In this webinar, colleagues from Montgomery College and Towson University will discuss their institutional efforts to undertake course marking related to instructional materials. Course marking is the process of assigning attributes to courses in an institution’s student information system to provide important information about courses to students, including information about the nature and cost of instructional materials. The webinar presenters will discuss their motivations for pursuing course marking of instructional materials, their processes and stakeholder engagement, challenges encountered along the way, and benefits for students and for their institutions. Special emphasis will be placed on discussing the pros and cons of marking courses for the use of open educational resources (OER) compared to broader attributes related to cost-savings (free, zero-cost, affordable, or low-cost). View Recording

Presenters:

Shinta Hernandez, Dean of the Virtual Campus, Office of E-Learning, Innovation, and Teaching Excellence (ELITE), Montgomery College; 

Jennifer Scott, Professor, Department of Physics, Astronomy & Geosciences, Towson University; 

Patricia Westerman, Assistant Provost, Faculty Academic Center of Excellence at Towson (FACET), Towson University

Participants interested in learning more about this topic may want to review Marking Open and Affordable Courses: Best Practices and Case Studies, an openly licensed book that explores the range of course material markings available, discusses the benefits and limitations of terminology used to mark courses, and provides institutions of higher education guidance on designating course material costs in their student information systems (SISs) or via other means.