On this page, you can read about the stories or experiences that VIU faculty would like to share about using Open Educational Resources (OERs) in their classes:

Dr. Jessie Key joined VIU’s faculty in 2012, specializing in Chemical Biology with a focus on fluorophore synthesis, labeling and bioassay development. A fierce advocate of Open Educational Resource (OERs) development for many years now, Jessie has converted all his courses to no-cost or OER materials, contributed to BCcampus by revising and authoring textbooks, and is currently redeveloping a distance Organic Chemistry 2 course to use entirely OER content. He is also preparing a major revision of OpenStax’s Organic Chemistry textbook. Read Jessie Key's co-authored textbook, Introductory Chemistry.

1. What inspired you to transition your courses at VIU to no-cost/OER materials, and how has this impacted student learning outcomes?

My push towards transitioning to no-cost/OER materials has really been driven by social justice and accessibility reasons. OER can help to remove or lessen the financial barriers present in post secondary education - better levelling the playing field for all learners. The use of OER can greatly impact the lives of many students, particularly the most vulnerable socio-economically. My use of no-cost/OER materials in all the courses I teach has saved VIU students tens of thousands of dollars.
 

2. What challenges or barriers have you faced when converting course materials to OERs, and how have you overcome them?

While more OER material has been generated recently, there remains challenges ensuring the quality of the OER, and adapting and integrating it into existing courses. This all takes time and energy, which can be difficult when you are already working a full workload. Over the years I have worked to improve things incrementally. I have also received some funding and support to tackle larger projects like major adaptations of an Introductory Chemistry textbook and development of a student-generated practice problem workbook for Organic Chemistry.
 

3. How have your understandings of OERs changed since you began working with them, and in what situations do you think they are particularly useful?

Over the years I have broadened my scope of OER beyond just Open textbooks. Developing and incorporating Open/no-cost supplemental materials has allowed me to overcome a situation where an available Open textbook was simply not enough.
 

4. What advice would you give to faculty considering adopting or creating OERs but unsure where to start?

My biggest piece of advice to faculty considering adopting OER is to remember that it is not a race, and you can plan to transition over a timeline that works for you. Survey the state of existing resources and make a plan to eventually get to the point where you can make the switch.

To reach out to Jessie, you can find his contact information here.