Bolstering engagement, reducing expenses

Michele Louro, PhD, a professor of history, remembers the first time she was inspired to include digital learning experiences in her lesson plans. “My students had completed one of my spring courses, and they left some comments on Rate My Professor,” she recalls. “They said they loved the class, but they hated the big, expensive textbook.”

Now, as the Open Educational Resources (OER) Faculty Fellow, Dr. Louro is applying new methods to better engage students through digital learning—driving down the cost of class supplies in the process. “OER gives students access to a public domain of primary sources, including films, books and videotaped lectures,” she says.

Dr. Louro often uses a social learning annotation platform called Perusall as part of the OER initiative. The application provides students with texts they access through their Canvas portal (Salem State’s learning management system); while learners read the material, they can highlight sentences, make comments and discuss the reading with each other in real time. Says Dr. Louro, “Professors can easily curate a series of excellent primary and secondary sources, and students get to interact with this material in a deeper, more collaborative way.”