UNC Affordable & OER Committee

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Meg Du Bray, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, GIS, and Sustainability, College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Dr. Meg du Bray was awarded an OER grant in the 2022-23 school year as part of Cohort 4 of OER grant recipients. Below, she discusses how she uses OER in her courses, her motivations for using OER, and the process she used (and continues to use) in converting and updating her course.

What course did you convert to OER?

I had previously used OER materials in my ENST 100: Introduction to Environmental Studies course, so I used this opportunity to search for alternatives to the OER textbook I had been using. There’s now an updated edition, and I found additional OER materials to use in other classes.

What open resource(s) did you use?

I used OASIS, LibreTexts, MERLOT, and OpenStax most regularly.

What motivated you to convert your course to OER?

I know that financial costs are a struggle for many of our students, and I want to make their education as valuable to them as possible, while also minimizing costs to them. I never want financial burden to be a reason someone can’t do well in my class, and OER makes it easier on them. Plus, environmental studies, like many fields, is a rapidly evolving and changing field. I want to be able to rely on up-to-date information!

Could you describe the process you went through to convert your course to OER?

When I first adopted OER at another institution, I had previously been using a textbook that I liked but didn’t feel covered all the material that I wanted it to. Once I went through and looked at the possible options, I still felt that no single text covered everything I wanted it to, but the book I use, Environmental Biology comes the closest. Over several years of trial and error, I have gotten comfortable with the text enough to try using different sections at different points in the course. This obviously required me to change lecture slides, incorporate additional readings and activities, and so on, but has allowed me more flexibility in my teaching, as well.

Did you encounter any challenges during the conversion process, and if so, how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge was finding a textbook that I felt really addressed the interdisciplinary components of the field and the course. At the end of the day, I have used a number of different materials, in addition to the OER textbook (such as podcasts, YouTube clips, and pop-sci readings) to make sure I get complete coverage. Sometimes it’s about looking in different places!

Have you received any feedback from students about using OER in your course? If so, what has been their response?

My students have mentioned that they appreciate the lower cost of taking this course. Environmental studies textbooks can run around $100-150, and it’s nice that they don’t have to decide between that book and another. Especially since many students take this as an LAC, I believe they appreciate the low cost!

Can you share any advice or tips for other faculty members who are considering converting their courses to OER?

Check as many OER sites as you can. Even if you can’t convert your entire course to OER, you might find some really neat activities, or even complete syllabi that help you rethink your courses. I now check the OER sites first to get inspiration to develop new courses!