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OpenOKState Fellows: Meet the Fellows

OpenOKState Fellows

Adam Schovanec

Adam Schovanec is a doctoral student in his second year of OSU's Learning Design, and Technology program. He has over a decade's worth of experience teaching in various public school settings and is currently pursuing research tied to expanding DEI access within open educaiton resources. Schovanec's study, "Exploring the Limited Presence of Historically marginalized Groups in OER used at a Midwestern university" was selected for presentation at the 2023 Association for Educational Communications and Technology International Convention. His work contributes to the existing body of research and best practices related to meaningful research, teaching and learning, with the additional element of rexploring the contexts in which marginalized populations are discussed. Schovanec's future research plans include conducting interviews with community members to provide a human component to the growing body of research.

adam.schovanec@okstate.edu

 

Hebatalla Nazmy, Ph.D.

Dr. Nazmy has collaborated with the Libraries and OpenOKState to create a contextualized resource for use by faculty and students exploring interior design and interior architecture students who are starting to learn about Computer-Aided Design. Dr. Nazmy’s work will be available for use by other institutions as she has licensed and distributed the resource for use by others in her discipline.

The detailed tutorials created by Dr. Nazmy and included in the resource increase access for marginalized students who cannot afford to purchase a textbook. It also facilitates personalized pathways as students can practice the skills at different paces. Although Computer-Aided Design is adopted in design schools across the world, Computer-Aided Design open educational resources are very rare. Creation of this resource will contribute to normalizing open educational resources in the design field.

Dr. Nazmy’s project contributes to the accessibility of interior design and interior architecture learning materials. This contribution will have a positive impact on inclusion and diversity in design education. Dr. Nazmy plans to share both the resource and her experiences creating it to the Interior Design Educators Council, International Interior Design Association, and American Society of Interior Designers for use by interior design students, educators, and professionals all over the world. She will be personally promoting the book with colleagues in institutions across the US and in South Korea and Egypt.

Lisa Wright

Dr. Lisa E. Wright earned her Ph.D. in Creative Writing Nonfiction. While at OSU she served as an Assistant Director for OSU’s Writing Center and First-Year-Composition program. As an OpenOKState Fellow, she contributed a co-authored chapter “Creative Writers Teach Techniques for Analyzing Any Text” in Who Teaches Writing?, an open access resource designed for first-year-writing courses.

 

 

Alex Bishop

Dr. Alex Bishop is developing teaching, learning and research materials for Gerontologic Science that will include traditional written components as well as multimedia resources such as podcasts and interactive elements. He plans to interview Subject Matter Experts from across the country to discuss issues such as successful aging, human life expectancy, longevity, and other topics related to the field of Gerontology. Currently no such work like this exists within the Gerontology academic community, and his groundbreaking work will fill a unique need as well as serve as an example for others in his field to follow.

experts.okstate.edu/alex.bishop

alex.bishop@okstate.edu

 

Ashley Burkett

Ashley Burkett

Dr. Burkett’s course redesign incorporated a creative approach through which she used the study of dinosaur anatomy, physiology and behavior to introduce students to the scientific process and associated methods of investigation. In addition to conceptualization and creation of the course design, Dr. Burkett created instructional materials and activities which provided an exceptional learning experience for her students. The resources were created specifically to meet the localized needs of her Oklahoma State University students and were free for those in her course to access and use. Her course design has addressed a gap in her discipline, leveraging a unique pedagogical approach to help students discover how to come to their own conclusions based on evidence. In addition to these benefits to her students and department, Dr. Burkett shares her experience and expertise in creating OER through her service on the OSU OER Working Group.

burkett.okstate.edu

ashley.burkett@okstate.edu

 

Larisa Callaway-Cole

While at OSU, Dr. Callaway-Cole was involved in the OER Working Group and collaborated with others to learn the ropes of OER as an OpenOKState Fellow. Larisa has contributed to the development of a zero-cost degree program at another institution. She continues to develop zero-cost materials in her courses at and focuses on pedagogical tools to support student engagement and decolonizing practices in the curation of course materials.

 

 

Sarah Foss

Dr. Sarah Foss is exploring curation and creation of open and non-commercial resources to support student experiences in the course Plantation to Plate.

cas.okstate.edu/department_of_history/faculty_bios/foss.html

safoss@okstate.edu

 

Brian Hosmer

Dr. Brian Hosmer is a Professor at Oklahoma State University currently serving as Head of the Department of History. Dr. Hosmer's scholarship includes exploring curation and creation of open and non-commercial materials for a course on Oklahoma History which includes non-dominant narratives.

cas.okstate.edu/department_of_history/faculty_bios/hosmer.html

brian.hosmer@okstate.edu

 

Anand Patel

Dr. Anand Patel developed research, teaching and learning materials for Intro to Algebraic Geometry. The resource is a "deconstructed" mathematics textbook made using the Obsidian knowledge base system. Dr. Patel stated, "Ask any graduate student what they think of algebraic geometry, and the response will be a cocktail of fear, respect, and insecurity. I want to show people that the subject is grounded in down-to-earth things." 

experts.okstate.edu/anand.patel

anand.patel@okstate.edu

Kathryn Weinland

Dr. Kathryn Weinland

Dr. Kathryn Weinland is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. Her area of scholarship is educational leadership and policy studies. Dr. Weinland collaborated with others in the speech department to curate existing resources to create customized research, teaching and learning materials materials now being used department-wide in teaching Introduction to Speech Communications and Intercultural Communications classes.

experts.okstate.edu/kathryn.weinland

kathryn.weinland@okstate.edu

Irissa Baxter

Irissa's involvement with OER is primarily focused in how we can ensure inclusion of accurate information both about the LGBTQ+ community specifically and justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) more broadly. I’m interested in how we can ensure students have easily accessible information that provides an accurate picture of the history of systemic oppression and its impacts on our world.

 

OpenOKState Student Fellows

 

Aletha Baker

aletbai@ostatemail.okstate.edu

OpenOKState Undergraduate Research Scholar

 

Christina Baxter

christina.baxter@okstate.edu

 

Beth Beker

Major: Management Information Systems
Minor: Computer Science and Japanese
OK-LSAMP Scholar
2019-2020 Orientation Team Leader

beth.beker@okstate.edu

"I wish I had known about this [OpenOKState/courses using non commercial resources] sooner in my college career to save money, and be able to get all the resources I needed in a nice manner. I hope this takes off!"

 

Landon Blevins

Landon BlevinsI was born near Dallas, Texas. I am a sophomore at OSU and I am majoring in Computer Science. Following my graduation, I plan to pursue a career in either software development or cybersecurity.

landon.blevins@okstate.edu

 

Kallie Chapman

Kallie ChapmanMy major is psychology and I am an active member of the Honors College. I am the Social Media Chair of the Native American Student Association for the 2022-23 school year. I am a Library Ambassador as well as a Student Assistant in the Dean's Office. 

kallie.chapman@okstate.edu

 

Jackson Finney

Jackson FinneyMy name is Jackson Finney and I am a senior sports management student from Brock, Texas. I love all kinds of sports and competition as well as hunting, fishing, and spending time with friends and family.

jackson.finney@okstate.edu

 

Sophie Foster

Sophie FosterI am an aviation major in my second year originally from near Dallas. I love reading and drawing, and my time at OSU has been some of the best years of my life. I look forward to continuing working and studying at OSU in the coming years.

 

Trinity July

My major is Sociology with a concentration in Environment and Society. I am a part of the Feminist Collective. Whether or not textbooks are required definitely impacts my attitude going into certain classes. One of my favorite classes did not require a textbook, but rather the professor posted articles as assigned readings. Since these readings were hand-chosen by the instructor, they supplemented the course very well and the instructor was passionate when teaching them. Even though it was actually more reading than most classes I’ve had with textbooks, I found that I was engaging with these materials a lot more and was excited to read them each week.

As the Community Outreach Coordinator for OpenOKState, I have had so many great opportunities to connect with students and hear their stories about the real costs of textbooks. I have organized tabling events to raise awareness among the student body and I have connected with other organizations on campus. I feel incredibly fulfilled by the work we do and hope to continually expand our outreach!

trinity.july@okstate.edu

 

Abby Kistner

Abby is an Edmon Low Library Ambassador, and in her position helps share insight into how significant the problem of textbook costs can be in the lives of OSU students.

akistne@ostatemail.okstate.edu

 

 

Patience Lightfoot

Patience is also part of our OpenOKState student outreach leadership team.

Patience.Lightfoot@okstate.edu

 

Rachel McKisick

Class of 2022
Marketing and Hospitality Major
President | Business Student Council

"I love the idea of implementing OER at OSU further. I had a class that used an OER, and it was great!'"

rachel.mckisick@okstate.edu

 

Lindsay Myers

I am a Ph.D. student in the Social Foundations of Education program, and a GTA for Social Foundations, teaching both online and in person courses. I joined OpenOKState to learn how to better advocate for students and educational access. This experience has taught me about the OER process, including all of the stakeholders involved in these types of decisions. OpenOKState has equipped me to imagine the various ways I might use OER in my future teaching and scholarship to provide a more equitable learning experience for all students.

lindsay.myers@okstate.edu

 

Tyler Nettles

My name is Tyler Nettles, I'm a Zoology Pre-Vet major here at OSU, originally from Florida. As someone from a financially not-so-well-off family, the mission of the OpenOKState Fellows is especially important to me, as I believe affordable education to be something that every person should have access to.

joseph.nettles@okstate.edu

 

Railey Prentice

I am currently a freshman in the college of engineering and I am working to graduate as an electrical and computer engineer with a minor in studio art.

railey.prentice@okstate.edu

 

Ishani Ray

Ishani RayI am majoring in Chemistry with minors in Psychology and Neuroscience. I currently work as a writing tutor at the Writing Center, a STEM intern for CEAT and as a library ambassador. I joined OpenOKState because as someone that can relate to the struggles of affording textbook costs, I want to be an advocate for OER, accessible education, academic freedom and innovative pedagogy.

"I am so appreciative of this initiative, as a student who struggles with textbook costs, a lot of those stories and arguments hit home so thank you so much!!"

 

AnnaBeth Sampson

My name is AnnaBeth Sampson, I am a junior at Oklahoma State University studying Nutritional Sciences. I have loved my time at OSU and plan to continue my education and pursue a career in prosthetics.

I personally have been blessed to not have to worry about college tuition due to scholarships and family members. I only have to worry about textbooks and I still struggle even with this. I think that having access to textbooks and course material is critical for students who are paying for their education. Having access to course material can completely change the way a course is perceived and how successful to time in the course is, for both the student and professor. Students should not be punished for not being able to purchase textbooks, there is enough stress in college life already.

annabeth.sampson@okstate.edu

 

Kennedy Skaggs

Kennedy Skaggs

My name is Kennedy Skaggs and I am a Strategic Communications major. My hometown is Tuttle, Oklahoma. I love to pass the time by making jewelry, reading and writing!

kennedy.skaggs@okstate.edu

 

Sarah Skillings

Sarah is a Pre-Med student

sarah.skillings@okstate.edu

 

Libby Whitlow

"I think what you're doing will be really great for future OSU students"

bawhitl@ostatemail.okstate.edu