Contributors

Dr. Elkhoury is an assistant professor at Athabasca University, she is also the team lead of the alternative assessment project. She has extensive experience in teaching and learning in K12 and higher education settings within both Canada and internationally. Eliana’s latest work includes providing professional development to educators on alternative ways of doing assessments. Dr. Elkhoury has published and presented on STEM education, equity in education, and alternative assessments. Her current research interests include: Innovation in teaching and learning, Alternative assessment in multiple disciplines, faculty development, and teacher education.

Dr. Olivier is an Adviser: Higher Education at the Commonwealth of Learning, Burnaby, Canada. Before this he led the UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) and was a Professor at North-West University, South Africa until August 2022. His research interests include: open and distance learning, self-directed learning, multimodal learning, OER, blended learning, e-learning, multiliteracies, multicultural education, language planning and subtitling. He has acted as editor for the books Contextualised open educational practices: Towards student agency and self-directed learning, Open Educational Resources in Higher Education, and Radical Solutions for Education in Africa: Open education and self-directed learning in the continent.

Dr. Thurston is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President at Utah State University. Travis earned his Master of Educational Technology degree from Boise State University, and earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with focus on Instructional Leadership from Utah State University. His teaching and scholarship center on digital-age teaching and instructional design approaches, and creating autonomy-supportive learning environments. He publishes interdisciplinary studies on the scholarship on teaching and learning, and is the production editor for the Empower Teaching Open Access Series.

Dr. Elkhoury is an assistant professor at Athabasca University, she is also the team lead of the alternative assessment project. She has extensive experience in teaching and learning in K12 and higher education settings within both Canada and internationally. Eliana’s latest work includes providing professional development to educators on alternative ways of doing assessments. Dr. Elkhoury has published and presented on STEM education, equity in education, and alternative assessments. Her current research interests include: Innovation in teaching and learning, Alternative assessment in multiple disciplines, faculty development, and teacher education.

Dr. Olivier is an Adviser: Higher Education at the Commonwealth of Learning, Burnaby, Canada. Before this he led the UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Resources (OER) and was a Professor at North-West University, South Africa until August 2022. His research interests include: open and distance learning, self-directed learning, multimodal learning, OER, blended learning, e-learning, multiliteracies, multicultural education, language planning and subtitling. He has acted as editor for the books Contextualised open educational practices: Towards student agency and self-directed learning, Open Educational Resources in Higher Education, and Radical Solutions for Education in Africa: Open education and self-directed learning in the continent.

Dr. Thurston is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President at Utah State University. Travis earned his Master of Educational Technology degree from Boise State University, and earned his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with focus on Instructional Leadership from Utah State University. His teaching and scholarship center on digital-age teaching and instructional design approaches, and creating autonomy-supportive learning environments. He publishes interdisciplinary studies on the scholarship on teaching and learning, and is the production editor for the Empower Teaching Open Access Series.

Morgan Barker (she/her/hers) is the Sustainability Librarian at Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, CA, and a faculty member in the Business, Agriculture, and Career Technical Department at Shasta College in Redding, CA. She holds a BA in Recreation Administration, an MBA, and an MLIS. Morgan’s professional adventure began in outdoor education and retail, where she grew her passion for sustainability and the environment. As her career evolved, she transitioned into design and international manufacturing, gaining valuable insights into global sustainability practices. In 2011, she ventured into higher education, bringing her expertise to teaching and consulting within academic spaces. With over a decade of experience in higher education, including a role as an Instructional Designer, Morgan now works as the first-ever Sustainability Librarian at Cal Poly Humboldt, where she serves the campus in advancing the university’s environmental sustainability research and curriculum.

Steven Clontz is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. His scholarship includes research in general and set-theoretic topology, as well as the advancement of sociotechnical infrastructure underlying contemporary mathematics and STEM education research and practice. In the classroom, Dr. Clontz uses active learning techniques such as Team-Based Inquiry Learning to help his students discover mathematics for themselves.

William M. Cross is the Director of the Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center at North Carolina State University where he provides guidance to campus stakeholders on legal issues and open access to scholarship, data, and educational resources. Will serves as an instructor in the UNC School of Information & Library Science and lectures nationally on copyright, free expression, and open culture. Recent presentations have included a daylong workshop on legal issue at the Charleston Conference and webinars for the ACRL’s Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy Series and ALCTS Continuing Education series, as well as presenting the Opening Remarks at the 2016 Scholarly Communications Institute. Will has been quoted in publications such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Library Journal, and Techdirt and publishes regularly on topics ranging from the pedagogy of legal education for librarians to the First Amendment status of video games.

Michael Tadeusz Dabrowski is the Academic Coordinator, Spanish at Athabasca University and has been a Spanish educator for over 30 years at Athabasca University and the University of Calgary. He focuses on creating collaborative learning environments and advocates for Open Educational Resources and Open Pedagogies. He has taught all levels of Spanish.

Teresa Focarile is the Director of Educational Development at Boise State’s Center for Teaching and Learning. Her scholarly work has focused on how educational developers can support institutional efforts such as program assessment and concurrent enrollment, as well as designing programs for adjunct faculty. At the CTL, she supports a variety of CTL and university-wide efforts, including the Course Design Institute, the Great Ideas for Teaching and Learning Symposium, and Program Assessment Reporting. She has taught at the college level for 18 years, the past twelve for Boise State, and the previous six for the University of Connecticut.

Hillary Fox is the Lead Librarian for Agriculture & Life Science at NC State University Libraries. Her role involves supporting agriculture researchers, students, and Cooperative Extension through the different stages of the research lifecycle. She is an active member of the Libraries’ Alt-Textbook Committee where she supports instructors in their journey to implement open practices in their course. Prior to joining NC State, Hillary was the Science Librarian at the University of West Florida. During this time, she was in the inaugural cohort for the Open Textbook Network’s Certificate in OER Librarianship. Hillary received her Master’s of Science in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Angela George is an Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Calgary. Her research on the teaching and learning of Spanish has been published in various journals. She is also the co-author of Online Language Teaching in Diverse Contexts and the 2021 winner of CASLT’s Robert Roy award.

Sharona is a Math Instructor at California State University Los Angeles. In addition to teaching and coordinating Mathematics and Statistics courses, she is a faculty coach and instructional designer as well as researcher in the field of grading practices in Higher Education and their impact on student learning and success. She is the Executive Director of The Grading Conference, a 501(c)3 non-profit that hosts an annual conference about grading reform, and is the co-host of The Grading Podcast, a podcast dedicated to grading practices throughout K-12 and higher education.

Drew Lewis is a mathematician, faculty developer, and education researcher who works as an independent consultant. He researches, writes, and speaks on topics such as collaborative learning, alternative grading, inclusive pedagogy, open education, and quantitative justice. Previously he served on the faculty at the University of Alabama and the University of South Alabama.

Erin loves to engage students as intellectual peers in inquiry-based learning. As an ecologist, she sees the learning environment as a dynamic space where students and instructors can interact with each other, tools, and materials to create a shared understanding of complex course concepts. She aims to dispel stereotype threats amplified by the “ivory tower” through scholarly efforts to build reciprocal, collaborative, long-lasting partnerships that empower students and the general public with scientific literacy and belonging. To that end, she designs courses with activities and assessments that support scientific practices and professional development across diverse systems and applications. Beyond the classroom, she studies how microbial communities form over time and how they adapt to their environments. She has analyzed fecal samples from hundreds of animals in zoos and the wild, to learn how gut microbes affect health – and how humans can leverage or upset that balance. Her research has expanded to sourdough and other fermented foods that can be studied without laboratory equipment, using participatory science research to engage students of all ages, all over the world.

Lauren McMillan is an Information Studies Librarian at Georgia Southern University. Along with teaching research skills to undergraduate students through doctoral students, she also teaches in the Information Studies concentration for the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies program, focusing on metaliteracy and data literacy. Her research interests include information literacy, active learning, and instructional design.

Nalanda Roy serves as the Coordinator of the Asian Studies program and holds the titles of Certified Diversity Executive and Inclusive Excellence Faculty Fellow. Dr. Roy has been recognized with prestigious awards including the Dr. Saba Jallow Inclusion Champion award, the Award of Excellence, and the Georgia Southern Women in Research Soar award. She also received the Campus Museum of Service Award for her creation of the An Integral History: Asian Studies Digital Archive. An accomplished author, Dr. Roy has penned several books and contributed numerous peer-reviewed articles to journals and book chapters. Dr. Roy has served as the section program chair for ISA’s South Asia in World Politics and much more.

David is the Librarian for Student Success and Affordability at North Carolina State University Libraries. In his role he helps lead the Alt-Textbook committee and the Open Pedagogy Incubator as well as develop additional programs, services and other forms of academic support for students and faculty, reflecting the Libraries’ and the university’s commitment to making higher education more equitable and inclusive.

Lydia Watson (she/her) has been a faculty member at Capilano University for 17 years where she is currently an educational developer with the Centre for Teaching Excellence. She holds a Master of Education in Curriculum Studies from the University of British Columbia and her teaching and learning scholarship is focused on trauma aware pedagogy, specifically the importance of care in teaching. Her work and leadership in open educational practices has involved students, faculty, and staff on the adoption of open educational resources and open pedagogy in the classroom and the curriculum. She has presented at conferences and co-published work on the impact of using compassion in teaching and on the value of sharing pedagogy. Her work always places people at the heart center.

Sam Winemiller is the Open Knowledge & Research Impact Librarian at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He teaches about and researches the scholarly communication landscape and how it intersects with information literacy and the public good. Sam was a Graduate Assistant in North Carolina State University Libraries’ Open Knowledge Center while this chapter was developed and continues to work with friends at NC State and across the UNC System on open pedagogy projects.