OpenOKState Fellows: OER Champions

The OpenOKState OER Champion Award honors OSU faculty and instructors for their innovative use of OER and library resources as an alternative to traditional proprietary textbooks and course materials.

Faculty, instructors and staff eligible for nomination have supported some or all of the practices below in their teaching, learning, and research:

• Use existing OER and/or library resources in their classes
• Create and share teaching materials that are ancillary to existing open textbooks, for example, test banks of questions, presentations, multimedia content, simulations, instructor and student manuals, study aids, or additional learning activities
• Revise and share syllabi, assignments, and other course-related resources necessary for the transition to traditional proprietary textbooks and course materials
• Modify/Create, share and use OER in their classes

Administrators, colleagues, and students are encouraged to nominate faculty and instructors. Self-nominations are also accepted. The nomination process for the 2025-2026 OpenOKState OER Champions will open January 2026.

Congratulations to Tori Courouleau, Eric Howerton, Jamie Lake, and Nicole Parker on having been selected by OSU students, faculty, staff and administrators to receive the 2024-2025 OSU Libraries' OpenOKState OER Champions Award.

The OpenOKState OER Champions Awards provide recognition to faculty, instructors, and staff who have made outstanding contributions to advance open practices and OER at OSU. These awards honor those whose open course materials and professional and research practices have had an impact on the student experience and influenced peers to share more openly. Their leadership, scholarship and expertise have helped increase student access and manage educational costs, goals highlighted in Blueprint 2030: Innovating and Elevating Oklahoma Higher Education for Tomorrow's Workforce and We Are Land-Grant: Uncommon Preeminence for the Common Good.

Tori Courouleau, Clinical Associate Professor | Communication Sciences and Disorders

Dr. Courouleau was honored for her use of open educational resources and library materials in undergraduate education, particularly in the fields of audiology and speech-language pathology. The faculty member who nominated Dr. Courouleau highlighted, in particular, the fact that she has made “high-quality educational materials more accessible and affordable for students, reducing financial barriers while enhancing learning opportunities.”

Eric Howerton, Teaching Associate Professor | English Department

Dr. Howerton played a key role in shaping the content and refining the material used in undergraduate Technical and Professional writing courses at OSU.  The undergraduate student who nominated Dr. Howerton shared that, because the resources are free and openly available, students are able to continue to reference the textbook even after completing the course. They also noted that the students have found the sections on job application materials valuable for students tailoring their resume and cover letters to improve their chances of securing job interviews.

Jamie Lake, Teaching Assistant Professor | Teaching, Learning and Educational Sciences

Dr. Lake was honored for her creation and open licensing of a digital notebook for use in the course Introduction to ELS for pre-service teachers. She created the digital notebook in response to feedback from students who told her that they wished they had all of the information in one place to take with them as they entered their teaching careers. The digital notebook replaced a $100 textbook previously required for students taking the course, directly impacting the OSU experience for at least 150 students a year.

Nicole Parker, Teaching Assistant Professor | Plant Biology, Ecology and Evolution

Dr. Parker was nominated by her department head, who wanted to honor her role in implementing the development and use of open educational resources in two of the department’s largest enrollment courses: freshman plant biology and upper-level general genetics. The materials Dr. Parker curated and created for these courses reflect her commitment to the development of active learning, hands-on activities and novel ways of conveying complex concepts such as cell division.

2024-2025 OpenOKState OER Champions

Dr.Tori Courouleau, Dr. Eric Howerton, Dr. Jamie Lake, and Dr. Nicole Parker

2023-2024 OpenOKState OER Champions

Chris Francisco, Aimee Parkison, Richard Sears, and Heather Yates

2022-2023 OpenOKState OER Champions

Aubry Huff, Dr. Sarah Hollingsworth, and Gala Lackey.

2021-2022 OpenOKState OER Champions

Dr. Ashley Burkett, Dr. Katie Constantin, Dr. Joshua Daniel and Dr. Jessica Turcat

Page updated 4.28.25, Kathy Essmiller