The recognition of OER contributions in promotion and tenure is a key component of advancing the adoption of OER at UT institutions as outlined in the ALA Taskforce Report Recommendation #6
The creation and adoption of OER represent new models of scholarship, teaching and service that may not be well understood by the faculty and administrators charged with making tenure and promotion decisions. Likewise, faculty creating and adapting OER as part of their teaching, research and service may require guidance for how to represent this work in their tenure and promotion dossiers. There is an opportunity and a need for individual faculty, departments and administrators—as well as governance bodies like faculty senates and the UT System Faculty Advisory Council—to work together to ensure that policy and practice align in the recognition of new-generation faculty work, especially in the context of in increasingly digital environments.
The resources below can help faculty, departments and colleges working to integrate OER into promotion and tenure policies and portfolios.
- Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS3) developed a matrix that assists faculty with the integration of their work into their own portfolios. While the matrix is primarily designed for faculty engaging in OER activities, DOERS3 encourages promotion and tenure committees to use the matrix as a guide for changing departmental policies as well.
- Practitioner Perspectives: The DOERS3 Collaborative on OER in Tenure and Promotion is an article by the primary matrix authors, Andy McKinney and Amanda Coolidge, which helps to frame the rationale behind the matrix.
- Practitioner Perspectives: Corcoran on NOLO—No-Cost & Low-Cost Course Designators is an article by Kevin Corcoran, Executive Director of Digital Learning at the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system. It discusses the increasing burden of textbook costs and the need for OER course designators, an incentive for departments and colleges to increase recognition of faculty that take on OER work to improve student success.
