Overview
OER projects often receive limited recognition, especially from colleagues or policies like promotion and tenure (P&T). Grant programs that provide funding and support for the transition to zero-textbook cost courses or the creation of OER begin to solidify the argument that such projects are scholarly contributions through selection by peer committees and can be listed on P&T documentation. However, formal recognition typically ends with the awarding of the grant.
Virginia Commonwealth University’s Affordable Course Content Awards tracks the impact of funded projects. The collected data is used to assess the impact of the grant program, but there was no connection to individual projects. Thus, to acknowledge the faculty undertaking OER projects, we developed the Impact Levels program. Milestones were developed in three categories: number of students impacted, total cost avoidance, and number of semesters a resource is used. Levels were selected to capture the smallest project yet grow exponentially to capture the largest and longest implemented OER projects. When a project reaches a new milestone, a badge-like medal is added to the grant program site’s description of the project and shared with the project faculty. A formal letter for potential inclusion in P&T documentation recognizing and celebrating their accomplishments and the project is also shared.
Through these milestones, we establish benchmarks to recognize the impact of OER projects. Although we emphasize that milestones are not meant to be comparable across projects due to varying course size or textbook costs, converting abstract efforts to numerical measurements makes the impact of the projects more understandable to those not intimately involved and, we hope, more formalized for inclusion in P&T and other recognition structures.