Kaitlin Farnan (L) is presented with an award certificate by Lori Lysiak, reference and instruction librarian in the Eiche Library. The certificate was presented as part of the second annual Open and Affordable Showcase at Penn State Altoona.
ALTOONA, Pa. — Penn State Altoona held its second Open and Affordable Showcase on May 7. The daylong conference was sponsored by the Robert E. Eiche Library.
The showcase brought together faculty and staff to recognize and celebrate open and affordable resources (OAER) on campus. Educational opportunities included strategies for integrating OAER, open pedagogy, open advocacy and more into classroom instruction to advance student access, affordability and retention.
Penn State defines OAER as “a teaching, learning or research resource that is offered freely to users in at least one form and that resides in the public domain or has been released under an open copyright license that allows for its free use, reuse, modification and sharing with attribution.” Affordable educational resources are “any required course material that students purchase for less than $50. This may include low-cost or no-cost options and library e-Books with an open license.
Five faculty presented a series of Lightning Talks discussing their own experiences with OAER. They included the following:
- Susan Marie Brundage: “Creating a Unique OER in Pressbooks”
- Kaitlin Farnan: “Making Co-Curricular Opportunities and Case Studies Open Source”
- Laura Rotunno: “A Tool for Helping Students ENGAGE with Text and Images!!”
- Beth Seymour: “The Art of Cinema and World Archaeology: Shifting to OER Materials for My Students”
- Brandon Yusko: “Bare Bones Beginnings: Creating My First OER”
Additionally, roundtable discussions were facilitated by Kaitlin Farnan and Laura Rotunno on the topics of “Student Involvement in Teaching with or Advocating for OAER” and “Teaching with Sustainable Assignments or other Open Pedagogical Practices.”
Nathan Hollister spoke on “Guidelines to Comply with the Accessibility Standards Under the DoJ Ruling” to kick off a Spark Session for participants to conceptualize and discuss next steps. Lori Lysiak also spoke on “Networking: Who is Using OERs in the Same Courses I Teach?”
At the conclusion of the conference Kaitlin Farnan was presented with the OAER Champion Award for her work.
Find out more about these "Text Book Heroes" who participated in the 2024 and 2025 Open and Affordable Showcase at Penn State Altoona.
