by Jonathan Grunert
At Geneseo, many instructors use OER in their classrooms. The shift to online and distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis resulted in instructors relying more heavily—if not exclusively— on online resources.
Many Geneseo instructors who responded to our survey indicated that the shift to online teaching did not impact their use of OER— they were already relying on OER when teaching face-to-face! Others told us that the COVID-19 crisis had spurred them to seek out OER, and that they intend to use OER in future iterations of their courses.
We hope that Geneseo instructors find in the COVID-19 crisis an opportunity to expand their reliance on OER in the classroom— if not in adopting OER, then in creating new OER where a gap exists. OER allow for a flexibility that eases the transition from face-to-face instruction to online instruction, both for students and their instructors. •
