A New Resource to Meet a Growing Need

Across California, faculty members are embracing Open Educational Resources (OER) to reduce students’ costs and increase their access. As OER gains prominence, many instructors face a familiar challenge: How to effectively communicate the value of OER to their students, colleagues, and institutions.

Faculty who run OER programs often create exciting programs with little support for sharing their work. They write, revise, and implement new materials, but lack the marketing tools to help others understand the impact. Loyola Marymount University (LMU) understands that without awareness and visibility, even the most transformative OER can remain underused.

The Toolkit Filling the Gap

With a 2025 Michelson Spark Grant, LMU is addressing that gap. They will develop an openly licensed OER for Social Justice Marketing and Advocacy Toolkit. The toolkit will offer ready-to-use, customizable materials that faculty, students, and staff can use to promote and sustain OER adoption.

These resources aren’t one-size-fits-all. They’re designed with California’s diverse institutions in mind. The toolkit includes:

• A Faculty Promotion Kit to support faculty in advocating for their adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER
• An Awareness and Engagement Kit to engage students and faculty in OER adoption through interactive and visually compelling materials.

Everything will be adaptable. Institutions can contextualize materials to reflect their mission, values, and student populations.

Co-Created with Students, Built for Community

What sets this project apart is its emphasis on collaboration. Students will play a key role in shaping the toolkit by supporting graphic design and video storytelling, among other roles. LMU’s approach shifts away from top-down advocacy models, instead centering student creativity and voice.

This hands-on, participatory model reflects the values at the heart of OER: access, agency, and shared ownership. “We’re not just promoting OER, we’re building infrastructure that supports it long-term,” said Cailyn Nagle, Senior Program Manager for OER at Michelson 20MM. “This toolkit will give faculty and students what they need to keep the movement going, together.”

Designed for Impact and Built to Last

The project will pilot with LMU’s existing OER faculty teams and then scale through partnerships with the Southern California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC). Materials will be housed in the OER for Social Justice Handbook and made freely available for adaptation. At the same time, trainings and workshops across the state will help campus leaders use the toolkit in real time. LMU’s efforts will foster  professional development, peer support, and new collaborations.

By investing in visibility, this project helps institutions recognize and reward OER work. It supports faculty who want to integrate OER into tenure conversations and gives students the tools to become advocates on their own campuses. Most importantly, it ensures that OER continues to grow not just as a set of resources, but as a movement rooted in equity, inclusion, and shared success.

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About Michelson 20MM Foundation

Michelson 20MM is a private, nonprofit foundation working toward equity for underserved and historically underrepresented communities by expanding access to educational and employment opportunities, increasing affordability of educational programs, and ensuring the necessary supports are in place for individuals to thrive. To do so, we work in the following verticals: Digital Equity, Intellectual Property, Smart Justice, Student Basic Needs, and Open Educational Resources (OER). Co-chaired and funded by Alya and Gary Michelson, Michelson 20MM is part of the Michelson Philanthropies network of foundations.