OE-faR: Creating an Open Community in a Decentralized Faculty Network

In this session, we will discuss the challenges that a large, almost fully remote, decentralized faculty network embraces when establishing an OER community. While the university may be unique in size and structure, the challenges we face are not unique. We will explore the value of routinely re-evaluating processes and focusing on “unlearning” the standard methodologies when encouraging the growth of an OER community, including addressing training, scalability, sustainability, and communication. We are making progress in developing the university’s OER community; however we are still in “in-process” and look forward to active discussion with beginner and intermediate attendees facing challenges at any stage of OER implementation. We will encourage attendee participation through the use of online polling tools and other engagement activities throughout the presentation.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Published
2026-04-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/x07m-dq70
Primary Topic
Scientific Computing and Data Management
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

OE-faR: Creating an Open Community in a Decentralized Faculty Network

Heather Blicher, Cory Gagnon, Allie Davis
Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Scientific Computing and Data Management
article

OE-faR: Creating an Open Community in a Decentralized Faculty Network

Heather Blicher, Cory Gagnon, Allie Davis
article en

Abstract

In this session, we will discuss the challenges that a large, almost fully remote, decentralized faculty network embraces when establishing an OER community. While the university may be unique in size and structure, the challenges we face are not unique. We will explore the value of routinely re-evaluating processes and focusing on “unlearning” the standard methodologies when encouraging the growth of an OER community, including addressing training, scalability, sustainability, and communication. We are making progress in developing the university’s OER community; however we are still in “in-process” and look forward to active discussion with beginner and intermediate attendees facing challenges at any stage of OER implementation. We will encourage attendee participation through the use of online polling tools and other engagement activities throughout the presentation.

Scholarworks (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Openalex Percentile: Top 100%
Scientific Computing and Data Management
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