Since 2017, Trudi Radtke has been working as an Open Educational Resources Specialist at College of the Canyons, helping create 80+ open textbooks, and traveling to conferences both in the US and internationally to learn and speak about OER. Since February 2019, they have also been an OER Student Advocacy Co-Lead at the Michelson 20MM Foundation, working on producing a student OER advocacy toolkit. They are also a graduate student at California State University Northridge, pursuing a master’s in American History.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your educational journey since you graduated from high school.
I graduated high school in 2012 and I knew that I wanted to go to college right away. I was homeschooled from third grade until my senior year of high school so I didn’t have a lot of traditional experience with getting into college. I was also the first person in my family to graduate from college so the process of filling out financial aid forms was very new to me and my family, but I started out at a community college, at College of the Canyons (CoC), and then I transferred to a private, four-year university, and I’m currently a graduate student at California State University Northridge.
What barriers, if any, have you encountered that have made it difficult for you to stay on track to complete your program?
I come from a lower socio-economic background and this meant that community college was essential for me starting out because I could not afford to go to a private or even public school right out of high school. I also had no money for textbooks. The first semester I applied at CoC, I only had to pay about $50 for the semester, but my textbooks came out to about $700 and I could not afford to pay for them, so I simply did not buy them. And that was pretty much the case throughout most of high school, even when I transferred to a private school. I usually avoided buying my textbooks if I could and just supplemented what free, online materials that I could find.
How did you first hear about Open Educational Resources (OER)? Have you taken classes where the instructor used all free or open educational resources? What was that experience like?
I actually didn’t learn about Open Educational Resources until after graduating with my bachelor’s degree. I was tutoring at College of the Canyons – planning on getting my masters – and I was approached by James Glapa-Grossklag – he’s a dean here – and he asked me if I wanted to work in the OER department on campus. I asked him what that was, and he explained it, and I said, “Sure” and then I got a crash course in Open Educational Resources. Since then, I actually have had a graduate school class where the instructor used library articles instead of the textbook, and that was great in terms of what it saved me that semester. So it wasn’t exactly OER, but I didn’t have to pay for those materials and that cost burden being removed was definitely really helpful.
OEGlobal 19 pictures by Matteo Bergamini, licensed CC BY.
View these photos on Flickr
I understand that you have learned a lot about Open Educational Resources (OER). Tell me about some of the opportunities you’ve had to learn about this new way of teaching and learning.
Most of what I’ve learned has been from my job here at College of the Canyons. I was really nervous when I first got here. I didn’t really understand the process, but since then I’ve helped in creating about eighty-some open textbooks. I’ve had the opportunity to go to conferences and learn and speak about them. And my experience with OER has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s a real privilege to work in a department that I wish I had known about when I was in college. Most of what I’m learning about is really how OER helps knock down financial barriers for students who maybe can’t afford to go to college or are intimidated about paying for college.
You’ve also been part of the OER Development Team at College of the Canyons for several years now. Tell us more about that work.
So as I’ve said, I helped create a lot of textbooks and have done a lot of advocacy for OER on other campuses. Mostly the work involves about 50% content creation and 50% advocacy. The first step is just showing people that you can have college materials and you can use textbooks that aren’t from publishers. They can be just as good if not better, and really enrich your campus experience and the college experience for students by providing them textbooks that are specific to them. And then the other part would be just advocating for OER. Honestly, just telling students that OER exists and that they can advocate for it, and ask for it, and learn more about it– that’s a big part of it.
How are you going to use this knowledge to help other students (faculty or staff) at College of the Canyons?
Well, our textbooks help save students a ton. I don’t remember the exact numbers but I know that students have saved a lot of money using OER textbooks. And the more our textbooks get used, the more students become aware of their existence. So I would just say, continued advocacy. Continuing to let students know. Continue working with the amazing people here in student government. They actually helped us pass resolutions that helped OER get started on this campus. So mostly just engaging students and faculty continually.
What is the greatest impact that OER usage can have on students?
I think it’s a cost barrier. Cost is first and foremost, but it’s also this idea that they can take an active role in their education. They can advocate for their educational materials. And then, I was a student and I was helping, in some small ways, create these materials, and I felt much more connected to the whole learning process when I got to do that. So I think it’s just student empowerment; first through cost barrier and then through other options if that makes sense.
How can students best advocate for OER adoption at their colleges?
I know it’s different for every school. Here at College of the Canyons, the student government has been really important in getting OER started. So I would say, honestly, just make your voice heard – and there are lots of different ways to do that. You can, kindly, bring up OER to your faculty. Maybe your professors don’t know about OER. You can join the student government and get resolutions passed to support it. Deans actually do really pay attention to the resolutions that the student government passes. I didn’t know that until I started working for OER, but a good dean will listen. Talk to your librarians. Librarians are actually responsible for a lot of this content sharing and they’re usually aware of OER on the campus before a professor is. So just talk to them, learn what they know, and have them maybe reach out to professors and let them know their options for educational materials.
This interview has been edited for clarity.