Sharon Jordan teaches an Introduction to Modern Art history course using open educational resources. She curates weekly content on a WordPress site including overviews, readings, videos, and assignments. Students complete note-taking, worksheets, and written assignments. Yuri Gorokhovich teaches a GIS data acquisition course without a textbook. Course content is based on lecture slides hosted on the CUNY Academic Commons. He finds that OER allows for more flexibility but developing good course models can be challenging. Alexander Nunez Torres teaches a principles of macroeconomics course using OER. He finds the transition from textbook required more upfront work but provides more flexibility to include new material and instant access for students. Quality

1. Deepening Pedagogy with OER
CUNY/SUNY OER Showcase
Lehman College Faculty
3/23

2. Sharon Jordan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Art Department
OER Course: Introduction to the History of Modern Art

3. ARH141: Introduction to
the History of Modern Art
Sharon Jordan, Assistant Professor,
Art Dept. Lehman College, CUNY
• OER class
• Hybrid class
• Pathways Distribution Area 4:
Creative Expressions
Wordpress class site on the CUNY Academic Commons:
https://arh141.commons.gc.cuny.edu

4. Each week on the
Wordpress site:
• Broad overview and
Information to
contextualize the material
• Links to essays and
videos selected for the
week’s content in curated
order
• Links to and/or
instructions for
assignments, including
note-taking exercises;
worksheets; or written
assignments to synthesize
and apply the weekly
content for use in class

5. Each week on the Wordpress site:
• Broad overview and Information to contextualize the material
• Links to essays and videos selected for the week’s content in curated
order
• Links to and/or instructions for assignments, including note-taking
exercises; worksheets; or written assignments to synthesize and apply
the weekly content for use in class

6. Week 3 / February 14: La Belle Epoque: Symbolism and Post-Impressionism

7. Week 3 / February 14: La Belle Epoque:
Symbolism and Post-Impressionism

10. Excerpt from Cubism worksheet assigned to accompany the essays / videos:

11. Week 8 / March 21: Futurism and Orphic Cubism

12. Week 8 / March 21: Futurism and Orphic Cubism

13. Yuri Gorokhovich, PhD
Associate Professor
Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Science
Department
OER Course: Data Acquisition and Integration for GIS

14. Yuri’s Open Educational Resources (OER) Fellowship
GEP3750: https://gep3750.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
“Data Acquisition and Integration in Geographic
Information Systems”
Model: no textbook, course is based on lecture
slides; good for the technical, software based
course

17. Analysis of OER Experience

18. 1. No need to order books every semester; textbooks are FREE for students
2. No need to argue with students regarding their inability to get textbooks in time
3. All documents are available instantaneously
4. Feed-back from peers (I got just one from my friends)
5. No need to remember where lecture slides are 
6. Easy to incorporate any new material
7. CUNY Commons automatically checks and reports broken web links
8. No need to check/edit page numbers in lectures and labs
9. Instead of being confined to just the textbook content I can expand
my range of topics and materials
10. I can use my own papers and research as examples
11. Automatic backup of the course
12. Use of original governmental sites with updates
OER: positive

19. OER: negative
1. CUNY Commons could be improved for OER creation and editing (which is happening)
2. Search for OER materials can be lengthy and painful
3. Students still do not read materials on the web site!!!!!!!
6. Hard to develop a good model for class work: I lean toward the flipped class.

20. Alexander Nunez Torres, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Economics and Business
OER Course: Principles of Macroeconomics

21. ECO – 166, Introduction to Macroeconomics
What to know first: This course is a “lecture heavy”
course, since in most cases we are teaching the first
economic class for our students. Most of the times we
teach concepts and theories.
Course Description: National income components and
their measurement, unemployment rate, and price
levels. Determinants of aggregate demand and output.
Effects of government spending, taxation, and monetary
policy on national income, employment, and the rate of
inflation.

22. Extract of the Syllabus weekly calendar

23. Extract of the Syllabus weekly calendar

24. Adapting the course, from textbook based to OER
• Adapting the course was like changing from
centralized to decentralized information system:
Centralized System: Textbook Decentralized System: OER
The book is the guide for the
course
Customizable guide
The students rely less on the
syllabus
The syllabus must be detailed
Usually the students know what
to expect: Lectures
Every class could have a different
approach
Arguably less work for the
instructor
Definitely up to date
information from the instructor
Rigid in terms of adaptability Flexible in the inclusion of new
material
Publishers make life easier for
the instructor
Students get access almost
instantaneously

25. ECO – 166, Introduction to Macroeconomics
In general:
Pros:
• No/low cost for the students
• Flexible, engaging lectures
• Decentralized, up to date open access information for
everyone
Cons:
• Requires more time to prepare the course and
lectures
• Not clear the transfer of credits to another institution
that requires textbooks for the course
• Quality control, materials should be chosen carefully

26. Dhipinder Walia, MFA
Lecturer
English Department
OER Course: English Composition

34. Kate Gardner Burt, PhD, RD
Assistant Professor
Dietetics, Foods and Nutrition Program
Health Sciences Department
OER Course: Ethnic and Therapeutic Meal Patterns

35. Evelyn Duran Urrea, PhD
Lecturer
Languages and Literature Department
OER Course: Spanish for Heritage Speakers

36. Heritage Language
• In a Heritage Language class students have
learned the language in their childhood at
home but once formal education begins,
around preschool or kindergarten, English is
favored.
• Heritage speakers of Spanish typically develop
strong levels of oral/aural language while their
literacy and metalinguistic knowledge tends to
be weak.

37. OER for Spanish as a Heritage Language
• Despite their growing popularity, Heritage
Spanish programs remain underserved by
commercial textbook publishers.
• What that means for us who teach heritage
learners is that we are left either to adapt the few
published materials that do exist to fit our
programs or else to create our own.
• I use a lot of different source materials for my
classes that fit my pedagogy that are not
available in just one book. OER materials are a
lifesaver.

42. Bertrade Ngo-Ngijol Banoum, PhD
Assistant Professor
Women’s Studies Department
OER Course: Introduction to Women’s Studies