Nursing faculty publish OER book

Kirkhof College of Nursing faculty members Susan Strouse, Genevieve Elrod and Karyn Butler all teach sections of nursing research, a course, they said, that is not a favorite among their undergraduate students.

"Students think that it doesn't apply to them, that research isn't done until graduate school," Strouse said. 

To keep students engaged, the trio published an Open Educational Resource book on innovative lesson plans for active learning in a nursing research course. The book was published via ScholarWorks@GVSU in early February; it has since been downloaded 112 times.

Because their collective lessons are based on evidence-based practice, Strouse said colleagues in other health disciplines could benefit from it. "It's such a broad approach to teaching this material, faculty could download it and adapt it to their own disciplines," Strouse said.

Elrod said she and her colleagues attended a workshop on OER materials in mid-August and began collaborating on the book shortly after. 

"We had so much support from University Libraries, with copyright and license questions," Elrod said, adding that staff members from the Digital Studio in eLearning and Emerging Technologies videotaped portions of lessons plans to include in the book.

She said the OER could help faculty free up time spent searching for materials to update their research courses. Elrod was at a conference and met a professor who taught speech-language pathology who said she was interested in downloading the OER.

Jacklyn Rander, library publishing services manager, said liaison librarians and library staff are available to help faculty find or create OER and help upload videos and other materials. She cited an interdepartmental team of campus departments ready to offer services throughout the process: 

• The Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center assists faculty with integrating OER into courses;

• The Center for Scholarly and Creative Excellence offers grants if professional services (editing, layout, design work) are needed;

• The Laker Store provides help to students to access OER and can help with print-on-demand, if needed;

• University Libraries and eLearning and Emerging Technologies can assist with instructional materials and integration into Blackboard and more.

More about OER is online at gvsu.edu/library/sc/oersupport; find the KCON book or search for other GVSU created OER online at scholarworks.gvsu.edu/oer.