From Students to Pedagogical Partners: Collaborative Development of Public Speaking Open Educational Resources

This article describes an innovative approach to developing open educational resources (OER) through student-faculty partnerships in a public speaking program. Facing inconsistent instruction across 50+ adjunct-taught sections and high textbook costs, we moved beyond merely adopting existing OER to actively engaging students as co-creators. Innovations included: (a) remixing an existing OER textbook with student annotations and local examples; (b) integrating undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) and peer mentors to record model speeches and provide support; and (c) co-authoring materials, including a companion textbook on speech apprehension. Benefits included complete elimination of textbook costs, improved teaching consistency, increased student confidence, and more relevant, representative content. We also navigated challenges such as time constraints, pedagogical gaps, logistical issues, power differentials, technological difficulties, and sustainability concerns. Our experience demonstrates how collaborative OER development can reimagine faculty-student relationships and produce materials that are rigorous, accessible, and engaging for students.