CityTech Stories Podcast - Episode 3 - Interview with Colleen Birchett

In this episode of CityTech Stories, we're focusing on Open Educational Resources - an alternative to the commercialized textbook industry, offering free, openly-licensed content. At CityTech, OER is supported by state grant funding, and implemented via the OER Faculty Fellowship, developed by Prof. Cailean Cooney. Former OER Faculty Fellow, Professor Colleen Birchett talks about her experience developing a course site based on Open Educational Resources; the impact on students; differences between digital vs print; and content possibilities. An excerpt, on the difference between OER and traditional textbooks: "One of the limitations that I've faced as an instructor is the fixed content in a given textbook: someone else decides, and that's their worldview, and their pedagogical view. Whose voices get heard and whose don't? One of the things OER allows you to do, is to modify that...as issues come up on the international/national scene, you can adapt it more easily than you can a textbook."(Prof. Colleen Birchett) Thank you for listening!