For the fourth year, Penn State Lehigh Valley (PSU-LV) hosted the Open and Affordable Showcase, a one-day conference focused on idea sharing, best practices and collaboration around open education. The event, held on May 13 at the PSU-LV campus in Center Valley, welcomed faculty from six Penn State Commonwealth Campuses - Abington, Berks, Lehigh Valley, Mont Alto, Schuylkill and University Park - and a librarian from neighboring Lehigh University. The showcase was co-sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Campus Library and the PSU-LV Academic Affairs office.
Open education is a means of achieving teaching and learning goals in an equitable, inclusive classroom environment. Many faculty have embraced these methods and see them as a way to make students' Penn State experience more affordable and engaging. The Open and Affordable Showcase was launched in 2022 to help faculty and administrators connect, collaborate and grow around open education. Faculty share best practices and exchange ideas on creative ways to deliver instruction using open educational resources (OER) and practices like open pedagogy.
As more faculty embrace the idea of incorporating open education in their own classrooms, there has been greater interest in events like the Open and Affordable Showcase.
"Participants were eager to connect and highly engaged. I'm struck once again by the supportive and collegial environment here," said Jen Jarson, head librarian at Lehigh Valley Campus Library and interim head librarian at Ciletti Memorial Library at Penn State Schuylkill. "It reinforced how much enthusiasm there was for connecting after a turbulent semester."
The event included opening remarks from Tina Q. Richardson, PSU-LV chancellor, and a full day of sessions. Topics and presenters included:
- Open Champion Award Presentations. "Can AI Help Formulate Research Questions?", presented by Andjela Kaur, assistant teaching professor, biobehavioral health, PSU-LV; "Syllabus Review Assessment Using a Contract Review Framework," presented by Tracey Carbonetto, associate teaching professor, engineering, PSU-LV.
- Open Community Presentations. "The Mechanics Map: 10 Years In," presented by Jacob Moore, associate professor, engineering and Honors Program faculty, Penn State Mont Alto; "Using OER to Teach Sustainable Business Economics beyond 2030," presented by Subhadra Ganguli, associate professor, business, PSU-LV; "The Animations for Physics and Astronomy Project: a 25+ Year Adventure in Creating and Sharing," presented by Michael Gallis, associate professor, physics, Penn State Schuylkill; "Thinking Outside the Classroom," presented by Somjit Barat, associate professor, baccalaureate business program and project and supply chain management, Penn State Mont Alto; "Sylla: A Tool to Recognize OER Resources," presented by Larry Musolino, associate teaching professor, mathematics, PSU-LV.
- "Transforming Calculus Learning for Greater Student Success," presented by Maryam Kiani, associate teaching professor, mathematics, PSU-LV.
- Group discussions over lunch. Topics included "Open Education and AI," led by Michelle Kaschak, associate teaching professor, English, PSU-LV; "Birds of a Feather: Planning and Finding Open Collaboration," led by Elizabeth Nelson, reference and instruction librarian, PSU-LV; "Open Data and the Open Ecosystem," led by Lisa Rand, reference and instruction librarian, PSU-LV.
- Panel Discussion. "Firsthand Experiences With Open Pedagogy: Discussing the Process and Impact," moderated by Nelson, with panelists Meghan Gillen, associate professor, psychology, Penn State Abington; Benjamin Hammel, instructional technology specialist, PSU-LV; and Kaine Seif, open educational practices assistant, Penn State Abington.
In one of the most anticipated events of the showcase, Carbonetto received the Open Champion Award. This award helps celebrate open education-related work on the PSU-LV campus with respect to three domains: impact of open practices on students; deep application of open practices and expanding the reach of open work. Winners were selected through a crowdsourced voting process based on work presented at the showcase.
Carbonetto's talk, "Syllabus Review Assessment Using a Contract Review Framework," discussed how she designed her course syllabus to read like a contract.
"Early career engineers are expected to perform technical contract reviews on, for example, requests for quotes, service agreements, and purchase orders while adding their technical expertise and perspective," Carbonetto said in her presentation abstract. "However, a recent study found that recent graduates and (early career) engineers felt unprepared in this area. Because a course syllabus represents a contract between an instructor and students, and the instructional resources for providing foundational principles on contract review are open and accessible to both faculty and students, this presents an opportunity to build this learning into students' classroom experiences."
Carbonetto discussed how she used OER to first, design a syllabus that reads like a contract; second, guide students in reviewing the syllabus as a (technical) contract; and third, provide beneficial exposure to resources on contract review that students could utilize in their professional roles.
The day concluded with closing remarks from Aníbal Torres Bernal, PSU-LV chief academic officer. He said initiatives like open education and events like the Open and Affordable Showcase are how Penn State fulfills its mission as a land-grant university, "not by simply opening the gates of the academy, but by stepping beyond them - meeting people where they are, welcoming their voices into the work, and walking forward together."
The purpose of open education is to make learning and the tools used to accomplish it accessible to all students, regardless of economic status or academic standing.
"Open textbooks matter. Cost savings matter. But if that's all we see, we've missed the deeper promise of this work. Open collaboration isn't simply about reducing expenses - it's about expanding horizons," he said. "It's about creating new spaces where knowledge isn't guarded but grows - alive, evolving, relevant - because it is shaped by many voices, not just a privileged few. And isn't that the work that truly endures?"
