Increasing Equity in STEM and Career Technical Education With Open Educational Resources

With the cost of college steadily increasing, many students struggle to afford the materials necessary for success in their courses. River Parishes Community College faculty Dr. Esperanza Zenon is tackling this issue by using and promoting open education resources (OER). This presentation will focus on using OER in STEM and career and technical courses to promote equity and reduce costs for students. Resources, tools, and processes used to evaluate, adopt, and adapt the OER materials used in STEM and CTE courses will be discussed.

Learning Outcomes:
1. Access OER resources that can be used in STEM and CTE courses.
2. Identify at least two resources that can be used in your course.
3. Connect the use of OER resources to increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Dr. Esperanza Zenon is an Associate Professor of Physical Science at River Parishes Community College (RPCC). She is the current Division Coordinator for Math and Natural Sciences at RPCC. She serves as the Chair of the RPCC EESTEM II Grant Project Committee, which engages in action research that improves teaching and learning in RPCC’s STEM and technical classes. She is also a member of the RPCC Online Course Review Committee, which establishes standards and practices for all online classes at RPCC. Dr. Zenon is very passionate about STEM equity and serves on the Executive, Membership, and Strategic Planning Committees for the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE), a consortium of state and local agencies, corporations, and national organizations which work to build educators’ capacity to implement effective solutions for increasing student access, educational equity, and workforce diversity. Dr. Zenon has a Master of Arts degree in Physics from Wayne State University, and a Ph.D. in Science/Mathematics Education from Southern University.

Please Note:

Only those attending the LIVE webinar will receive a certificate of attendance. Thank you!