From Textbook Replacement to Course Redesign: Using OER to Teach Methods, Data, and Applied Communication

Speaker: Brett Robertson This short talk examines my multi-year transition from high-cost textbooks to open and library-licensed materials across undergraduate and graduate social science courses. As a 2022 SCoer Faculty Award recipient, I share how adopting OER reshaped my approach to course design, strengthened skill development, and improved student engagement from the first day of class. Using two courses, JOUR 332: Research Methods and JOUR 509: Environmental Communication as case examples, I show how carefully curated open materials support both conceptual learning and applied outcomes. Course content includes peer-reviewed scholarship, data tools, podcasts, and multimedia resources accessed through the university library, paired with widely available software such as Excel to teach foundational data analysis. This structure allows students to practice research methods and public-facing communication while building transferable analytical skills. The session highlights practical lessons drawn from this work, including effective collaboration with librarians, strategies for sustaining academic rigor without a single textbook, and course designs that allow students to demonstrate learning in multiple ways. Attendees will leave with clear, actionable ideas for using open and low-cost resources to design courses that are rigorous, flexible, and immediately relevant to students' academic and professional goals.