The open education literature details how OERs positively impact college student success. This literature also documents the value of student voice and participation in open pedagogy projects. However, less attention is paid to how students can benefit as ‘Third Space’ professionals outside of their disciplinary silo as they learn about OERs, collaborate on open projects, and develop career skills (Whitchurch, 2012). This case study will demonstrate how a Students as Partners (SaP) framework can be used to craft sustainable learning environments that can prepare students for complex workplace demands. Meaningful faculty-student partnerships can help student workers develop confidence and transferable skills. Session attendees will take away lessons learned from both the faculty and student perspectives about partnering in open education work in the library. Recommendations on how to design and plan a more holistic OER and open education working environment will also be provided.
Attendees of this session will be able to:- Explore the concepts of Students as Partners (SaP) and Third Space collaboration to enhance working with with students on open education projects.
- Consider how a Students as Partners (SaP) approach to student collaboration in OER work can be used by students and faculty in ways that promote informal engaged learning and development of transferable skills beyond the open education experience.
- Examine new strategies to help student workers learn about open education and OERs by ‘doing’ OER design and development, becoming a co-author, and mentoring other student workers.
- Envision how a Students as Partners model could be used in their OER work context to create a more sustainable and collaborative third space.
