Jess Williams (she/her/ella) is a first-gen academic librarian doing her darndest to lead her team with empathy, be a better ally, and put students first. Jess currently serves as the Assistant Director of Teaching & Learning at Texas State University Libraries, and she is passionate about student success, organizational culture, and creating spaces that facilitate authenticity and self-expression. Jess’s background in instructional design and adaptive learning led her to become an advocate for OER. Her interests have since expanded to Open Pedagogy, the role of personal knowledge management in open knowledge, and creating inclusive learning materials.
Jess’s capstone project, One Minute to Open: An Open Educational Practices Email Marketing Campaign, will strive to address information overwhelm and increase faculty awareness of Open Education at Texas State University. Beginning with a single email, faculty will opt-in and self-identify for an email journey according to their current level of knowledge. Readers will be automatically sorted into audience segments by the email marketing software, ensuring the they receive only the content that is currently relevant to them. Emails will contain less than 260 words each so that they can be read in around one minute. Each call to action will have small, straightforward steps to guide faculty toward the discovery, adoption, and creation of OER or Open Pedagogy. The equity, inclusion, and accessibility benefits of Open Education will be emphasized in each of the journeys, with the goal of cultivating advocates across campus.