Concordia’s commitment to open educational resources and open publishing helps faculty and students

Open Education Month has officially wrapped up, but opportunities to discover different open educational resources — including open access guides and open textbooks — are available thanks to Concordia Library and Concordia University Press throughout the academic year.

Open educational resources (OER) are digital resources for teaching and learning in any medium that allow no-cost access, use and re-purpose including adaptation and redistribution by others. In addition to lowering financial barriers for students, they increase the variety of instructional resources in students’ learning experiences.

Open textbooks are a distinguishing feature of the library’s OER program. They provide learning materials that are freely available to use, copy, modify and share.

Rachel Harris is the scholarly publishing librarian at the library. Harris leads and coordinates the OER initiative and supports the growth and development of open scholarship services at the university.

The library’s OER guide, also created by Harris, is a comprehensive resource for faculty and students to explore and learn about existing OER projects — viewing examples of Concordia’s open textbooks, finding and evaluating OER and discovering resources in French (Ressources Éducatives Libres).

“The growth of open textbooks provides flexibility for Concordia professors to iteratively tailor their teaching resources, while engaging their students in the process,” Harris explains.

“Open textbooks can readily integrate local examples, practical applications, and students’ critical feedback. In combination with accessibility features, updatable content brings added value to the learning experiences of Concordia’s diverse students, many of whom are faced with cost-barriers. As higher education becomes increasingly costly, students will gain from the cost-saving benefits of viable alternatives to commercial textbooks.”

Funding opportunities for faculty

Thanks to an open textbook grant program supported by the Library Services Fund, there are different types of funding available to full- and part-time faculty teaching undergraduate courses. Faculty can apply for a grant to customize an existing open textbook in which they can add, remove or remix content and provide local examples that customize the learning materials and experience for their students.

Authors Natalie Kouri-Towe and Myloe Martel-Perry, published the open textbook Better Practices in the Classroom: A Teaching Guidebook for Sustainable, Inclusive, and Equitable Learning from a Gender and Sexuality Studies Framework.

Kouri-Towe explains that the teaching guidebook was inspired by her experiences as the inaugural program director for the Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality program at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute.

“Better Practices in the Classroom offers a literature review of contemporary scholarship on topics relating to teaching and learning, from decolonial and anti-racist education to gender inclusive practices,” says associate professor Kouri-Towe.

“I wanted to develop a teaching guide to support faculty from across the university teaching in sexuality studies given the challenges of teaching courses in an interdisciplinary program across two faculties and five departments.”

Kouri-Towe adds that she hopes the guidebook will serve as a resource for seasoned faculty and newer teachers alike.

With the Adopt grants, faculty can identify and adopt an existing open textbook, making minor changes to the content if needed. The open textbook Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology was adopted by Salinda Hess for the Culture and Biology (ANTH 203) course.

Hess is a part-time instructor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the School of Community and Public Affairs. She asks students in the Culture and Biology course to critically analyze sections of the textbook. “Students are also encouraged to bring their own research into the discussion, enriching the learning experience for themselves and others,” she notes.

Hess points out that the open textbook adopted for her course is a living document. “It is continually shaped by those who engage with it.” When students share their analyses and perspectives about the textbook content, they can enhance their own learning and improve a resource that will benefit future students.

‘Accessible, adaptable and valuable for future learners’

Lola Leus is an undergraduate student at Concordia in the Faculty of Arts and Science, majoring in anthropology. She worked as an assistant on the open textbook adoption project for the Culture and Biology course.

Working closely with Hess, Leus acquired valuable work experience in academic project development. She gained a new perspective on open textbooks after completing the project.

“As a student, I appreciated the free access to course materials. But what stood out even more was the opportunity to contribute to their development,” Leus shares. “It made me realize that the work we do as students can have a lasting impact. Our contributions can not only be acknowledged but also integrated into resources that remain accessible, adaptable and valuable for future learners.”

Faculty and students can explore the second edition of the OER Discipline Resource Guide: Concordia University to find OER to suit their courses. It maps open textbooks and potentially relevant courses for each of the university’s departments.

The submission period for open textbook grants is open until April 30. Faculty are invited to apply for Adopt and Customize grants. Successful applicants will be notified by May 30.

Learn more about Concordia’s open educational resources projects and apply for an open textbook grant by April 30.