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Advocacy & Campus Leadership: Collaborative Academic Support: Home

Overview of Collaborative Academic Support

Collaborative Academic Support
Collaborative academic support involves coordinating efforts across multiple departments to increase the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) and affordable library materials. This team is likely comprised of a mix of librarians, instructional designers, IT specialists, faculty development staff, student support services, academic departments, and more. A cohesive, engaged collaborative Academic support team that develops unified strategies that align with institutional goals parlays the combined efforts of the team to expand its reach and leverages diverse expertise. 

Collaborative Academic Support Lineup and Roles

  • Unified Strategy Development: The collaborative academic support team creates and aligns strategies that prioritize affordability and accessibility, ensuring that OER and library materials are integrated into courses effectively.

  • Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Team members from different departments—libraries, instructional design, academic affairs, IT, and student success—work together to streamline processes, share resources, and provide comprehensive support for OER adoption.

  • Faculty Engagement and Support: The team collectively engages with faculty, offering training, resources, and incentives to encourage the use of OER and library materials, ensuring that faculty have the tools they need to adopt these resources confidently.

  • Technical Integration and Support: IT specialists and instructional designers work in tandem to embed OER and library resources into Learning Management Systems (LMS), ensuring seamless access for students and smooth integration for faculty.

  • Policy and Advocacy: The administration, supported by the collaborative team, develops policies that promote OER adoption and advocate for its benefits at institutional, state, and national levels, influencing broader educational practices.

  • Monitoring and Assessment: The team continuously monitors the impact of OER adoption, assessing student success, cost savings, and equity outcomes, and using this data to refine and improve their approaches.

  • Resource Development and Management: Libraries and instructional designers collaborate to develop, curate, and manage high-quality OER, ensuring they meet academic standards and are readily available to faculty and students.

  • Professional Development and Training: The team offers ongoing professional development to faculty and staff, helping them stay informed about the latest OER developments, best practices, and technological tools.

  • Student Engagement and Feedback: Student success centers and other team members actively involve students in the conversation, gathering feedback and promoting the benefits of OER to the student body, ensuring that their needs and perspectives shape the initiative.

  • Continuous Improvement and Innovation: The collaborative team embraces a culture of continuous improvement, regularly revisiting their strategies, incorporating feedback, and exploring new ways to enhance the adoption of OER and library materials across the campus.

  • Curating and Providing Access: Identifying, acquiring, and making OER and affordable resources available through library systems and repositories.

  • Training and Support: Offering workshops and guidance to faculty on finding, evaluating, and integrating OER into their courses.

  • Copyright and Licensing Expertise: Advising faculty on copyright, licensing, and fair use issues related to OER and other course materials.

  • Collaboration with Faculty: Working closely with faculty to customize OER for specific courses and to develop new resources.

  • Technical Integration: Assisting with the technical aspects of embedding OER into Learning Management Systems (LMS) and other platforms.

  • Running Microgrant Programs: Offering financial support to faculty for creating or adapting OER, encouraging widespread adoption.

  • Project Managing OER Development: Overseeing the creation and adaptation of OER, ensuring projects are completed on time and meet quality standards.

  • Operating Reading List Management Programs: Facilitating the integration of affordable and open resources into course reading lists through tools like Leganto and Talis.

  • Library Publishing: Acting as publishers for faculty-created OER, providing platforms and support for distribution.

  • Institutional Repository Management: Adding OER and other faculty work to the institutional repository, ensuring wide accessibility and long-term preservation.

  • Metadata Standardization and Application: Librarians apply metadata standards to improve the visibility and accessibility of OER, ensuring that they are accurately described and cataloged consistently across platforms.

  • Course Design and Redesign: Assisting faculty in integrating OER and library materials into course structures, ensuring alignment with pedagogical goals.

  • Technical Integration: Providing expertise in embedding OER into Learning Management Systems (LMS) and other digital platforms, ensuring seamless access for students.

  • Customization and Adaptation: Helping faculty adapt and customize OER to fit specific course needs, enhancing relevance and effectiveness.

  • Assessment and Evaluation: Designing assessments that align with OER, and helping faculty evaluate the impact of these resources on student learning.

  • Resource Development: Collaborating on the creation of supplementary materials that complement OER, enhancing the overall educational experience.

  • Faculty Support and Training: Offering training and ongoing support to faculty on how to effectively use OER and other affordable resources.

  • Providing Professional Development: Offering workshops, training sessions, and resources that educate faculty on the benefits, use, and integration of OER and library resources into their courses.

  • Guiding Course Redesign: Assisting faculty in redesigning their courses to incorporate OER and library materials, ensuring alignment with learning objectives.

  • Offering Technical Support: Collaborating with IT and instructional design teams to help faculty integrate OER into Learning Management Systems (LMS).

  • Promoting Best Practices: Sharing successful case studies and strategies for OER adoption, fostering a culture of open education on campus.

  • Facilitating Peer Collaboration: Encouraging faculty collaboration and the sharing of resources and experiences related to OER and affordable course materials.

  • Supporting Research and Evaluation: Assisting faculty in evaluating the effectiveness of OER in their courses and encouraging research on the impact of OER adoption on student success.

  • Course Marking and Coding: Ensuring that courses using OER or other affordable materials are appropriately marked in the course catalog, allowing students to identify and choose these courses.

  • Data Management: Maintaining accurate records of course materials used in each class, supporting institutional reporting and compliance efforts.

  • Collaboration: Working with academic departments, faculty, and IT to integrate course materials information into student information systems and learning management systems.

  • Compliance and Reporting: Ensuring adherence to institutional and federal regulations related to course materials, such as the Higher Education Opportunity Act’s requirements for transparency in textbook costs.

  • Inclusive and Equitable Access Programs: Manages and implements these programs, ensuring students are automatically billed for digital textbooks and course materials.

  • IT Collaboration: Works closely with IT to integrate commercial publishers' digital content and courseware into Learning Management Systems (LMS).

  • Contract Negotiation: Handles negotiations with publishers for digital content and courseware agreements.

  • Billing and Access Management: Oversees the setup of billing processes and ensures students have access to digital resources.

  • Balancing Affordability and Accessibility: Strives to provide cost-effective and accessible resources through these programs.

  • Course Marking and Coding: Ensuring that courses using OER or other affordable materials are appropriately marked in the course catalog, allowing students to identify and choose these courses.

  • Data Management: Maintaining accurate records of course materials used in each class, supporting institutional reporting and compliance efforts.

  • Collaboration: Working with academic departments, faculty, and IT to integrate course materials information into student information systems and learning management systems.

  • Compliance and Reporting: Ensuring adherence to institutional and federal regulations related to course materials, such as the Higher Education Opportunity Act’s requirements for transparency in textbook costs.

  • Advocating for Student Interests: Representing student voices in discussions with faculty and administration, pushing for the adoption of OER to reduce textbook costs.

  • Running Awareness Campaigns: Educating students about the benefits of OER and encouraging faculty to adopt them through targeted campaigns.

  • Collaborating on OER Initiatives: Partnering with libraries and academic departments to support OER projects and initiatives on campus.

  • Funding and Microgrants: Providing financial support for OER development through microgrants or special funding allocations, helping to incentivize faculty participation.

  • Feedback and Research: Gathering student feedback on course materials and conducting research to highlight the impact of high textbook costs, using this data to advocate for greater OER adoption.

  • Promoting OER Awareness: Educating students about the benefits of OER, including cost savings and increased accessibility, and encouraging them to choose courses that use OER.

  • Providing Academic Support: Assisting students in effectively utilizing OER and other course materials through tutoring, workshops, and study groups.

  • Collaborating with Faculty: Working with faculty to identify and integrate OER into courses that align with student success goals, ensuring that materials meet diverse learning needs.

  • Feedback and Advocacy: Gathering student feedback on course materials and advocating for the expansion of OER use to reduce financial barriers and enhance learning outcomes.

  • Resource Development: Helping develop supplementary materials and study aids that complement OER, further supporting students' academic success.

  • Coordinating Textbook Adoption: Admins facilitate the selection and ordering of textbooks and other course materials, ensuring that all required resources are requested before the deadline and available before the start of the semester.

  • Managing OER Integration and Course Reading Lists: They assist faculty in adopting and integrating OER as well as Reading Lists into their courses, aligning these resources with departmental goals and curricula.

  • Budget Management: Departments oversee budgets for course materials, including funding for licensing content (e.g., Harvard Business Review Cases) and OER initiatives.

  • Liaison with Campus Units: Admins coordinate with the bookstore, library, and IT departments to manage logistics, including the availability of digital resources and technical support.

  • Compliance, Reporting, and Course Marking: Ensuring that all course materials comply with institutional policies and reporting requirements, including marking courses that use OER or are low-cost.

  • Faculty Support: Providing administrative support for faculty in managing course material logistics, including ordering desk copies, facilitating communication with publishers, and managing copyright permissions.

  • Communication: Keeping faculty informed about deadlines, new resources, and institutional initiatives related to course materials, ensuring they are aware of and can take advantage of available support.

  • Copyright and Licensing Guidance: Advising on the legal aspects of using, adapting, and distributing OER, collaborating with the library on creating guidelines for appropriate use, and ensuring compliance with copyright laws and licensing agreements.

  • Contract Review: Evaluating contracts with publishers and vendors for textbook and course material acquisitions, the same with bookstore management companies, ensuring they align with institutional policies and legal standards.

  • Risk Management: Identifying and mitigating legal risks associated with OER adoption and use of library content and services for course materials, including issues related to intellectual property, data privacy, adherance to licenses, and copyright.

  • Policy Development: Assisting in the creation and enforcement of institutional policies regarding the adoption and use of OER, implementation of open pedagogy, and leveraging of library materials as assigned readings.

  • Setting Institutional Priorities: Establishing policies and goals that prioritize OER and affordable content as part of the university’s strategic initiatives.

  • Funding and Incentives: Allocating budget resources and offering incentives, such as grants or stipends, to encourage faculty to adopt or create OER.

  • Supporting Policy Development: Creating and enforcing policies that facilitate the integration of OER into course offerings.

  • Leadership and Advocacy: Leading by example and advocating for the adoption of OER across departments, ensuring alignment with the university’s mission and goals.

  • Collaboration with Faculty: Working with faculty and academic departments to ensure OER initiatives are supported and integrated into curriculum development processes.