One often overlooked benefit of professional development–pedagogical development in particular–is that it provides a rare opportunity to be a student again. To find yourself with an orientation and an objective, but in unfamiliar or challenging terrain. And (if you’re anything like me) to set off in too many directions at once, to expand the project beyond what is feasible, and finally, to panic at the enormous mess this produces.  In this specific instance, I set out to overhaul my existing OER syllabus for my introductory course in U.S. government and politics. I opened my forever expanding “Notes for Next Semester” document and was reminded of all of the excellent ideas…

When I posted at the beginning of the semester I talked about how I wasn’t sure how useful OERs were to English Department faculty. So much of what we do, in writing classes in particular, is to guide student writing. This takes time but doesn’t require a lot in terms of materials or resources. Students often write about texts, for instance, but those can be anything and most teachers don’t require students to purchase expensive reading anthologies. There are writing guides one might assign, but often these are often too generic, too long, and not targeted to our students–in addition to being costly. I think most teachers feel pretty comfortable…

I am particularly excited to share that Kristin, Farshad, Azure, and I have been diligently working on the in-person version of the General Biolog II OER Laboratory manual. We aim to create a standard manual and infuse it with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI). This approach ensures that our educational resources are accessible and inclusive to learners from diverse backgrounds and abilities. I am proud to announce that the first edition of our lab manual will soon be published on CUNY’s PressBooks platform, marking a significant milestone in our commitment to open education and inclusive pedagogy. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to…