Online Education Committee

Voting members present:  Nicole von Germeten, Lisa Madsen, Arien Muzacz, David Paoletti, Danielle Safonte, Kayleen Salchenberg
Voting members absent: None
Ex-officio members present: Ecampus – Elisabeth McBrien; Center for Teaching & Learning – Cub Kahn; OSU Libraries – Zach Welhouse

Introductions/Celebrations – congrats to Nicole on her book!

Projects for this Academic Year (AY)

• Promoting Open Educational Resources (OERs) through Affordability Matters badging
  • Stephanie Buck is willing to work with us on this objective. Strategies may include publicizing Ecampus strategies for affordable learning, using OERs in courses being developed or proposed, and/or making recs to the Faculty Senate that include replicating initiatives within our respective programs and departments that have been effective.
  • Zach Welhouse reported that Library course reserves staff are sending correspondence to faculty who are using textbooks available for free through the Library.
  • Lisa Madsen reported that OERs are now considered as part of scholarship and “creative work” in the College of Science for the purposes of promotion & tenure.
• Recommendations for maintaining quality in our online (and hybrid) instruction, considering the rapid growth of remote/asynchronous programs and course offerings.
  • Strategies might include updating Peer Review of Teaching guidelines from 2017-18, creating recs for Ecampus faculty developers, and/or making recs to Faculty Senate that include replicating initiatives within our respective programs and departments that have been effective

Presentation from Dr. Danielle Safonte

• Working with the Effective and Inclusive Design Committee for Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS) to promote uniformity and increase instructor presence by creating a course-structured template that any OSU instructor can use in their course.
• The goal is to provide instructors with a checklist along with a Canvas course template they can use for online, in-person, or hybrid courses in a sort of plug-and-play type setting.
• Benefits include reducing development time and maintaining structure/uniformity of student-experience throughout courses at OSU.
• Danielle shared a link to an EECS Inclusive Design Teaching Learning Community open access Canvas course (shareable with anyone at OSU) and talked about scalability in larger courses, e.g., 30 Teaching Assistants (TAs) and 40 office hours/week.

Discussion of Actionable Objectives Committee Members can Take to Work Toward our Two Goals.

• Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound – we have til June ‘24!
• Elisabeth asked if Affordability Matters badge requests can be linked to requisition somehow
• Cub shared OER/Free Textbook info from Beaver Bookstore.
• Kayleen suggested getting information out to instructors about using or creating free learning materials.
• Nicole reported on collaboration with Stefanie on spreading information about OERs and using stats about OERs to promote affordability, and that there was previously a
• Danielle asked about collaboration with the OSU Library liaisons to identify courses that are using free or low-cost materials.
• Zach suggested that the free and low-cost textbook information from the requisition list might be used to promote Affordability Matters badges.
• Benefits of OERs – more timely information, current research, more accessible to a wider range of learners (e.g., lower-income).
• Drawbacks of OERs – pagination and information may change; content can shift over time, so faculty may need to check materials and/or update syllabi, like when publishers release new editions of textbooks. Not all OERs are equally accessible to learners who use screen readers, so testing features (like embedded quizzes) is recommended.

Action Steps

• Elisabeth will draft a flyer about Affordability Matters badging, to be reviewed by Stefanie Buck.
  • Update from emails exchanged 2/8/2024: We paused on a draft of a flyer because after Elisabeth met with Stefanie to discuss the idea, the scope is larger than we have time for this AY. Notes about the flyer idea will be added here for possible use in the next Online Education Committee (OEC). From Arien: “My other thought is that there's no need for a flyer (if we want one) to be completely done this AY. The content can be developed by the OEC and Stefanie and the vetting process could be in the summer for release in the fall.”
  • Notes from Elisabeth (and Stefanie) on the flyer idea, if the next OEC wants to pursue this:
    • If OEC did create a flyer, Stefanie would need to review it and it would also need to be approved/adjusted through the marketing team, which can be a bit of a lengthy process.
    • Who is the audience for the flyer?
    • From Stefanie - Would the existing webpage be enough, or does there need to be a paper flyer?
    • What is the purpose of the flyer?