For many of the participants in the study (n = 38), OER were new elements in their teaching practice. I engaged in focused and meaningful dialogue with them as part of professional development sessions in order to fully explore their perspectives about use of OER. I chose two facilitation designs as the action of my action research. The first was a pair of face-to-face workshops, and the second was an open online course commonly called a MOOC (massive open online course). These were the interventions (and innovations) for the study. From the perspective of the participants, the awareness and support strategies were determined to be useful for increasing their use of OER.
Increasingly, information seekers can utilize “open access” (OA) resources, primarily scholarly research journals, at no cost to themselves. However, many who could benefit from free access to research do not know about it. This presentation will present resources and outreach activities related to Open Access from the Arizona State University library system. The purpose is to encourage greater understanding of and participation in OA practices. Examples include:
1. Library guides on scholarly communication and open access resources.
2. Resources for Open Access Week, Open Education Week, and other events.
3. Participation in open access through outreach to our user communities.
4. Institutional memberships in OA organizations and other efforts such as ASU’s digital repository and a resolution passed by the librarians’ governance committee.
This presentation will benefit librarians who seek ideas and tools to engage colleagues and promote Open Access to their user communities.