Course Marking: Making OER and Student Cost Savings Transparent

Session Description

The transition to open educational resources (OER) has become even more necessary with the increase in online learning since the pandemic. While the OER movement has been around for many years, course marking, the process of providing information about no and low-cost required course materials during the class registration process has become an important trend. Course marking, whether mandated at the state level or implemented at the institution level, benefits students and is advantageous to colleges and universities for measuring impact and assessment. While the benefits are clear, the process of implementing course marking is not without its challenges, including getting institutional buy-in in states without mandates, faculty concerns, and providing accurate and timely information to students when registering for classes. This presentation will provide the what and whys of course marking, and how to navigate the range of issues and concerns associated with its implementation including technology.

Presenter(s)

Michael LaMagna
Delaware County Community College
Media, PA, USA

Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College in Pennsylvania and previously served as the Coordinator of Electronic Resources at a small liberal arts college. Dr. LaMagna’s research centers on the adoption and advocacy of open educational resources and affordable course content, eBooks acquisition and usage, synchronous and asynchronous learning, copyright education, digital badges and micro-credentials, and academic libraries in general. His research has appeared in publications such as Collection & Curation, Internet Reference Services Quarterly, the Journal of Access Services, the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship and Computers and Libraries. Dr. LaMagna received his Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from Northeastern University. His dissertation examined how community college English faculty members teach information literacy in asynchronous online courses. Dr. LaMagna also received his M.L.S. from St. John’s University, M.A. in History from Villanova University, and B.A. in History from Susquehanna University.

Louise Feldmann
Delaware County Community College
USA

Louise Feldmann is a Reference and OER Librarian at Delaware County Community College in Media, Pennsylvania. Previously she was the Business Librarian and College Liaison Coordinator at Colorado State University from 2005 to 2019 and served as the librarian during Semester at Sea’s fall 2017 voyage. In 2012, she was awarded the BRASS Business Research Grant, sponsored by Emerald, for her sabbatical work exploring the intersection of entrepreneurs and libraries. She has been a member of BRASS, the Business Reference and Services Section of ALA’s Reference & User Services Association, since 2005, and served as Chair from 2016 to 2017. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Davis, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.