Institutional or System Profile
As the Commonwealth's public liberal arts college and a campus of the Massachusetts state university system, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts democratizes access to the small class sizes, breadth and depth of curriculum, emphasis on critical thinking and problem-solving through integrative learning, and intimate living-learning environment that are hallmarks of a liberal arts education – a type of education all too frequently regarded as an affordance of the socioeconomic elite. The smallest (~900 FTE) and most geographically remote campus in the Massachusetts state university system, MCLA attracts a bright, passionate, and diverse student body to Berkshire County, which is itself transformed by the presence of the institution and its many graduates who choose to remain in the region and contribute to its culture and economy.
MCLA’s student body has the highest Pell eligibility among the nine campuses in the Massachusetts state university system (39% in Fall 2022). 46% of MCLA students are first-generation, and 27% are students of color.
Project Description
Current Readiness
OER initiatives at MCLA to date can best be described as authentic but sporadic and uncoordinated. A handful of individual faculty have adopted OER, and a couple of departments have prioritized the use of OER or no-cost materials. At least one faculty member is in the process of creating an OER for a course she teaches. Academic Technology, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Freel Library have, separately and in collaboration, offered one-on-one support and workshops for interested faculty, some of whom have also attended Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE)-led workshops and received stipends for reviewing OER in their disciplines. Increasing the use of OER has been proposed as one strategy for addressing attainment gaps that have been identified in the course of MCLA’s ongoing racial equity work, including our membership in the Leading for Change Racial Equity and Justice Institute.
Opportunities:
Project Lead and Team Members
An intentionally small project team comprising the Associate Dean of Library Services (Emily Alling, team lead), the Senior Advisor for Institutional Equity and Belonging (Christopher MacDonald-Dennis), and the Director of Assessment (Erin Milne) will work closely with the fledgling campus Textbook Equity Advisory Committee and its four associated subcommittees (Student, Faculty, Systems, and Leadership), whose structure aligns with OER activities on our campus and is informing MCLA’s adaptation of the DOERS3 rubric.
Stakeholder Engagement Plans
Defining Success
Case Study
As the Commonwealth's public liberal arts college and a campus of the Massachusetts state university system, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts democratizes access to the small class sizes, breadth and depth of curriculum, emphasis on critical thinking and problem-solving through integrative learning, and intimate living-learning environment that are hallmarks of a liberal arts education – a type of education all too frequently regarded as an affordance of the socioeconomic elite. The smallest (~900 FTE) and most geographically remote campus in the Massachusetts state university system, MCLA attracts a bright, passionate, and diverse student body to Berkshire County, which is itself transformed by the presence of the institution and its many graduates who choose to remain in the region and contribute to its culture and economy.
MCLA’s student body has the highest Pell eligibility among the nine campuses in the Massachusetts state university system (39% in Fall 2022). 46% of MCLA students are first-generation, and 27% are students of color.
Project Description
Current Readiness
OER initiatives at MCLA to date can best be described as authentic but sporadic and uncoordinated. A handful of individual faculty have adopted OER, and a couple of departments have prioritized the use of OER or no-cost materials. At least one faculty member is in the process of creating an OER for a course she teaches. Academic Technology, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Freel Library have, separately and in collaboration, offered one-on-one support and workshops for interested faculty, some of whom have also attended Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE)-led workshops and received stipends for reviewing OER in their disciplines. Increasing the use of OER has been proposed as one strategy for addressing attainment gaps that have been identified in the course of MCLA’s ongoing racial equity work, including our membership in the Leading for Change Racial Equity and Justice Institute.
Opportunities:
- Strong support and leadership from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
- Creative, resourceful faculty and staff who are aware of the barriers posed by textbook costs and eager to devise solutions
- Supportive academic and senior leadership
- Nascent structures on campus to organize/carry out OER and textbook affordability work
- Faculty (4/4+ teaching load) and staff workloads make it difficult to add this work without either adding capacity or discontinuing other work
- Lack of resources for stipends/incentives/course releases
- Frequent turnover in Follett bookstore management and recent departure of college administrator who acted as bookstore liaison
- Coordinating disparate constituencies, systems involved in course registration and textbook adoption/fulfillment
Project Lead and Team Members
An intentionally small project team comprising the Associate Dean of Library Services (Emily Alling, team lead), the Senior Advisor for Institutional Equity and Belonging (Christopher MacDonald-Dennis), and the Director of Assessment (Erin Milne) will work closely with the fledgling campus Textbook Equity Advisory Committee and its four associated subcommittees (Student, Faculty, Systems, and Leadership), whose structure aligns with OER activities on our campus and is informing MCLA’s adaptation of the DOERS3 rubric.
Stakeholder Engagement Plans
- Ongoing: Monthly meetings of Textbook Equity Advisory Committee subcommittees (faculty, students, systems, leadership) and of MA DHE OER Advisory Council
- Meeting with academic department chairs, February 16, 2023
- Meeting with Student Government Association, February 27, 2023
- Surveys to be administered to students and faculty, early March 2023
- Workshop on “Open Educational Resources for Equity” as part of Center for Teaching & Learning series, March 28, 2023
- Focus groups of faculty and students, early April 2023
- Conversations with individual academic departments and other key groups to take place throughout the grant period and beyond
Defining Success
- Forge enduring connections across departmental/divisional boundaries to systematically address issues of textbook affordability and OER adoption/creation with an emphasis on improving the student experience. When opportunities arise, redefine positions/staffing structures to explicitly incorporate this work.
- Use results of surveys/focus groups administered as part of this grant work to inform practice immediately; repeat a subset of the survey annually to measure progress
- Hold conversations with every academic department on campus re: access to/affordability of materials used in their curricula by the end of AY24.
- Build disaggregation of data into all work on textbook affordability/access by race/ethnicity, gender, Pell status, first-gen, disability, major
- Identify existing courses and new programs to be prioritized for OER adoption efforts
- Create a detailed proposal for implementing course marking (flag no-cost/low-cost courses in the student registration system) by end of 2023
- Ensure inclusion of textbook access/affordability in college-level planning initiatives
- MA Racial Equity Action plan: Develop a strategic plan to integrate and fully fund direct and in-direct educational expenses (unmet need) for Students of Color (in collaboration with DHE/BHE)
Case Study
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