By: Leila Walker, Assistant Professor Humanities & Digital Scholarship Librarian

Open Educational Resources

A faculty development workshop about teaching with open pedagogy.

Facilitation and planning team: Leila Walker (Library), Eric Silberberg (Library), and Annie Tummino (Library)

This three-day, hybrid workshop invites QC faculty to redesign a course syllabus using free and open materials. CUNY students routinely report going into debt, foregoing necessities, or delaying academic progress due to the high cost of textbooks. Through a combination of hands-on skills workshops, interdisciplinary panels, and reflective practice in a supportive environment, participants in this fellowship will develop open pedagogical practices that engage students in the creation of knowledge and reduce economic barriers to academic success. By the end of the Fellowship, participants should have the outline of an openly licensed syllabus ready to run for the 2026-2027 academic year.

For examples of syllabi and other course materials developed through the OER Initiative at Queens College, see our repository on CUNY Academic Works.

Schedule

• Dates: In person June 8 and 9, with a 90-minute follow up over Zoom on June 12
• Time: 10am-1:30pm June 8 and 9, 10am-11:30am June 12
• Location: Queens College campus (June 8 and 9) and Zoom (June 12)

This workshop will support faculty to:

• Learn how to apply the principles of open pedagogy in assignments and syllabi to disrupt the “banking model of education” and encourage student engagement
• Learn the basics of open educational resources, copyright and Creative Commons, and accessibility
• Find, adapt, and use open educational resources and zero-textbook-cost materials
• Enact social justice by lowering financial barriers to student success
• Build community with colleagues across the college

Faculty participants will commit to:

• Attend the workshop in-person on June 8 and 9
• Attend a follow-up meeting over Zoom on June 12
• Review workshop materials (e.g. readings, videos) as assigned
• Develop an openly licensed syllabus using zero-textbook-cost materials and upload a copy to CUNY Academic Works by August 1, 2026
• Share a brief reflection with the Library by August 1, 2026

Faculty that fulfill the above commitments will receive a $2000 stipend and a certificate of completion.

Who should apply?

• This workshop is open to all faculty members, both full-time and contingent, at Queens College.
• No expertise or previous training is necessary, and all disciplines are welcome.
• We especially encourage faculty to discuss with their departments how the materials generated through this Fellowship might be used across multiple sections.

Applications due Wednesday, April 15, 11:59 p.m.