Student-Generated OERs in the Art History Classroom

This presentation shares the experiences and motivations of Dr. Sara Ishii-Bear, Art History and Visual Culture professor, in guiding undergraduate students’ creation of open educational resources (OERs). The construction of OERs reflects her interest in feminist pedagogy and open educational practices, which aims to create a learner-centered classroom that values accessibility, equity, and cultural responsiveness. Ishii-Bear will discuss a scaffolded assignment that guided students in researching and writing open-access lesson plans, which resulted in the students’ work being published on the OERTX Repository website. Student-generated materials also give students the opportunity to focus on the topics that interest them the most. Such a move is especially valuable given TWU’s diverse demographics. Due to the historical marginalization of women’s and people of colors’ voices in art history, the inclusion of women students of colors’ research is valuable to art history pedagogy. Ishii-Bear will also discuss the results of an anonymous student survey to reveal the students’ opinions on working with a group to author an OER. In the last portion of the presentation, Ishii-Bear will reflect on how the project might be tailored for future iterations of the course.