Jennifer Jordan

This morning, SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) published this article describing the six recipients of the Open Textbook Pilot grant, one of which is the University of New Mexico, where I work. I was excited to be interviewed as I have been geeking out on the SPARC site since I started my OER journey back in 2015.

Then later today, I was talking with a student who interviewed me for an exposé she was writing on accessibility and college textbooks. Her instructor referred the student to me since I am the OER Librarian on campus. The student asked me about my own undergraduate years trying to buy textbooks. It’s interesting how rightly people assume that I am in the Open Ed space partly as a result of the issues I faced trying to obtain an education as an undergraduate. I told her I did not have help with college, and I used loans to buy books, and I even used loans to pay for my visits to the Student Health Center since I didn’t have insurance.

That version of me feels so long ago. But I do remember wondering at the time if college would pan out for me, if I would be able to find a job after I graduated, if I would be able to pay back my loans. I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, and I just trusted the process of becoming educated even though I felt like a newb.

That version of me existed even before Creative Commons licenses became a reality when Lawrence Lessig crafted them back in 2002. I am such an OER nerd now.

As I was talking to this student for her English composition paper, I felt like I was staring at myself in a Zoom room, a mirror image of myself 26 years ago (the life span of a late millennial!), bright-eyed and looking for my purpose.

She asked me about an OER project that I worked on with the English department at UNM, and I told her how positive the experience was. Working in the open education space means that you get to work with really awesome people who center the well-being and outcomes of their students in their pedagogy.

Now, after these two interviews, one by SPARC and the other by a student, I feel so, so, lucky to be where I am, shaped indelibly by the arc of a movement to open up knowledge. It’s kinda romantic. I love OER.