time.
• Promote textbook access for all students.
• Create space for flexibility.
• Work with the campus business office and other campus partners.
• Understand licensing and copyright.

A few notes of thanks are in order. Thanks to IPAL and the librarians and faculty who worked so hard on the IPAL OER Project. Thanks to Christopher Doll, IPAL OER Project co-coordinator and co-author of “Be the Spark.” Thanks to Dordt University for serving as the fiscal agent for the IPAL OER Project.

I am also thankful for the Richard Fyffe Award from IPAL and for project grant funding from Dordt University that allowed for this article to be published with open access.

Breems, J., & Doll, C. (2023). Be the spark: Institutional recommendations for open educational
resources. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 55(4), 23-29. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00091383.2023.2213572