Jenifer Vang is a biology major in her senior year at San Jose State University. She is one of eight California state university and community college students selected to launch the statewide OER Student Advocacy Network. The goal of the network is to promote the use of OER on campuses and develop a toolkit to train other students in OER advocacy.
Tell us about any barriers that you’ve encountered or made it difficult for you to stay on track towards graduation.
I grew up as a first-generation student from a really big immigrant family. My dad told me in high school that he wouldn’t be able to financially support me so I would have to search for scholarships or take out loans to attend college. One of the biggest barriers though was that my whole life has revolved around my family so moving to San Jose State to pursue higher education meant I had to learn how to pursue my education without worrying about what’s going on at home or what I should be doing to help the family. That was really hard for me.
One of my goals as I went into university was to avoid or keep my loans to a minimum. That wasn’t possible because it was so expensive and I had to use all my financial aid to just cover bills and tuition. I was looking for a job on-campus when I learned about the Affordable Learning Solutions (ALS) student ambassador position. I worked really hard preparing for my interview and found out it was a great resource for students. I had just moved off-campus and was realizing that it was hard for students to have access to resources such as library materials off-campus.
Have you taken a class where the professor used free or open educational resources?
I’ve taken classes where there weren’t any required textbooks but it wasn’t explicitly stated anywhere that it was OER. I found out after I had shown up on the first day of class. The professor went over the green sheet and syllabus and whether they would require a textbook or homework system. That’s when students learn about the additional costs for a course.
When you had a class that didn’t require a textbook, did the teacher talk to you about the fact that they had chosen not to use a textbook?
Yeah so in that class the professor just gave lectures and relied on assignments more. There weren’t any reading assignments but it more writing assignments and research assignments where we had to look for the resources ourselves.
A lot of students had trouble understanding what was required for the assigned papers. I actually had to look for an open-source writing guide to write and format that scientific paper. So, I feel that having an open-source textbook would have been nice but instead this professor chose to do without. There were a lot of students who struggled and were not happy with how the class was run. I feel that if the professor had incorporated some sort of OER to explain the format of the paper or an example of a literature review that he wanted us to write, it would’ve helped a lot.
Can you tell me about some of the work you’ve done as the Affordable Learning Solutions (ALS) Student Ambassador at San Jose State University?
I started out just organizing and gathering all of the ALS data on team grants into a spreadsheet so we can search for professors, courses, number of sections that were impacted by the grants. Afterwards, we focused on creating fliers to help both faculty and students learn what they can do with OER, about courses using OER, and the grants that are available. We also updated the website to add new resources and compiled a handout for students to learn about textbook cost savings available to them through ALS and the library.
This last year, we decided to replace “Open Education Week” with “Textbook Affordability Week” so it was more student focused. We held a “Don’t go #textbookbroke” workshop where we went over how to get access to those resources and also provided food because we know that money spent on textbooks affects how much students can eat. We hold all our events at the library where there is a lot of food traffic and we incorporate food or something else to draw students in.
How do you let students know about resources that they could use even though their professor may be using an expensive commercial textbook?
I can’t actually recommend textbooks for the students to use but can only point them to websites or resources that we already have. Using their student ID card, they can get books on course reserves or free ebooks on our library list. We also tell them to look out for the Zero-Cost Course Materials designation when they’re signing up for classes.
Tell me how you’re going to use the OER knowledge and expertise that you’ve developed to help other students and staff
Through the OER Student Advocacy Network we are developing a toolkit to train other students to support the OER programs on their campus and promote awareness of OER to student groups. The toolkit will provide an interactive checklist, an inventory of OER usage on campus, what the student body thinks about OER, and how they feel the cost of textbooks is affecting them and their lifestyle. We hope that students will take an active role in talking to faculty members about OER, looking for OER for their own courses, and getting really interested in what they’re learning. If we can show that an OER resource is improving student learning then this can be a game changer for faculty’s opinion of OER.
What is the greatest impact that OER usage can have on students?
I think it really has to do with reducing cost but it also can help students take a more active role in what they’re learning and what they’re passionate about. I’ve learned how to talk to faculty members that aren’t even in the biology field and aren’t my science professors. I’ve been able to point them to OER or other resources they can consider to help their students. The journey of OER advocacy has helped me in my own classes, and allowed me to help other students and even faculty members. We’re building this network of collaboration and sharing, an exchange of knowledge, that you couldn’t really get without OER.
San Jose State University In collaboration with nearby industries and communities, SJSU faculty and staff are dedicated to achieving the university’s mission as a responsive institution of the state of California: To enrich the lives of its students, to transmit knowledge to its students along with the necessary skills for applying it in the service of our society, and to expand the base of knowledge through research and scholarship.
Michelson 20MM Foundation supports and invests in leading-edge entrepreneurs, technologies, and initiatives with the potential to transform learning and improve access to educational opportunities that lead to meaningful careers. Michelson 20MM was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned inventor and spinal surgeon Dr. Gary K. Michelson, and his wife, Alya Michelson. Learn more at www.20mm.org.
OER Student Advocacy Network was launched in February 2019 under the leadership of Dr. Barbara Illowsky, De Anza College professor, and Dean James Glapa-Grossklag, College of the Canyons, with support from Michelson 20MM foundation. This project aims to develop and empower current higher education students in California to become effective advocates for OER through peer-to-peer mentoring in public speaking, writing formal resolutions, and developing promotional campaigns.