The first run of our OA101 course has been completed this month with rave reviews from participants and tutors.
We had 120+ keen university library and professional staff from 18 member institutions sign up for the introductory course which ran for four weeks over May/June.
Participants, who ranged in experience from executive staff to new library assistants, worked their way through four online modules with support from experienced Open Access practitioners who took on the role of tutors via a Slack channel. This discussion forum saw lively chatter and provided a place for debate and banter about the virtues of OA models, publishing norms and issues like how to approach advocacy.
A survey of participants who completed the course found they were all more confident explaining basic open access terminology and concepts after doing the modules, as well more confident discussing open repositories. They were also more familiar with the OA policies at their own institution, and confident discussing the role of Creative Commons licenses, as well as communicating and advocating for OA.
Student feedback:
“It was a great course, one of the most engaging online module based courses I’ve done. Could really see the thoughtful planning behind the mixture of information, discussion, and activities, and I appreciated the way the learning built and developed each week. I feel I now have a foundation to confidently explore these issues further for the benefit of our researchers and students.”
“I feel that my previous understanding of OA was very fuzzy. I still feel like I have a great deal to learn, but I’m grateful for the opportunities this course has provided. I’d love to learn more about OER, especially.”
“Thank you OA101 team, this has been a great course and has really solidified my very fuzzy OA understanding!”
We will be reassessing the time allocations for completing each module after participants found some activities took longer than expected.
Our next course will be run in a couple of months time, giving our next round of students everything they need to know ahead of International Open Access Week 2022, in October.
If you would like to know more about becoming a member of Open Access Australasia please contact us.