Friday, March 13 2026

9:00 am - 3:15 pm

Location: Founders Hall, Connecticut State Community College Naugatuck Valley, Waterbury, CT. 

Agenda

9:00-9:30 - Registration & Light Breakfast

9:30-9:45 - Welcome

9:45-10:45 - Keynote: What AI Means for OER

• Presenter: David Wiley, Associate Professor at Marshall University 

• Summary: The ways educators and learners engage with OER has changed very little since their introduction in 1998. Over 25 years later, the advent of generative AI invites us to re-evaluate our most fundamental assumptions. This session will discuss everything from the "horseless carriage" view of generative AI's impact on OER (e.g., using generative AI to create open textbooks) to future-looking views of generative textbooks, conversational learning, and real-time multimedia authoring. 

10:45-11:00 - Break

11:00-11:45 - Lightning Rounds

• How Open Educational Resources Bring Sociology to Life

  • Presenter: Lisa Wiśniewski, Professor at Goodwin University

  • Summary: Teaching Sociology can be a challenge as society changes rapidly, and textbooks can become outdated very quickly. This talk will center around how utilizing OER materials in Sociology courses will provide opportunities for real-world learning that is adaptable to a changing world. The cost benefits of implementing OER materials are clear, and this presentation will highlight how OER allows instructors to quickly adjust and teach to the real world. 

  • Resource: Community Conversations: From local to global engagement (podcast)

• CSCU OER Advisory Council 2026 Update

  • Presenters: Jillian Maynard, Research Coordinator and Instruction Librarian at Central Connecticut State University; and Hayley Battaglia, Serials & Electronic Resources Librarian at Southern Connecticut State University

  • Summary: The Connecticut State Colleges & Universities’ (CSCU) OER Advisory Council works to advance OER and textbook affordability across the institutions of the CSCU System. In this lightning talk, the co-chairs of the Council will provide of overview of the Council’s work and recent projects. 

• Find A Community and Train Your Successor: How to Sustain OER on Your Campus

  • Presenter: Nathan Smith, Faculty Senate President and Instructional Services Fellow at Houston City College

  • Summary: In 2017, I became the director of a grant-funded OER program at a very large urban community college. I coordinated that program for four years. Since then, I remain an OER champion but have gone on to other roles. This presentation will provide attendees with the key steps we have taken at the college to enable the OER program to continue to grow and thrive. It is not without challenges, but some key strategies can help sustain an OER program.

11:45-12:45 - Lunch

• Each table during the lunch session will be designated with a particular OER-related topic. Just sit at the table that piques your interests and enjoy the informal conversation!

12:45-1:15 - Updates from the CT OER Coordinating Council

• Presenter: Patrick Carr, Council Chair & Program Manager for CSCU Library Consortium Operations

• Summary: Learn about the current activities of the CT OER Coordinating Council and the results of the Council's 2025 survey of CT colleges and universities.

1:15-1:30 - Break

1:30-2:15 - Breakout Session 1. Select one:

• Option A: Open Educational Resources in Nursing Education: A Transformative Approach to Equitable and Affordable Learning

  • Presenter: Vivienne Friday, Dean of Nursing and Health Professions and Chief Nurse Administrator, Goodwin University

  • Description: Rising tuition and textbook costs threaten equity in nursing education, especially for second-career students with prior debt. At Goodwin University, this challenge prompted institution-wide adoption of OER. This session describes a comprehensive implementation, including the School of Nursing, using a collaborative Triumvirate Approach (faculty, librarians, instructional designers) guided by the COUP and Social Determinants of Learning framework. Outcomes in 2023 included over $645,000 in student savings across 50 courses, implementation in 90% of RN-BSN and 50% of Accelerated BSN courses, student satisfaction, academic outcomes, and approximately $3,000 saved per student. Attendees will gain strategies for implementation.

• Option B: Student Perspectives on OER and Textbook Affordability

  • Presenters:

    • Panelists (students from Eastern Connecticut State University):

      • Emily Galiette

      • Vanessa Soleto

      • Asher St. George-Crouch

    • Facilitator: Nicolas Simon, Associate Professor of Sociology at Eastern Connecticut State University

  • Description: In this panel, students share their firsthand experiences with Open Educational Resources (OER) and the impact of textbook costs on their academic journey. Panelists will discuss how OER has influenced their access to learning materials, classroom engagement, and overall academic success. Their voices highlight the real-world importance of affordability, access, and openness in higher education.

• Option C: The National Open Education Landscape: Where We Go From Here

  • Presenter: Annika Many at SPARC

  • Description: The national open education landscape is evolving rapidly, shaped by shifting policy, AI, and questions about long-term sustainability. This session will offer a honest look at where things stand and explore how national-level trends relate to Connecticut's unique opportunities and challenges. Notes from this conversation will feed directly into how national open education priorities get defined in the coming year.

2:15-2:30 - Break

2:30-3:15 - Breakout Session 2. Select one:

• Option A: Student Engagement and Course Enrichment with OpenStax Assignable

  • Presenters: Anthony Palmiotto, Director of Higher Education at OpenStax; Patrick Farace, Assignable Success Lead at OpenStax

  •  Description: Incorporating OER into courses often requires extensive effort, particularly in creating assignments and meaningful learning experiences in learning management systems. Assignable integrates OER into LMS’s, enabling instructors and instructional designers to build and share assignments and courses containing assessments, multimedia, and readings. This session will highlight the ways Assignable is being used in a variety of learning contexts. 

• Option B: Getting Started with OER

  • Presenter: Megan Ciccarello, Academic Outreach & Research Librarian at the University of Hartford 

  • Description: New to OER? Attend this breakout session option to learn about how to get started use of OER in your courses.

• Option C: Applying the 5Rs of OER to Large Language Models

  • Presenter:  David Wiley, Associate Professor at Marshall University 

  • Description: What does it mean for a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to be "open"? What does it mean to retain, revise, remix, reuse, and redistribute an LLM? How can we integrate LLMs into traditional OER in ways that give students free, open, and private access to these powerful new tools? Come join this conversation as we answer these questions and more!  

Planning Committee

• Tiara Arnold, Research Services Coordinator at Fairfield University

• Rachael Barlow, Director for the Center for Faculty Career Development at Wesleyan University

• Patrick Carr, Program Manager for Library Consortium Operations at the CSCU System Office

• Paula Dowd, Dean of Faculty at CT State Community College Naugatuck Valley

• Jaime Hammond, Director of Library Services at CT State Community College Naugatuck Valley

• Ariela McCaffrey, Reference & Instruction Librarian at CT State Community College Three Rivers

• Jacquelyn Ray, Director of Library Services & Academic Success Program at Western Connecticut State University

• Jenna Stebbins, Reference & Instruction Librarian at CT State Community College Naugatuck Valley

• Amy Tan, Vice Provost of Academic Affairs at CT State Community College