OEN Colleague Connector Program Renewed for 2022-23

With an initial kick-off in September 2021, the Open Education Network (OEN) Colleague Connector program creates one-to-one opportunities for members to discuss, support, and inspire one another (as well as occasionally commiserate) on open education initiatives. Not to be construed as “mentoring,” the program simply aims to facilitate fruitful conversation, create a space for meaningful connection, and deepen individual sense of belonging within the OEN.

At an online share-out hosted by the OEN on March 23, 2022, participants reflected on the last six months, offering feedback on the pilot program’s strengths, weaknesses, and overall effectiveness. (The event chat transcript follows below. You're also welcome to watch the video recording here.) 

Many attendees said they found the program to be a rewarding, beneficial experience. “It’s the humanizing part of it,” said Cathy Germano, program participant and director of learning services at Excelsior College. “A lot of it has to do with feeling connected. When you have this very big open community, and just coming into it for the first time, it can be very intimidating. I really like that human touch that this program offers. Instead of just joining a membership and then trying to figure it out, you can work with somebody.”

According OEN community manager Barb Thees, members are paired according to complementary goals, experience, and expertise in open education. Following the whole-group kickoff at the beginning of the academic year, colleagues are encouraged to meet monthly to bounce ideas, share, and learn from one another. The OEN provides optional prompts for conversation including topics, philosophical motivations, and day-to-day open education work questions.

“Through this one-on-one pairing,” said Thees, “we really hope to facilitate relationship building and connection within our OEN community. And hopefully encourage the professional growth of both people through their collaboration over the course of the program.”

Participants commit to embody the group’s norms in their interactions by practicing:

“This is really worthwhile,” observed Ashley Morrison, program participant and open education librarian at the University of Texas at Austin. “There are prompts provided for you, though I don’t think Mika [Hoffman] and I often turned to the prompts because we already had plenty to talk about each time, pretty organically. And there’s no expectation of outcomes and pressure…. It’s so nice to have interactions that aren’t dependent on an outcome or having to work together a lot outside of that. I really appreciated the low pressure aspect of this and how easy it was just to make conversation.”

Morrison’s paired colleague, Mika Hoffman, is executive director at the Center for Educational Measurement at Excelsior College. Hoffman said she appreciated the thoughtful attention given to pairing individuals. She also cited the value in being receptive to others.

“Don’t get too hung up on trying to find somebody who matches exactly what you think you’re missing, or who can benefit from what you think your strength is…,” Hoffman advises. “You [may be able to] provide something that you didn’t even know was a strength that you had…. I would say it’s not a transactional mapping of ‘You do this and I do that, and that’s how it works.’ It’s much more organic than that.” 

The current Colleague Connector program runs through late May 2022 and will conclude with an end-of-year celebration. Our application process for the 2022-23 program opens this summer. If you are an OEN member interested in joining, please feel free to reach out to Barbara Thees, OEN Director of Community Engagement.

00:17:03 Hi, Jessica Kirschner, OER Librarian at Virginia Commonwealth University. Moderating the chat today with Mandi :)
00:17:41 Hi, I’m Jeff McAdams, Engineering Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
00:18:16 Hi all - Ariana Santiago, at the University of Houston in Houston, TX
00:21:14 Dana Mastroianni, Head of Public Services, Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA
00:28:53 I was curious how much of that matching occurred intentionally!
00:36:45 It's so much work because we are trying to lead culture change. It's a LOT.
00:37:02 Very true @Kelly!
00:37:57 Kelly you get ideas from a partner and it's very helpful to participate.
00:41:14 Feel free to share any questions you have for the panelists in the chat!