USM Center for Academic Innovation - News

USM Announces Formation of Digital Accessibility Working Group

admin-jennifer — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 21:00:21 +0000

�鶹��ý Announces Formation of Digital Accessibility Working Group

The �鶹��ý (USM) is proud to announce the formation of the Digital Accessibility (DA) Working Group, spearheaded by the Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. This initiative brings together representatives from all 12 USM campuses, community college representatives, independent public university representatives, private college representatives, and MarylandOnline to address the critical need for accessible digital course materials across the State of Maryland.

The DA Working Group is charged with fostering cross-institutional collaboration to support faculty and staff in meeting the Department of Justice’s Title II ruling on digital accessibility. This ruling requires that all public higher education institutions make web content and mobile apps accessible and meet WCAG 2.1 guidelines for web accessibility. Web content includes content inside an institution’s learning management system and password-protected content. Public higher education institutions are required to meet these accessibility standards by April 2026.

According to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, 21 percent of college students report having a disability, spanning visual, hearing, cognitive, and manual-dexterity domains. The DOJ Title II ruling is important, as it is difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to access information and content when website and mobile apps are not accessible. While USM institutions have processes in place for accommodating students, faculty, and staff with disabilities, this new ruling pushes institutions to build accessibility into the digital infrastructure from the beginning, so that everyone can access and engage with materials.

The DA Working Group will develop shared resources, offer professional development opportunities, explore and evaluate faculty and staff support structures, and create best practices documents for campus-wide use.

The DA Working Group urges all Maryland faculty and staff to actively participate in this initiative by attending training sessions, utilizing shared resources, and collaborating with colleagues to ensure their web content and mobile apps meet digital accessibility standards. This work is crucial in creating an inclusive educational environment that supports all students.

For more information, please contact: cai@usmd.edu

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

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The DA Working Group is charged with fostering cross-institutional collaboration to support faculty and staff in meeting the Department of Justice’s Title II ruling on digital accessibility.

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Teach Access Announces Academic Hub at Kirwan Center

admin-joel — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 20:14:10 +0000

Teach Access, a nonprofit dedicated to making digital accessibility fundamental to higher education curricula, proudly announces its newest academic hub, the �鶹��ý’s (USM) William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. This collaboration aims to advance accessibility education, research, and practice by integrating accessibility-focused initiatives into faculty development, curriculum design, and institutional strategy across USM.

The Kirwan Center + Teach Access partnership will focus on several key initiatives, including:

Establishing a Kirwan Center + Teach Access Faculty Fellowship to support faculty embedding accessibility into their pedagogy and research.
Conducting joint research on effective strategies for integrating accessibility into academic disciplines.
Collaborating on credentialing initiatives to ensure students gain recognized expertise in accessibility.
Developing Open Educational Resources (OER) and contributing to OER Commons to make accessibility-related materials more widely available.

Through these efforts, Teach Access will provide the �鶹��ý with free resources to enhance accessibility instruction across various courses and disciplines. The collaboration will amplify best practices in pedagogy, research, and institutional implementation of accessibility, ultimately preparing students to create more inclusive digital environments. In turn, the Kirwan Center will coordinate accessibility-focused initiatives across the system and leverage its existing statewide partnerships for even greater impact.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Kirwan Center and the �鶹��ý to further our mission of integrating accessibility into education,” said Rolando Méndez, Teach Access Director of Education. “This initiative will empower faculty and students with the tools they need to champion accessibility in their fields.”

“Designing with accessibility in mind - whether software applications, lesson plans, or museum exhibitions - is a vital 21st century skill,” said Nancy O’Neill, Executive Director of the USM Kirwan Center. “We are proud to be the first state system-level academic hub for Teach Access in the country, and together we have the potential to develop accessibility focused initiatives at an unprecedented scale.”

This partnership marks a significant step toward embedding accessibility in higher education and fostering a new generation of professionals dedicated to inclusive design and innovation.

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

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Collaboration to Advance Accessibility in Higher Education Through Research, Faculty Fellowships, and Innovative Pedagogy

News Link:

/newsroom/news/2472

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Spring 2025 SoTL Showcase Call for Proposals

admin-jennifer — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:58:20 +0000

The Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation invites faculty across the �鶹��ý (USM) to participate in a spring 2025 showcase celebrating the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This system-wide event will provide a platform to share research findings and innovative teaching practices. This event is an extension of the Kirwan Center’s Elkins Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Fellows Program that has been ongoing since 2023.

We invite faculty, individually or with colleagues, to learn more about SoTL research and showcase your scholarship of teaching and learning research at this system-wide event. We encourage submissions that explore a wide range of SoTL topics, including but not limited to:

Experiential Learning: Studies examining the impact of lab courses, performing and fine arts, project-based learning, community-based learning, high-impact practices, and blended learning modalities on student learning outcomes.
Research on Teaching and Learning: Surveys, interviews, and case studies investigating teaching practices, student engagement, and the impact of pedagogical approaches on student success.
Faculty Development: Research exploring the effectiveness of professional development programs in enhancing teaching and learning.
Assessment of Higher Education Programs: Case studies or research that assesses higher education programs that are new or recently modified.

See the Call for Proposals for full submission details.

Accepted proposals will be scheduled as part of the Concurrent Panel sessions, held virtually on Friday, May 23, 2025. The panel sessions are well suited for completed or in-progress projects and should highlight key aspects of your project. Participants are limited to 15 minutes each, with a brief Q&A period at the end of the session. Panels will consist of three to four presentations on a common theme, as determined by the conference planning committee. Please anonymize the proposal text by removing references to proposal authors or institutions to allow for anonymous review.

The deadline for submissions has been extended. Submit your proposal by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 28, 2025 for full consideration.

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Leading Academic Change

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News

Call for Proposals for the 2025 OER Grant Program

admin-jennifer — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:48:39 +0000

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Initiative is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals for the 2025 OER Grant Program.

For 2025, M.O.S.T. is seeking proposals for two grant programs. Learn more below.

Faculty OER Grant Program

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is seeking proposals for its Faculty OER Grant Program, which supports faculty efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students at Maryland’s postsecondary institutions through the incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice.

Available grants in 2025:

Adopt/Adapt OER ($1,000 grant + Participation in the Lumen Circles Community of Practice)
Create/Revise and Publish OER ($2,000 grant + Participation in the Rebus Textbook Success Program)

Institutional OER Grant Program
The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is seeking proposals for the Institutional OER Grant Program, which supports strategic institutional efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students at Maryland’s postsecondary institutions through more systemic incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice.

For 2025, selected institutions will be awarded $20,000 grants to support significant advances in OER adoption, scaling, and sustainability in support of student success. In addition, grantees will receive strategic planning and implementation support for their projects from M.O.S.T. in the form of consultations and regular monthly check-ins.

All proposals must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, April 18, 2025

Please feel free to share this information with interested faculty and staff. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at most@usmd.edu

Thank you for your support in increasing access, affordability, and achievement for all Maryland higher education students through open educational resources (OER).

Areas of Focus:

Open Educational Resources

Cross Post:

News

Call for Applications for the 2025 Elkins Fellowships for SoTL

admin-jennifer — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:41:18 +0000

The Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation is pleased to announce this call for applications for Elkins Fellowships for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Up to 10 Elkins SoTL Fellowships of $1,000 each will be awarded for 2025-2026 (May 1, 2025-June 30, 2026).

Proposals are due to Dr. Jennifer Potter (jpotter@usmd.edu) by 11:59 pm on Friday, March 28, 2025, for work to take place over the subsequent academic year.

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Digital Accessibility

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News

Announcing 2024 OER Grants

admin-annika — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 15:31:04 +0000

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is pleased to announce the awardees of the 2024 OER Grant Programs: 2024 Faculty OER Mini-Grants and 2024 Institutional OER Grants.

The M.O.S.T. Faculty OER Mini-Grant Program is designed to strategically support faculty efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students at Maryland’s 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions through the incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice. The 2024 M.O.S.T. faculty mini-grants will provide recipients with unique opportunities to engage in communities of practice related to teaching with OER and the creation of OER in high-need areas. This year, 8 faculty grantees were selected from five 2- and 4-year Maryland public higher education institutions, with a potential impact on over 1,600 students in AY 2024-2025, and potential savings of over $37,500.

M.O.S.T. also awarded an Institutional OER Grant to Wor-Wic Community College to support strategic institutional efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students through more systemic incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice. This grant will support significant advances in OER adoption, scaling, and sustainability in support of student success institution-wide.

In addition to the fiscal awards, grantees will be provided with extensive professional development, technical support, and coaching to ensure that their projects successfully incorporate learning-centered pedagogies and continuous quality improvement.

Since launching in 2014, M.O.S.T. has supported 210 courses at 29 institutions across Maryland switched to OER, saving students $137 per course on average or approximately $22.9 million cumulatively, and serving nearly 160,000 students across Maryland.

Learn more about our past grantees.

2024 Institutional OER Grant Recipient

Wor-Wic Community College

2023 Faculty OER Mini-Grant Recipients

Haitham Alkhateeb	University of Baltimore	MATH 111: College Algebra	Adopt/Adapt
Shauna Chapple	Stevenson University	NURS 434: Professional Seminar III	Adopt/Adapt
Derya Kulavuz-Onal	Salisbury University	ENGL 240: Introduction to the Study of Language	Adopt/Adapt
Negin Fouladi	University of Maryland, College Park	HLSA 740: Healthcare Strategic Planning and Marketing	Create/Revise/Publish
Mary Méndez Bonnell	Prince George's Community College	TED 2090: Communication for Educators	Create/Revise/Publish
Christine Schull	University of Maryland, College Park	FMSC 460: Violence in Families	Create/Revise/Publish
Amber Surmiller	University of Maryland Global Campus	United States History: 1865 to the Present	Create/Revise/Publish
Kolawole Ogunlana	Prince George's Community College	Programming Logic and Design	OLI STEM Courseware Grant

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Open Educational Resources

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Dr. Nancy O'Neill Named Executive Director

admin-annika — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:54:29 +0000

The Kirwan Center is pleased to announce that, following a nationwide search, Dr. Nancy O’Neill has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. Dr. O'Neill joined the Kirwan Center in February 2016 and has served as the Acting Director since May 2022, shaping the Kirwan Center’s strategic direction and leading its work. At the Kirwan Center, she leads Systemwide projects related to student success as well as capacity-building initiatives with and for faculty development leaders across the System. She also supports Kirwan Center initiatives that directly engage faculty, including efforts to scale and sustain the use of open educational resources and to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).

Prior to being at USM, she served as the Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, and Technology at the University of Baltimore from 2012 to 2016. While at UBalt, her work focused on supporting faculty innovation in teaching as well as curriculum development and alignment, student learning assessment, and institutional effectiveness. Before moving to Baltimore in 2012, Nancy spent a decade at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), contributing to national projects related to high-impact practices, undergraduate curriculum and quality, assessment, institutional renewal, and diversity and equity initiatives.

Nancy earned a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania where her dissertation examined faculty use of open educational resources (OER) in relation to the content and teaching affordances made possible by open licensing. Additionally, she has a master’s degree in American Studies, a master’s degree in College Student Personnel from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Social Criticism from the University of Buffalo.

Please join us in welcoming Nancy to this new role!

News Type:

USM News

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News

Call for Proposals for the 2024 OER Grant Program

admin-annika — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 23:47:09 +0000

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Initiative is pleased to announce a Request for Proposals for the 2024 OER Grant Program.

For 2024, M.O.S.T. is seeking proposals for two grant programs. Learn more below.

Faculty OER Grant Program

Adopt/Adapt OE ($1,000 grant + Participation in the Lumen Circles Community of Practice)
Create/Revise and Publish OER ($2,000 grant + Participation in the Rebus Textbook Success Program)
OLI STEM Courseware Grants $1,500 or 5,000 grant + Participation in the NSF-Funded Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative [OLI] STEM Courseware Project) NOTE: Available for 2-year colleges only

Institutional OER Grant Program
The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) initiative is seeking proposals for the Institutional OER Grant Program, which supports strategic institutional efforts to increase access, affordability, and achievement for students at Maryland’s postsecondary institutions through more systemic incorporation of open educational resources (OER) into teaching practice.

For 2024, selected institutions will be awarded $20,000 grants to support significant advances in OER adoption, scaling, and sustainability in support of student success. In addition, grantees will receive strategic planning and implementation support for their projects from M.O.S.T. in the form of consultations and regular monthly check-ins.

All proposals must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, March 8, 2024 (deadline extended!)

Areas of Focus:

Open Educational Resources

Cross Post:

News

�鶹��ý Receives Federal Grant to Examine the Role of Academic Libraries and Consortia in Increasing the Relevance of Open Educational Materials

admin-annika — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:50:35 +0000

The �鶹��ý (USM) has received a two-year planning grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency charged with advancing, supporting, and empowering America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.

The USM grant, which will be led by the USM William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation and �鶹��ý and Affiliated Institutions Library Consortium (USMAI), will articulate the role of academic libraries and library consortia in increasing the relevance of open educational resources (OER) through OER localization, defined as the practices and partnerships necessary to increase the relevance of OER for differing student populations, student learning needs, faculty interests, and institutional and community contexts.

The USM grant of $149,877 comes under the IMLS National Leadership Grants for Libraries program, which supports projects of national impact that address significant challenges and opportunities facing the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance theory and practice with new tools, research findings, models, services, practices, or alliances that will be widely used.

“Our goal is to develop a framework that can be used across academic library and consortial contexts to position these entities as leaders in and supporters of OER localization,” said Nancy O’Neill, Acting Director of the Kirwan Center and co-PI for the grant. “This work fits squarely within the NLG program mission, and we are delighted that we will have the opportunity to engage with library colleagues nationally and across Maryland in the process.”

Out of 118 NLG program proposals submitted this year, only 33 projects were funded, among them the USM planning grant.

In addition to advancing the field of OER from a narrow focus on cost savings toward a broader commitment to equity and student success, the USM project also intends to spur national dialogue about the roles that academic libraries and consortia can play in contributing to student success through the development and sustained support of relevant, constituency-oriented instructional materials and practices.

“Libraries and their consortia are playing very active roles in the proliferation and success of Open Educational Resources,” said Andrew K. Pace, Executive Director of the USMAI Library Consortium and co-PI for the grant. “We’re excited to help frame the importance of localizing these efforts and to clarify the important role for libraries and consortia within the larger open education and open scholarship ecosystem.”

This grant project is the latest initiative to come under the umbrella of the Maryland Open Source Textbook Initiative (M.O.S.T.)., which supports long-term, statewide scaling and sustainability of open educational resources (OER) to increase access, affordability, and achievement for Maryland higher education students across community colleges and private and public four-year institutions. The USM Kirwan Center leads M.O.S.T. in partnership with the Maryland Association of Community Colleges, the Maryland Independent College and University Association, MarylandOnline, and most recently, USMAI. Since 2014, M.O.S.T. has enabled faculty teaching 197 courses at 28 institutions across Maryland to switch to OER, resulting in more than $20.6 million in cumulative textbook cost savings for students.

Additional information about the USM William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation can be found here.
Additional information about �鶹��ý and Affiliated Institutions Library Consortium can be found here.
Additional information on the Maryland Open Source Textbook Initiative can be found here.

News Type:

USM News

Areas of Focus:

Open Educational Resources

News Link:

/newsroom/news/2344

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Inaugural Cohort of Faculty from Five USM Institutions Named SOTL Fellows

admin-annika — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 04:00:00 +0000

The William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation at the �鶹��ý (USM) welcomes Dr. Kelly Elkins of Towson University as a Senior Fellow, to lead system support of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). This will include working with an inaugural cohort of faculty selected as 2023-24 Elkins SoTL Fellows from across five USM institutions.

SoTL focuses on systematic investigation of student learning, instruction, and teaching innovations. Findings from SoTL research studies can help inform educators as they decide which instructional methods to use with students and as they design courses, helping to improve student performance and contributing to the knowledge base related to effective educational practices.

“I’m delighted to welcome Kelly Elkins as our first-ever Senior Fellow,” said Nancy O’Neill, Acting Director, USM Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. “And Kelly and I are both so inspired by this inaugural cohort of Elkins SoTL Fellows. Their work exemplifies evidence-based teaching by contributing to the evidence base of what works for student success.”

A forensic chemist, Dr. Elkins’ research includes advanced DNA sequencing methods and the detection and analysis of new psychoactive substances and counterfeit drugs. She has also published SoTL research on developing course-based undergraduate research (CURE) courses and methods for teaching professional ethics in forensic science. Additionally, she has served as a fellow with FACET (the Faculty Academic Center of Excellence at Towson), consulting with Towson University faculty around presenting and publishing on teaching practice.

Throughout the coming academic year, Dr. Elkins will be meeting with the Elkins SoTL Fellows (named for former University of Maryland President Wilson H. Elkins, no relation) as their research progresses, and the cohort will meet formally twice to share emerging insights from the studies.

“I’m delighted to take on this leadership role and work with Nancy and the team at USM,” Dr. Elkins said. “We are proud to support and highlight the excellent evidence-based teaching going on in our university system to improve student learning and engagement and advance SoTL in our fields.”

Last Spring, the Kirwan Center created the Elkins SoTL Fellowship Program to support and elevate faculty research on teaching practice. The inaugural cohort of Elkins SoTL Fellows will conduct research spanning areas such as faculty engagement with artificial intelligence, community-building in online courses, perceptions of belonging and other factors contributing to student retention, and more.

The 2023-24 Elkins SoTL Fellows are:

Charles Grattan Baldwin, associate professor of education, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Billy Brocato, assistant professor of sociology, with co-principal investigator Victoria Wolf, instructional designer in the Center for Instructional Technology and Online Learning, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Samuel Clevenger, assistant professor of kinesiology, Towson University

Amr Kadry, adjunct faculty in the Merrick School of Business, with co-principal investigators Jessica Stansbury, Director of Teaching and Learning Excellence, Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, and Technology (CELTT), University of Baltimore, and Sarah Lausch, Educational Development Specialist, Center for Teaching and Learning, Boise State University (formerly of CELTT)

LaShawn Nastvogel, assistant professor of kinesiology, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Cory Stephens, assistant professor of nursing informatics, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Courtney Thomas, clinical assistant professor of chemistry, Towson University

Beth Towle, assistant professor of English and associate director of the University Writing Center, Salisbury University