Notre Dame University—Louaize (NDU), a leading higher education institution in Lebanon, is moving full-steam ahead in the integration and use of open educational resources (OER) on campus, saving students money while promoting a culture of sharing.

NDU’s involvement with OER began in 2014 with the selection of Dr. Fawzi Baroud, Assistant Vice President for Information Technology, as a participant in the U.S. State Department Exchange Program on OER along with other education leaders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In Spring 2016, the University capitalized on this initiative and made the integration of OER a key goal of its Strategic Plan 2015-20.

Since then, continuous training and an on-going awareness campaign about the importance of OER are marking NDU as a leader in the adoption of OER in the region. Last spring, close to 500 students enrolled in freshman English composition were the first to pilot the use of openly licensed resources in a general education course. Administered by NDU’s Department of English and Translation at the Faculty of Humanities, student survey results reveal overwhelming satisfaction and engagement levels when it comes to using OER.

Given the success of the pilot course, OER will be fully integrated in the teaching of English composition and the university plans to expand the use of OER in other disciplines in the future.

Contact for more information:
Fawzi Baroud: Fbaroud@ndu.edu.lb