Keene State College
AC-11: Open Access to Research

KSCommons is a service of the Keene State College Mason Library to provide stability and long-term storage for the research and teaching output, institutional records, and archival collections of the campus. The repository also maximizes exposure of Keene State faculty and student research to a worldwide audience. Members of the Keene State College academic community are encouraged to contribute their scholarship to KSCommons.

Furthermore, KSC is an active part of the University System of New Hampshire efforts to encourage open access. The USNH Academic Technology Steering Committee (ATSC) was established in 2009 to encourage and support faculty to integrate instructional strategies that incorporate technology and rich media that enhance the teaching and learning. The committee includes faculty members and staff from the Academic Technology units at each of the four USNH institutions: Granite State College, Keene State College, Plymouth State University and the University of New Hampshire. The two key projects of the ATSC are the annual Academic Technology Institute (ATI) and the USNH Open Ed Initiative. Every year the ATI brings together faculty from the four USNH institutions (GSC, KSC, PSU, UNH) and CCSNH to develop projects that advance the goals of the USNH Open Education Initiative. (See: https://at.usnh.edu/) Through these efforts, the University System of New Hampshire and the Community College System of New Hampshire are collaborating on a Consortium effort to increase access and affordability around post-secondary education in the state. The New Hampshire Open Education Public Consortium (NH Open) provides an open access repository for each participating school (https://www.oercommons.org/hubs/nhopen#institutional-collections) that are currently being populated.

At present the University System of New Hampshire's Open Education Policy is voluntary with incentives, education, and collaboration encouraging participation rather than strict policies. The initiative is defined as:
USNH Open Education Objective
To use the Academic Technology Institute to develop the capacity of each institution within the University System of New Hampshire to undertake meaningful and complementary Open Education and digital technology projects that will make student learning more effective, including:
Transition to Open Education Resources (OER) content in order to save money for students and for USNH;
Exploration of Open Pedagogy to strengthen learner-directed learning at USNH; and
Augmentation of Open Access structures and protocols across USNH.
See https://at.usnh.edu/open-education-initiative.

Faculty are provided a stipend: Faculty are supported by a $2,000 stipend paid in two installments: $1,000 for the submission of the Open Education Project Plan due by the end of June and $1,000 at the end of the Spring semester. Faculty will have ongoing support for course design, technology, research, and are encouraged to work with the KSC Open Education Faculty Mentors. They are also expected to work with the USNH Academic Technology Institute (ATI). Additional expectations of faculty receiving the stipend include the following:
Submit a detailed project proposal typically due in June
Meet with the KSC Open Education support team
Attend an all-day mid-project ATI event
Participate in two meetings to share project progress

The New Hampshire Open Education Public Consortium Hub, also known as NH Open, is a custom resource center on OER Commons where New Hampshire educators can create, organize, and share OER materials. See: https://www.oercommons.org/hubs/nhopen#:~:text=NH%20Open%20imagines%20a%20future,students%20on%20open%20educational%20resources. This is an exciting new opportunity to impact teaching and learning throughout New Hampshire and to to increase access and affordability around post-secondary education in our state. NH OPEN focuses on adopting and developing open textbooks to: drive down the real cost of college; improve learning outcomes, throughput and completion rates, and student engagement; improve higher education’s capacity to prepare graduates for the needs of a changing workforce; and develop 21st-century pedagogical approaches to serve our students and our state. This Consortium, formed in 2018, is a joint effort by the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) and the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH).

https://www.oercommons.org/hubs/nhopen#:~:text=NH%20Open%20imagines%20a%20future,students%20on%20open%20educational%20resources.

Information on the Keene State College Faculty Teaching Fellows program was provided by Teaching Fellow Mark Long and can be found at: https://teachingfellows.kscopen.org/.

Another program is the University System of New Hampshire Open Education Faculty Ambassador Program described at: https://www.unh.edu/it/news/2018/01/applications-open-for-usnh-academic-technology-institute-2018

Each year, 10 faculty from each of these USNH institutions (GSC, KSC, PSU) and 15 faculty from UNH are selected to attend the USNH Academic Technology Institute (ATI). The theme of the Institute emphasizes USNH Open Education: Pedagogy, Technology, and Advocacy.
This description from the 2018 institute is illustrative: Faculty who are selected to attend will engage in foundational and elective workshops infusing Open Educational Resources (OER), Open Pedagogy/Open Educational Practices, and Open Access Publishing with pedagogical techniques and technology tools. Sessions will also focus on advocacy approaches to advance awareness and adoption of Open Education within USNH and beyond.

In addition to attending ATI, faculty who are selected will be expected to complete a proposal and project focused on one or more of the Open Education focus areas: Open Educational Resources (OER), Open Pedagogy/Open Educational Practices or Open Access Publishing during the next academic year. Faculty will also be expected to participate in an assessment of their project and use their role as an ambassador to advocate on behalf of “open” on or beyond their campus. Each “Open Education Ambassador” receives a $2000 stipend.

ATI Alumni often point to a renewed sense of enthusiasm for what is possible in a 21st Century teaching environment and valuable new connections to colleagues across the University System as valuable outcomes of the Institute.