Higher Education, OER, OER Implementation

More than a Seat at the Table: Including Students as Peers

by Denis Shannon

Contributed by D. Graf Kirk and Shannon M. Smith

Although students interact with course materials constantly, there is no guarantee that they will understand the benefits of different types (e.g. traditional textbooks, ebooks, openly-licensed content) of course materials or where they come from. Many also do not know what open educational resources (OER) are in the first place. This lack of understanding is magnified in a world of digital access, where the majority of course materials are integrated into learning management systems. Increasing the student awareness of the availability and spectrum of course materials is an important part of the work of everyone in higher education but especially academic librarians. However, if this work is done without the student’s voice then we are missing the chance to introduce key partners who can advocate on their own behalf. 

In fall 2021, Boise State University’s OER Librarian, Shannon Smith, was charged with leading a campus-wide task force focused on affordable learning with a tight timeline. However, she still wanted to find an effective approach to ensure that the voice of the student was integral to the process. From her own experiences, Shannon knew first-hand that students have important perspectives about access and university systems – two of the things that can affect the intent and outcomes of setting a path for open education on campus. Bringing a student into the conversation had the potential to allow for a new and crucial voice to enter the campus-level conversations, so Shannon reached out to Student Affairs who introduced her to the Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU). After making that connection, Graf Kirk was hired as a Research Technician by Albertsons Library.

This Research Technician position was compensated and separate from Graf’s student government role as Vice President of ASBSU, although his connection to student government was valuable. His primary responsibility in this role was serving on the Learning Materials Access and Affordability Task Force. By working closely with an engaged student, the library was able to better advocate for affordable learning materials and OER by grounding academic conversations in the student experience. Just having a student present, though, is not good enough. It was essential to first ensure that Graf was up-to-speed on existing conversations in order to be an active contributor rather than a passive observer. In our context, that meant setting aside a weekly meeting that allowed us to create a shared vocabulary, discuss goals, and provide space for shared learning. 

At one of our initial meetings, Graf asked to go over the textbooks in his own classes, which unexpectedly illustrated a range of learning materials from traditional textbooks to inclusive access (for a comprehensive introduction to Inclusive Access see Inclusiveccess.org) to OER. This allowed Graf to root his work in his own educational experience. OER can be met with skepticism, and when faced with that skepticism he was able to articulate his own experiences with each course and why different materials made sense in different contexts, as well as specific examples of when they did, and did not, work well. Collaboratively going through Graf’s courses proved crucial for additional advocacy work that we did not anticipate. For our annual Bronco Giving Day event, Graf shared with potential donors that an investment in OER was an investment in his own education. Furthermore, the librarian-student leader partnership prompted presentations to Boise State student government that inspired them to allocate $15,000 toward the OER efforts of the library. This type of advocacy was undoubtedly accelerated by the fact that Graf was a student, and was championing the value of affordable learning in his own education. 

With a student involved, donors and other students were keen to hear about OER, and also proved vital in working with faculty and administration. Often, when Graf spoke up during a meeting, his comments created a welcome interruption to conversations that had been occurring in the same way for months. Notably, when brainstorming how to implement a plan for course marking in the catalog for affordable learning materials, it was suggested that the group pursue an approach that would achieve the requirements of a state policy without interrupting current administrative workflows. However, Graf pointed out that while such strategies would be more straightforward to implement, they would be extremely difficult for students to utilize in practice. Graf challenged the current workflows and asked the Task Force members to consider whether they wanted to pursue a solution that would simply meet criteria, or one that would benefit students and align with the spirit of our goals. At the following meetings, the Task Force took these considerations to heart. It seemed that Graf was able to help academic professionals connect with a core motivation of their mission: to benefit the education of students. 

As the work of the Task Force ramped up, regular touch points with Shannon allowed Graf to bring his experience into the conversation in a meaningful way. During these meetings, he would bring questions he had from previous Task Force meetings in order to help him prepare for the next one. The space to talk through his experiences and ideas built his confidence to share the student perspective with a larger audience. This helped Graf to develop the sense that he was truly valued as a peer in these spaces, which led to more successful exchanges between students and faculty, contrasting with the typical dynamic in other academic environments. Campus constituents also appreciated hearing from a student when the Task Force presented their progress. In particular, going into a faculty senate presentation we were aware that there would be a high level of support for affordable learning in general, but that some would have reservations about the impact of this work on the faculty tenure and promotion process. The aim of presenting to the Faculty Senate was to show the draft institutional plan broadly with many diverse perspectives represented. In order to do so, the featured presenters were a faculty member who teaches with OER, Shannon, and Graf. Graf’s perspective, in particular, helped ground the presentation and kept it focused on the spirit of affordable learning infrastructures. His inclusion in the speaker list helped overcome the hesitancy of some faculty members and garner some additional buy-in. 

OER are incredibly beneficial to students. In addition to direct cost-savings for course materials, they are perpetually accessible meaning they are available beyond graduation or an individual course, and creators of OER are continually reshaping and improving content to align with pedagogical goals. Including students in the institutional work of OER helps them understand these benefits and gives them ways for them to be able to advocate for these initiatives. Librarians can play the role of lifting the curtain on this work and bringing these students to the table. It requires effort to thoughtfully onboard a student. It can be easier to say you do not have the time or to appoint a student just to check the box of consulting that particular perspective. Yet students are essential to round out the conversations around open education on any campus. Including student voices in the process means providing space for them to ask questions, ensuring they have the proper tools and resources, and taking the extra step to demonstrate that students are valued as peers. Librarian-student partnerships benefit both parties and elevate the conversation while also keeping it grounded in the goal of affordable learning options for students and instructors alike.

Suggested Onboarding Resources

D. Graf Kirk Bio

D. Graf Kirk is a recent Biology graduate from Boise State University, where he was heavily involved in student government and was first introduced to the work of affordable and accessible learning. Currently, Graf is applying to medical school.

Shannon M. Smith Bio

Shannon M. Smith is the Open Educational Resources Librarian at Boise State University. She works to build and hold space for student voices both as the primary audience for open education and also as co-creators of OER beyond their classroom experiences. Shannon received the Open Education Network Certificate in OER Librarianship in 2020 and was a SPARC Open Education Leadership Fellow in 2021.

This post is by D. Graf Kirk and Shannon Smith and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, except where otherwise indicated. Please reference OER and Beyond and use this URL when attributing this work; for more information on licensing, see our Open Access Policy.