Trine staff publish new open educational resource

Two Trine University staff members have authored a new open educational resource (OER) that explores how leaders can examine and adopt technologies that help organizations and their members be successful.

Andrea Bearman, Director of Instructional Design and Development, and Jill Noyes, Director of Library and Information Services, published the resource using the PALNI Pressbooks platform, an open source book authoring and editing tool offered to institutions supported by the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI).

The interactive publication, titled “Technology Tools for Leaders,” covers how to apply design thinking to leadership scenarios while working through elements related to technology implementation, including communication, failure, continuous improvement and privacy concerns. Readers have an opportunity to investigate the technology needs of an organization and then prepare its members for changes in technology, while also developing initiatives to maximize organizational effectiveness.

It is the second project to be produced jointly by the authors through Pressbooks; the first is an interactive book and quick-start guide for research titled “Research and Information Literacy with Library Resources.”

As a PALNI Press title, the publication is free and available to anyone interested in the subject matter. View and download the contents online at pressbooks.palni.org.

The publication is also available on the Open Textbook Library database at open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/technology-tools-for-leaders, and is included in a list of open resources produced by Trine University faculty and staff at trine.link/oer.

About PALNI

The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) is a non-profit organization that supports collaboration for library and information services for 24 colleges, universities and seminaries throughout the state. From its inception in 1992, the PALNI collaboration has been a key avenue for its supported institutions to contain costs while providing more effective library services. More recently, PALNI has adopted a model of deep collaboration that pools resources and people as a tool to expand services while keeping costs down. PALNI’s board of directors, composed of all 24 library deans and directors from the supported organizations, convened a Future Framing Task Force in 2019 to address ongoing demographic challenges in higher education. The board has escalated this work in the wake of COVID-19, as the consortium seeks to manage the increased need for online support while reducing costs. Simultaneously, PALNI is expanding collaboration within its institutions and with external library partners to address challenges and build cost-effective services. Visit the PALNI website for more information.