OER Support at WSU

Here at Weber State University, we follow three Core Themes as outlined in the University Strategic Plan to foster high-quality educational experiences: Access, Learning, and Community. The core theme Access reflects our commitment to providing an affordable, quality education to communities with significant socioeconomic and cultural differences.

Open Educational Resources are one of many effective ways of providing affordable, quality education, and campus faculty and staff are here to support their use.

• Subject Librarian – Your subject librarian may already be aware of open resources available in the field or what may already be in use on campus. They can help direct you to open access or openly licensed resources, discovery tools, or other support services on campus that better suit your needs.
• OER Library Staff – These staff are here to assist with any question or interest you may have regarded OER or other affordable course material alternatives, such as licensed library eBooks. They offer training on open copyright for individuals or departments and can assist in locating affordable resources for you to review. Please feel free to search and see what eBooks are available to use as a reference or work with library staff for acquiring a license. UEN has provided a license to Pressbooks, an open publishing platform, and as the campus admins they can provide training and help with editing and formatting questions. They also oversee the OER Grants at WSU and can answer questions about the process. Reach out at oer@weber.edu.
• WSU Online – The Instructional Designers at WSU Online collaborate with faculty to design engaging course materials and effective course structures through a variety of services. This includes OER, and they can help ensure that these course materials are integrated effectively in Canvas and meet accessibility standards. Accessibility is a primary goal of the OER Grant, and recipients of the grant will be connected with an Instructional Designer early on to offer support over the course of a grant project.
• Campus Bookstore – Bookstore staff strive to make course materials as affordable and accessible as possible and offer many avenues of support. For OER, they can assist with ordering optional print copies when available and answer questions about submitting OER used as a primary textbook as a textbook adoption. You can gather more information about Textbook Adoptions & Affordability or reach out directly at textbookordering@weber.edu.
• Colleagues – Speaking with your colleagues, here at WSU or at other institutions, can be a great way to learn about what resources are available and if they are effective. If they have already taught with a resource or have created or adapted one themselves, they can provide insight to the benefits and pitfalls.