Making learning materials freely accessible and available to the Waterloo community is part of the Library's mission. Staebler Insurance has bolstered these efforts by donating $100,000 to the Library to support the update of open educational resources (OER) at Waterloo. The following projects have been supported by this funding:
2023-2024
- Building an accurate and learner-centered library of scientific artwork in the area of human physiology (submitted by Dr. Vivian Dayeh, Continuing Lecturer, Department of Biology). A pivotal component of learning and teaching in the medical sciences is the use of accurate and consistent images to support instruction. This project will create a complete library of image assets to be used in the instruction of human physiology that will be openly available to all learners.
- Calculus 1 for the sciences (Math 127/128) (submitted by Dan Wolczuk, Continuing Lecturer, Department of Mathematics). After substantial updates to the approach to teaching introductory calculus to science students, there is an identified need for resources that match this new direction. This project will create accessible course notes that can benefit science students across Canada and beyond.
- Empowering English as an Additional Language (EAL) students: designing scientific diagrams that cross language barriers (submitted by Dr. Sarah Ruffell, Lecturer, Department of Biology). This project will create and design scientific images that don't require English labelling or detailed explanations to support the learning of students with English as an Additional Language.
- An introduction to transportation engineering principles and application (submitted by Dr. Pezhouhan Tavassoti-Kheiry, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering). This project will create sustainable and accessible course notes to support the learning of students and can be easily updated and tailored to the Canadian context of transportation engineering.
2022-2023*
- Welcome to Canadian Politics: Collaborative editing for a student-generated OER (submitted by Alana Cattapan, assistant professor, Department of Political Science) will expand and move the conversation on Canadian politics beyond the topics typically addressed in Canadian politics classrooms.
- Anything but a tariff: Visualizing alternative policies for the small open economy (submitted by Barb Bloemhof, lecturer, Department of Economics) will provide students with an interactive visual tool to more fully understand how countries gain (or not) from trade.
- Life stories of older adults: Digital storybook for gerontology students (submitted by Elena Neiterman, continuing lecturer, School of Public Health Sciences) will provide a unique learning experience to students by engaging them in the collection of stories from a diverse range of older Canadians as well as the development of the digital storybook.
*The pilot year (2022-2023) was funded by donors to the University of Waterloo Library Fund.
