The State University of New York (SUNY) and its campuses have been engaged with open educational resources (OER) in various capacities since 2011. With direct funding from the New York State budget beginning in 2017, SUNY was able to formalize an approach to OER rooted in excellence in teaching and learning. SUNY’s OER framework is focused on student success by utilizing content and learning tools that are data-informed for excellence. Within that framework, opportunities are available to increase access to learning materials for all SUNY students, decrease the cost of those learning materials, and introduce significant pedagogical changes.
SUNY and SUNY OER Services are able to provide attention to all of these concentration areas and our framework thanks to a networked ecosystem of internal and external partnerships. Each of these partners brings specific expertise to bear in efforts to scale and sustain OER. These partners are all also closely attuned to SUNY’s larger responsibilities as a leading public higher education system. Since 2017, over two thousand SUNY faculty have begun using OER and hundreds of thousands of SUNY students have saved $47 million dollars in course material costs. Perhaps more importantly, SUNY and SUNY OER Services are sharing important learned lessons for any OER initiatives that are under consideration.
Presenter:Tony DeFranco
Director of User Support Services, SUNY OER Services
Tony DeFranco is Director of User Support Services for SUNY OER Services. Tony works with faculty, staff, and campus leaders to help them adopt, scale, and sustain OER initiatives at their institutions. Previously, Tony served in various leadership roles around technology support, distance learning, and OER efforts at Tompkins Cortland Community College. Prior to academia, he worked for many years a broadcaster and manager in the media. Tony earned his AAS from SUNY Canton, BS and MBA from SUNY Empire State College, MS in Information Design and Technology from SUNY Polytechnic, and is pursuing his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at University at Buffalo.