Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
10-2025
Abstract
Open education advocates know the benefits of OER, but faculty newcomers may feel that adopting OER requires a complete overhaul of a course or that materials must be professionally designed to be effective. Inspired by James M. Lang’s Small Teaching, the concept of Small OER reframes OER adoption as a series of small, intentional steps—such as replacing a single textbook chapter or reading with an open alternative—rather than an all-or-nothing shift. Pairing this with the concept of ugly OER—simple, effective, and easily created resources like Google Docs or instructor-made PDFs—reduces barriers and helps faculty understand that OER don’t need to be flawless or all-encompassing to make an impact. By embracing incremental and imperfect approaches, OER advocates can take resilient, forward-looking steps to make open education feel less intimidating, ultimately helping them keep their “eyes on the horizon” and increasing adoption on their campuses in a sustainable way.
Recommended Citation
Henke, Nancy A., "Small and Ugly OER: Simple Strategies to Ease Faculty into Open Education" (2025). About OER. 10.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/aboutoer/10
Comments
This presentation was delivered at the 2025 Open Education Conference in Denver, Colorado.
"Small and Ugly OER: Simple Strategies to Ease Faculty into Open Education" by Nancy A. Henke is licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)