Faculty Interview Gina Matkin-UNL

Brad Severa Author

04/07/2023 Added

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Gina Matkin, Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication

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[00:00:10.230]We had been actually trying to find a replacement text
[00:00:12.720]for the class that we created this OER for, for years.
[00:00:16.860]I had even spent a year with a graduate student
[00:00:19.020]searching for a text
[00:00:19.853]and we actually identified one.
[00:00:21.960]And when we got to the implementation phase,
[00:00:24.270]it just didn't work.
[00:00:25.500]So the class is really unique
[00:00:27.000]in that it integrates several different things
[00:00:29.520]and we couldn't find a textbook that did that.
[00:00:31.740]So we decided that we needed to write our own.
[00:00:34.470]And then I got involved with
[00:00:35.850]the Center for Transformative Teachings
[00:00:37.740]Course Redesign cohort,
[00:00:39.510]the first cohort they had,
[00:00:41.340]and talked about this when I was in that cohort.
[00:00:43.500]And they suggested to me
[00:00:45.000]that we consider writing our own text through an OER,
[00:00:48.060]which we really liked.
[00:00:49.080]We loved the idea of writing a text through the OER process.
[00:00:53.401]So, and we could have written it ourselves.
[00:00:57.330]There were two of us at the beginning
[00:00:58.920]who were gonna write this text,
[00:01:00.480]but the class has so many different concepts in it
[00:01:03.252]that we decided that we would make it an edited text
[00:01:07.500]and invite chapter authors in
[00:01:09.030]to talk about the things that they were experts in.
[00:01:11.670]And then that took the text to, actually,
[00:01:13.950]a new level, we believe.
[00:01:16.560]So that's the first reason.
[00:01:17.940]The second reason is we had students
[00:01:20.490]at the beginning of the semester
[00:01:22.080]who just couldn't get the textbook,
[00:01:23.580]either because they couldn't afford it
[00:01:25.230]or it was just late coming in from wherever they ordered it.
[00:01:29.430]And then that put them at a disadvantage.
[00:01:31.200]So we really liked the idea of having a textbook
[00:01:34.748]that we could just provide to them
[00:01:36.810]that we could, you know,
[00:01:38.039]give them the link
[00:01:39.240]or provide it for them on Canvas, or however,
[00:01:41.460]we didn't know at the time how we might do that,
[00:01:43.710]but that we would provide the text
[00:01:45.150]and that would put everybody on the same playing field,
[00:01:47.250]create better equity in the class.
[00:01:49.050]And then the third reason is,
[00:01:50.520]because this class is
[00:01:53.661]an interpersonal skills for leadership class,
[00:01:56.057]we do a lot of work with popular culture terms and concepts
[00:01:59.880]and sometimes our students say things
[00:02:01.620]that we don't even know what they mean, at times,
[00:02:03.810]so we need to update a lot.
[00:02:06.030]And we knew that even if we adopted
[00:02:08.040]a new published textbook from someone else,
[00:02:11.370]that they paid money for,
[00:02:12.450]that in two years, some of the terminology and concepts
[00:02:15.030]would be outdated.
[00:02:15.900]So we thought, wouldn't it be great
[00:02:17.700]if we could take feedback from students,
[00:02:20.310]or new concepts or terminology
[00:02:22.500]that they used in the class,
[00:02:24.660]and incorporate those into the text as appropriate.
[00:02:27.120]So we were really excited about being able
[00:02:28.740]to keep it up to date and relevant for the students.
[00:02:37.890]You know, I went into this project
[00:02:39.390]thinking that I was gonna,
[00:02:42.690]even though I had a collaborator,
[00:02:44.340]that I was gonna be sort of doing a lot of work
[00:02:47.190]and doing it on my own.
[00:02:48.750]And I was really pleasantly surprised
[00:02:51.030]how engaged other people were in this process,
[00:02:54.720]that we ended up finding a third collaborator
[00:02:57.840]to serve as an editor for the text.
[00:02:59.460]And when we reached out and invited chapter authors,
[00:03:01.942]we did compensate them,
[00:03:03.750]but it was a very small amount,
[00:03:05.220]not really enough to really account
[00:03:07.080]for the amount of time they took to write the chapters.
[00:03:09.399]Everyone was very eager to be involved in the text.
[00:03:13.260]And then, additionally,
[00:03:14.250]I would say my department was very excited.
[00:03:17.176]I ended up taking faculty development leave
[00:03:19.800]to be able to work on the text
[00:03:21.030]and was very supported by my department
[00:03:23.160]and my college to do that.
[00:03:24.990]So I would say just make sure that you,
[00:03:30.510]you know, look into how you can involve other people,
[00:03:33.570]collaborate, be inclusive,
[00:03:36.150]reach out to others who might be,
[00:03:38.035]who might be engaged, or interested in,
[00:03:40.620]or somehow might use what it is that you're creating.
[00:03:44.700]So that's probably one of the biggest pieces of advice.
[00:03:47.730]I guess the other piece of advice I would give
[00:03:50.880]is ask a lot of questions up front.
[00:03:52.950]There were things I would do differently now.
[00:03:56.130]For example, things about copyright,
[00:03:58.058]I could have asked our chapter authors
[00:04:01.590]to deal with any images they put into their chapters.
[00:04:04.860]But since I didn't do that
[00:04:06.150]and we got through the final editing phase
[00:04:09.766]before I asked about copyright as clearly as I should have,
[00:04:14.880]I really decided the editors, and mostly me,
[00:04:16.860]should take that on.
[00:04:18.120]And so that's work that could have been
[00:04:19.650]dispersed amongst all the authors
[00:04:21.540]that I just, I didn't ask
[00:04:22.890]the right questions at the beginning.
[00:04:24.150]So talk to the people
[00:04:25.380]who are guiding you through the process
[00:04:26.760]and ask questions at the beginning before you get started.
[00:04:35.400]Well, I mentioned earlier
[00:04:36.930]that one thing that surprised me
[00:04:38.970]was how eager people were to be involved in this process.
[00:04:42.690]That everyone we talked to when we told we were doing it,
[00:04:46.410]their response would say, "What can I do?
[00:04:48.277]"How can I be involved?"
[00:04:49.830]And very few people asked for anything in return,
[00:04:52.050]except they wanted to be a part of it.
[00:04:54.000]I was also surprised that,
[00:04:55.770]as we talked about this at conferences,
[00:04:58.590]not in presentations, but just casually
[00:05:00.660]with colleagues at conferences, or in boards,
[00:05:03.420]or meetings that we're on statewide or even nationally,
[00:05:07.260]others were really, really interested in the text,
[00:05:10.710]but also in the process of how we were doing it
[00:05:13.230]and the support we were getting.
[00:05:14.790]And I found a lot of people that were really wanting
[00:05:18.180]to maybe create some of their own texts.
[00:05:20.460]So we're planning on next year at our national conference
[00:05:24.240]doing a presentation on not only the text
[00:05:26.730]and how we created it,
[00:05:27.660]but the process and how other people
[00:05:29.760]can maybe look into creating those texts as well.
[00:05:33.567]We were also really pleasantly surprised
[00:05:37.170]at how students responded to the text.
[00:05:41.517]Graduate students and undergraduate students
[00:05:43.980]responded very positively to the idea of an online text
[00:05:49.860]that they can have access to.
[00:05:51.780]And also, we really stressed throughout the process
[00:05:54.481]that they had an opportunity to provide feedback
[00:05:56.678]and help us improve the text.
[00:05:58.740]And we'll continue that message
[00:06:01.980]even as we go forward using the text in our class.
[00:06:04.980]And I really think that helps with student engagement
[00:06:07.650]when they know they might be contributing
[00:06:09.810]to the learning for future students as well.
[00:06:12.060]And so I think that's one of the real advantages of an OER.
[00:06:20.790]We've been working with undergraduates,
[00:06:22.680]primarily collecting feedback as we finalized chapters
[00:06:29.760]in this process since we were doing an edited text.
[00:06:32.644]We would actually implement them in some of the courses.
[00:06:37.440]The courses that were taught
[00:06:38.400]by people who were familiar with the project,
[00:06:40.620]we would replace chapters
[00:06:41.880]out of the text that they were using
[00:06:43.800]with the newer chapters, out of our OER.
[00:06:47.190]And so students were allowed,
[00:06:50.730]were asked to give feedback anonymously
[00:06:53.610]via a Qualtrics survey
[00:06:55.080]anytime we used a chapter out of the book.
[00:06:57.900]And they were very candid
[00:06:59.880]and very, very engaged in giving us feedback.
[00:07:03.450]We were really surprised, pleasantly surprised,
[00:07:05.762]that students would not only say,
[00:07:08.167]"Okay, these two terms sound the same.
[00:07:10.867]"They need to be clarified in the chapter."
[00:07:13.140]Or in one case, "This is a really important chapter."
[00:07:16.200]Several students said,
[00:07:17.167]"This is a really important chapter,
[00:07:18.457]"why is it so short?"
[00:07:19.860]So we had to go back to the authors and say,
[00:07:21.697]"Students want more."
[00:07:22.707]And the author was actually delighted to hear
[00:07:26.100]that students wanted more in their chapter.
[00:07:27.750]And so they added some content to the chapter
[00:07:29.940]that I think made it much, much richer.
[00:07:31.650]So undergraduate students were involved
[00:07:34.170]as a way to give feedback and help us in,
[00:07:37.380]I would say, the editing and review process.
[00:07:39.952]Graduate students had kind of a dual role.
[00:07:42.900]We had graduate students teaching this class
[00:07:45.360]who became engaged in the process
[00:07:46.980]as instructors who implemented the chapters
[00:07:50.190]and had the students provide feedback.
[00:07:52.440]But that also gave us an opportunity
[00:07:54.720]to have instructors provide feedback
[00:07:57.660]from the instructor side of implementing chapters.
[00:08:01.260]So it was really great to have instructors say,
[00:08:03.817]"Yeah, the students were really interested in this OER text.
[00:08:07.897]"They didn't seem as excited about this chapter,"
[00:08:09.990]or, "They didn't seem as excited about this activity,"
[00:08:12.420]because we also have activities at the end of every chapter.
[00:08:16.320]So we gave the instructors a chance
[00:08:18.750]to implement some of those activities
[00:08:20.250]and provide feedback to us so that we could-
[00:08:22.740]And then a couple of times people said,
[00:08:24.376]"There's a little bit of redundancy
[00:08:26.647]"in activities in a couple of the chapters,
[00:08:29.257]"so you might wanna take a look at that."
[00:08:30.660]And so that was really helpful
[00:08:31.800]to have graduate students involved at that level as well.
[00:08:39.870]We really, from the beginning,
[00:08:41.100]decided that this project
[00:08:42.812]needed more than just our expertise.
[00:08:45.810]So this textbook, we received a grant,
[00:08:50.190]an OER grant to be able to do the textbook.
[00:08:54.570]We decided spend those monies,
[00:08:56.044]inviting chapter authors who were experts in the topic.
[00:08:59.790]So this textbook combines leadership development,
[00:09:02.940]personal leadership development,
[00:09:04.230]the personal level of leadership development
[00:09:05.930]with interpersonal skill development.
[00:09:08.040]So how do your interpersonal skills
[00:09:10.800]affect how you can be
[00:09:12.630]or how you can become a leader?
[00:09:15.300]And so we have sort of different concepts going on here.
[00:09:18.420]And things like empathy, and conflict management,
[00:09:22.230]and self-esteem and self-awareness,
[00:09:24.930]diversity, equity and inclusion
[00:09:26.310]are all concepts that are covered
[00:09:28.200]chapter by chapter in this text.
[00:09:30.077]We decided that we needed people
[00:09:32.040]who were experts in those areas
[00:09:33.840]to write these chapters
[00:09:34.950]rather than us trying
[00:09:36.420]to find materials out there and write them,
[00:09:39.420]and then it would have more credibility if we did that.
[00:09:42.090]So we set about inviting people to write those chapters,
[00:09:47.010]and we were very pleasantly surprised
[00:09:49.470]how excited people were to be asked to do this.
[00:09:52.500]We also decided to make this
[00:09:54.650]a very valuable experience for those chapter authors
[00:09:58.560]by giving them a peer-review experience.
[00:10:01.110]So many of these chapter authors
[00:10:03.600]can now use this chapter in the process.
[00:10:05.731]It was both invited and peer reviewed
[00:10:08.154]in their, perhaps, promotion and tenure packets
[00:10:11.070]or in their portfolios that they're developing,
[00:10:13.680]in a different way than they could
[00:10:14.910]if it was just written and handed to us.
[00:10:17.040]So we tried to make it
[00:10:18.270]a little bit more valuable for them as well.
[00:10:20.566]So we collected all of those chapters
[00:10:22.860]and then COVID hit.
[00:10:25.200]So that slowed us down a little bit, but we persevered.
[00:10:29.250]Our timeline got a little behind
[00:10:31.470]but it allowed us an opportunity
[00:10:33.180]to really implement what we were teaching in this text.
[00:10:36.120]And that is to weigh,
[00:10:37.620]to balance how much pressure to put on people
[00:10:40.044]who are undergoing great difficulty
[00:10:42.026]in their lives right now.
[00:10:43.650]And we opted on the side of empathy and support.
[00:10:46.535]And so really gave the authors extra time
[00:10:50.040]and I think they were incredibly grateful,
[00:10:52.199]but also, I think it just really helped us feel better
[00:10:56.220]about the entire process.
[00:10:57.690]So collected all the chapters, did some rounds of review,
[00:11:01.578]and then we did hire a copy editor
[00:11:03.630]to go through the entire text and edit it for,
[00:11:07.560]you know, copy edit it,
[00:11:08.490]and also look for redundancies
[00:11:09.930]and help us with some consistency issues.
[00:11:13.043]And so, and we plan on uploading this text into Pressbooks
[00:11:16.950]so that we can make it available
[00:11:18.210]both as a freestanding, maybe, PDF,
[00:11:21.420]but also in the Pressbooks portal.
[00:11:24.630]So we think that'll be really valuable for everyone,
[00:11:26.910]for students and instructors.
[00:11:33.690]Well, I would say, first of all,
[00:11:36.972]about OER implementation,
[00:11:39.450]that there are some really great people
[00:11:40.890]who can help you if you reach out to them.
[00:11:43.680]And so I worked a lot with Paul Royster in the libraries,
[00:11:49.260]with Brad Severa in ITS,
[00:11:51.033]and with Catherine, also in the libraries,
[00:11:55.620]helping me with really detailed issues
[00:11:58.080]around copyright, and editing, and Pressbooks.
[00:12:01.470]And I got a lot of mentoring and tutoring in that area
[00:12:05.040]and I was really appreciative of that.
[00:12:07.260]Also, outside of that, I would say,
[00:12:11.550]be inclusive as is appropriate
[00:12:15.300]in bringing people into the fold.
[00:12:17.250]I will tell you that when we decided
[00:12:20.910]we wanted to have a forward written for this text,
[00:12:22.980]I went to Dr. Susan Fritz, who was, at the time,
[00:12:25.650]provost of the NU system,
[00:12:27.510]and coincidentally, was the lead author
[00:12:29.550]of the text we were replacing
[00:12:31.620]and asked her if she would write the forward for this text.
[00:12:34.260]And as a strong supporter of OERs,
[00:12:36.360]she was delighted that we were replacing her text,
[00:12:39.660]in some ways,
[00:12:40.650]but more so, that we were gonna be
[00:12:42.000]saving students a lot of money in this process
[00:12:45.660]and providing a really, really high quality product
[00:12:49.170]at the end.
[00:12:50.003]So, you know, include people,
[00:12:51.570]know that people are likely gonna be very excited
[00:12:53.753]about being involved in your project.
[00:12:55.740]I guess I would say don't assume that they won't be,
[00:12:58.380]that they're gonna see it as extra work,
[00:13:00.180]but instead, that people will see it
[00:13:01.560]as an opportunity to not only,
[00:13:05.790]not only benefit students,
[00:13:07.350]not only benefit maybe themselves,
[00:13:09.300]but also to benefit the field.
[00:13:11.250]The field in which we work is gonna be better,
[00:13:13.650]because I already know two other institutions
[00:13:15.840]that will be implementing
[00:13:16.680]this text when it is finished.
[00:13:18.300]And we're hoping there'll be more than that.
[00:13:20.430]But we're very excited that we were able to do this
[00:13:22.890]and that we got the support that we did,
[00:13:24.390]and we wanna thank everyone involved for helping us do that.

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Faculty Interview Gina Matkin-UNL

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