During Open Education week you don’t have to look far to find exciting initiatives that are building new open education resources that also help create more inclusive learning experiences for all students.
In September 2021 a consortium of six Massachusetts higher education institutions led by Framingham State University together with the MA Department of Higher Education, received over $440K from the US Department of Education for a project Remixing Open Textbooks through an Equity Lens (ROTEL).
The consortium is testing the hypothesis that underrepresented students will achieve higher academic outcomes if their teachers use free, culturally-relevant course materials that reflect their experiences. Faculty will receive stipends through the project to create new OER or adapt existing OERs using an equity lens, and the team will evaluate student success outcomes. For more information on the project, see their project site.
Project participants have started building a Toolkit for Creating Culturally Relevant OERs – a gold mine of articles, research, and ideas for any faculty anywhere.