OER Challenges and Opportunities

William Cross

Director, Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center, NC State University Libraries

Will Cross is the director of the Copyright & Digital Scholarship Center in the NC State University Libraries, an instructor in the UNC SILS, and an OER Research Fellow. Trained as a lawyer and librarian, he guides policy, speaks, and writes on open culture and navigating legal uncertainty. As a course designer and presenter, Will has developed training materials and workshops for US and international audiences. His current research focuses on the relationship between copyright and open education. He serves as PI on two IMLS-funded projects and is part of a team developing best practices for fair use in OER.

Elaine Thornton

Open Education and Distance Learning Librarian, University of Arkansas

At the University of Arkansas, Elaine Thornton coordinates campus open education initiatives and serves as the Libraries’ liaison to the Global Campus, the university’s online and distance learning division. Elaine is a former SPARC Open Education Leadership Fellow and the past co-chair of the ACRL-Distance Learning Standards Committee. She currently serves as an Open Education Network (OEN) Certificate in OER Librarianship instructor. A doctoral candidate in the Adult and Lifelong Learning program in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, Elaine’s research focuses on academic librarian professional development.

Jennryn Wetzler

Assistant Director of Open Education, Creative Commons

As assistant director of open education at Creative Commons, Jennryn Wetzler focuses on projects to increase collaboration and support for open education, globally. She runs the Creative Commons Certificate program, a training in open licensing, copyright, and the ethos of our global, shared commons. Prior to CC, Wetzler worked on open policy and open educational resources (OER) at the U.S. Department of State. She has also enjoyed gaining a different perspective on education through international development work in Thailand and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger.

Photo credit: Priscilla C. Scott, CC BY

Tanya Spilovoy

Director, Open Policy, WCET Staff 2016 - 2022

Tanya was the director of open policy at WCET where she led the National Consortium of Open Educational Resources (NCOER) initiative, which focuses on the policy, practice, and implementation of Open Educational Resources in compact regions, states, systems, and higher education institutions. She and her team conducted research, shared best practices, and initiated efforts to ensure all students have equitable access to low-cost, openly licensed, high-quality learning materials. As director, she collaborated with the regional compacts (MHEC, WICHE, NEBHE, and SREB) to implement open educational resources in states and systems across the nation.

Tanya joined the team in 2016 and previously served as the director for distance education and state authorization for the North Dakota University System. Her continual commitment to the field is evidenced by her engagement in multiple capacities, from co-authoring two national reports to co-creating and teaching at the SPARC Open Educational Leadership Program. She was also presented the 2020 MHEC Outstanding Service Award.

In her spare time, Tanya can be found at the ice rinks cheering on her kids Dakota and Ruby as they play ice sports, although one can also spot her singing or acting in a local musical production.