OER Projects at UVA
You are in excellent company with your interest in OER and Open practices. There are a variety of OER projects that have been completed or are ‘in the works’ at UVA. The following are just a small sampling of the many projects related to OER across Grounds, funded through the Library’s Affordability & Equity Grant, A&S Learning Technology Incubator Grant, IWL OERLL Grant, and/or VIVA Open Grant. If we are missing someone, please let us know!
Anna Borovskya-Ellis (Slavic Languages & Literature) along with two graduate students, Aaron Thompson and Evangelina Demina
“Our project seeks to fill a perennial need in language instruction while working within the Open Educational Resource sphere to contribute to Russian classrooms inside and outside of UVA. We aim to create linguistically appropriate and culturally relevant open educational resources for First-Year Russian courses (RUSS 1010 and 1020). Our authentic and engaging interactive videos, vocabulary presentations, and grammar reviews are being created with specific grammatical and cultural goals in mind and allow our students to work with level-appropriate, contemporary resources that reflect modern Russian lexicon and style. We plan to turn this collection of materials into a full-fledged, digital textbook replacement for our students to ease a significant financial burden that buying textbooks imposes on them.”
Shu-Chen Chen (Chinese)
History, Appreciation and Application of Xizhi Wang Brush Stroke Methods
Chinese calligraphy as a dynamic set of artifacts, techniques, and insights that has evolved over millennia and arguably comprises the origin of all calligraphic traditions in East Asia has been historically inaccessible to the majority of Chinese population. The study of Chinese calligraphy has traditionally been reserved for social elites, aristocratic nobility, and government officials. This project is to integrate materials from the course EAST 1200 Asian Calligraphy to Pressbooks, an online publishing platform to create Open Education Resources (OER). The project will utilize OER practices to create material for current and future learners of Asian calligraphy. The intended learning materials to be featured in the Pressbook project include Calligraphy Master Wu’s content in his new book in Chinese: Analysis and the Essential Elements in Appreciation and Study of Xizhi Wang’s Calligraphy. It will be presented in the format of Word and PDF files covered in his class lectures. The Pressbook platform will also combine student presentation slides, Master Wu’s calligraphy demonstrations and lecture videos and students’ reflections on learning. If funding permits, the project will include 3D STL renderings of calligraphy work carved on stone steles or PLA plates for etching. The project will realize the Open Educational Practices (OEP) by giving students unique opportunities to serve as co-creators of content, involving them in peer review and copyright discussions, dialogi