5 Questions

5 Questions with…

Sarah Hare 
Open Education Librarian  
IU Libraries

As the new Open Education Librarian (formerly the Scholarly Communication Librarian), Sarah Hare leads IU Libraries’ efforts to increase faculty use of open and affordable educational resources that save students money, enhance learning, and make fuller use of library materials. The goal: low-cost course materials. IU's Course Material Fellowship Program offers support for instructors interested in adopting or creating affordable course materials. Starting in 2022, all participating fellows must make their course materials low-cost for students; a select few in a specific tier will be required to share an OER publicly. “The program tries to be responsive to fellows’ feedback and projects and, as a result, is constantly being refined,” Hare said.

She earned a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) in Literature & Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Q: What does “open education” mean in the context of academic libraries, how does it differ from “free,” and why is it important? 

A:Open Education and Open Educational Resources (OER) refer to teaching materials that are not only free but also come with certain permissions because of the way that they are licensed. Because of this license, any instructor can legally customize OER to fit their specific learning objectives, students, and teaching style. Instructors can add new chapters and otherwise update existing OER content, then share their new version with their class and the world. In short, while it’s important that OER are free to students, they are also attractive to instructors interested in making course materials more effective for their specific course. OER are just one of the solutions that instructors have at their disposal to make their course materials more affordable for all students. 

Q: What should faculty know about the Course Material Transformation Fellowship Program? What did you learn during the project’s pilot year (2020-2021), and what changed the following year?

A: For several years I worked with instructors who knew that the textbook that they were using wasn't ideal (on top of being expensive and inaccessible to many of their students) and had ideas agbout how to restructure it or create something new. But they just didn't have the time, space, or long-term support to make their idea a reality. : We launched the first round of the Course Material Fellowship Program (CMFP) in Fall 2020 with the support of the Women’s Philanthropy Leadership Council (WPLC), soon after the pandemic started.

CMFP is focused on giving instructors more structural support by matching them with experts, walking them through parts of the course material creation process, and helping them find community to share struggles and breakthroughs. The program also compensates instructors doing this work because it involves a lot of expertise, time, and labor to make effective course materials. If you have been thinking about how to improve your course materials or are just generally interested in open educational resources (OER) but you just haven’t been able to put your project in motion, consider applying for the 2022 cohort of the CMFP!

We have learned so much since 2020! Projects differ greatly in scope and the availability of existing resources. In response, we created different tiers in 2021 to better align compensation and support with the scope of fellows’ projects.  For this next cohort, we plan to move to a model that includes a monthly in-person, active workshop at which they will work together with a shared example to learn about finding content, understanding licensing and copyright issues, and making their new course materials accessible and responsive.

Finally, the solutions for making course materials more affordable are complicated! Sometimes it is a real challenge to create a new resource that can be shared publicly in certain disciplines, often because of copyright limitations. We’ve been thinking a lot about this and have rescoped the CMFP to be focused on moving to low-cost course materials. Starting in 2022, all fellows must make their course materials low-cost for students but only a select few in a specific tier will be required to share an OER publicly. This is our attempt to make program requirements more realistic. The goal is to center student affordability without compromising student learning. The Program tries to be responsive to fellows’ feedback and projects and, as a result, is constantly being refined.

Q: How have you worked with the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning and UITS to make course materials more easily available? 

A: CITL and UITS are important partners in this work. Representatives from both groups serve on our CMFP Implementation Group and do the important work of promoting the Program and reviewing applicants. Many of them also deliver instruction or consultations to fellows. In addition to collaborating with colleagues in CITL and UITS on the CMFP, I have worked with them to offer workshops and deliver programming on the range of affordable course material solutions available to instructors.

Q: What do you love most about your work?  

A: The instructors that apply to be fellows are talented, dedicated teachers that want to make their class better and help their students learn more effectively. They care deeply about student access to the materials that are core to learning in their classroom. I enjoy helping them find affordable materials and learning the tools to create new resources that better match their goals. I almost always learn something new from them and I get to witness their passion for their subject area and their students firsthand.  

Q: What is your favorite place on campus? In Bloomington? 

A: We’re lucky to have such a beautiful campus. In addition to looking at the mums and leaves between the IU Auditorium and Wells Library in the fall, I love walking to the Biology Building Greenhouse. It always brightens my day and puts things in perspective to see plants and trees from so many different places and climates. My favorite place in Bloomington is the Clear Creek Trail. It generally has less traffic than the B-Line and always has lots of birds and beautiful views. I always find peace and tranquility there. A close second is the Chocolate Moose, as they have the best ice cream in town!  

Bonus sixth question: Which of your colleagues would you like to introduce as a resource to the rest of the campus community? 

A: The head of the IU Libraries’ Copyright Program, Naz Pantaloni, is an expert in licensing, copyright, and fair use. While OER as a concept is exciting, fellows’ projects usually surface practical, complicated questions about Creative Commons and copyright limitations. Naz has served as an integral resource for helping us understand what can legally be done. I’d add that Naz is an important resource for faculty in a variety of ways. In addition to helping instructors understand what they can do with course materials, Naz helps faculty request permission for using copyrighted materials in their scholarship and understand copyright agreements from publishers before signing them. Naz is generous with his time and an important resource for the whole campus community. 

I have also learned a lot about instructional design, using Canvas, and assessing learning from my colleagues in CITL (and CTL at IUPUI) just from making professional development materials for fellows. I would highly recommend reaching out to CITL if you’re trying to make your course more effective or utilize the full functionality of Canvas.  

Read more: Hare was featured in the UITS Learning Technologies’ online magazine in Fall 2020 in the article “Open Educational Resources: Scholarly Communications Librarian Sarah Hare’s go-to sources.”