Michelann Parr Named Schulich Teaching Chair of Open Education Resource Development

Nipissing University is pleased to announce the appointment of Michelann Parr as the Schulich Teaching Chair of Open Education Resource (OER) Development. Parr is currently a professor in the Schulich School of Education and has worked at Nipissing full time for over 20 years. She is also a proud Laker alumnus, having earned three degrees from Nipissing University.

Schulich Teaching Chairs are faculty who have demonstrated teaching excellence and a desire to advocate for and support evidence-based teaching innovation. Chairs are responsible for fostering a culture of teaching and learning; championing teaching and learning best practices on-campus, online, and in community classroom spaces; and contributing to the scholarship of teaching and learning across all Faculties, Schools, and Departments.  

As Chair, Parr is looking forward to supporting faculty, staff, and even students in the curation and creation of a set of open teaching and learning resources that will help to support the student experience.  

In her first year, she will be focusing on enhancing awareness of open education resources, and in her second year, hopes to shift her focus to supporting faculty in creating open education resources of their own.  

According to BCCampus, Open Educational Resources are “teaching, learning, and research resources that, through permissions granted by the copyright holder, allow others to use, distribute, keep, or make changes to them”.  

“On a deeply philosophical level, open education resources are about access, diversity of student experience, and equity,” she states. “The use of open education resources has the potential to broaden the student experience beyond the walls of Nipissing and also enhance freely accessible resources for students and faculty; it might even lower cost of purchased resources.” 

Parr believes teaching is a reciprocal process and that some of her best teachers have been her students.  

“I’m a believer in never asking others to do something I’m not willing to do myself.”  

This fall she is embarking on a learning journey with her PhD students: 

“Our goal is to create an open education space that explores adult learning theory, educational sustainability, theory, and individual student inquiry projects with the goal of publishing an open education text.”  

Parr’s two-year appointment started in July and will run until the end of June 2024. She joins fellow Teaching Chair, Charles Anyinam, who is continuing for another year as the Schulich Teach Chair of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.  

For more information about the Schulich Teaching Chairs, visit https://www.nipissingu.ca/academics/teaching-hub/meet-teaching-chairs.