Description by Sarah Fakhri (OER Outreach Assistant, Work-Study Program).

Description: Accessibility to learning material is essential for any student, myself included, who aims to do well in university. Open educational resources (OER) aim to bridge the gap between the high costs associated with higher education and accessibility to quality course material. As the OER Outreach Assistant on Concordia University’s OER work-study team, I bring an outreach-oriented student perspective to awareness and advocacy strategies. Since the fall of 2022, I’ve had the pleasure of contributing to various campaigns, developing out-of-the-box outreach strategies, and creating many promotional materials, such as Flyers. This presentation details key insights from the past academic year and the successes we have seen so far. 

In the Winter semester of 2023, we co-hosted our inter-university collaboration called OER Discovery Minutes. I was the student lead from Concordia University, and Henry Xie was my collaborator from our neighbours at McGill University. I hypothesized that addressing students’ limited time commitment in the interactive design of the event would positively impact student turnout. With over 150 participants, mostly undergraduates, the event was a success. Alongside the drop-in structure and interactivity of the games, additional contributing factors to the positive turnout included students engaging with other students. In this talk, I will elaborate on my strategies and insights, share our documentation, and conclude with lessons learned that can enhance student-oriented outreach strategies. While encouraging further inter-university collaboration with our Concordia University OER Team, we will share our event outline and materials with participants to adapt to their university contexts. 

Part of Open Education Talks 2024 organized by the University of Calgary, Thompson Rivers University, and the University of Alberta

Part of Open Education Month at Concordia University.

Presenters: Sarah Fakhri, OER Outreach Assistant AND Rachel Harris, Scholarly Publishing Librarian

Registration link