My OER Research and its connections to Latin America: Beginning in the Summer of 2012, I began a comprehensive Latin American History and Archaeology OER Project were I began to develop technologically driven, interactive learning resources for my ESC students taking studies with me on Latin America. In the summer of 2015, I was awarded a competitive reassignment by SUNY Empire State College (like a pre-tenure sabbatical) to further develop these OERs and create tutorials for other faculty to develop their own. This website is the culmination of that project.
Since that time, I have been actively creating OERs for use in my Latin American History and Archaeology courses and as open access resources.
My first OER project: THE CIUDADELA PROJECT
Since 2007, I have concentrated my Mesoamerican archaeological and ethnographic studies on the Maya occupying the Northern Maya Lowlands.
My research has focused primarily on the Maya site of Tíhoo, located underneath what is today the modern Yucatán capital city Mérida (to learn more, please see the following audio presentation New Directions in Maya Research: Using History and Anthropology to Study the Maya Site of Tíhoo, Mérida, Yucatán (from Rhianna Rogers on Vimeo) in the 9th Annual International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities at the Universidad de Granada, Campus La Cartuja, Granada, Spain, June 2011.)
In 2012, with the help of Mexican colleague Raul Alcala Erosa, I developed the following research website called “CIUDADELA PROJECT“.
My second OER project: THE PHOTOSYNTH PROJECT
This project, co-developed by Nathan Whitley-Grassi and I, applies aspects of the Conversation Analysis approach with the technology platform Microsoft Photosynth to observe the effectiveness of integrated technologies in project based learning at the college level. Students who took part in this pilot study developed Photosynth projects, individually and collectively, in order to communicate to external and internal audiences the important of visualization during the analysis of material objects. The initial phase of this project included mini-lectures, the use of online web software, digital cameras, and collaborative learning. Students were asked to complete a survey as well as preform a written assignment about their experiences using the software. Participants were drawn from both traditional and non-traditional student populations. Differences in documented experiences were examined. Tentative findings indicate that this platform successfully engaged students in project based learning. To learn more, please visit the Photosynth Project site.
My third OER project: THE BUFFALO PROJECT
This research project grew out of a paper presented at the 2011 Empire State College All-College Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York. As part of an plenary session entitled “Empire State College as an Open University: Open to Whom?” Lead Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Rhianna C. Rogers, presented an invited paper titled “Is ESC’s Niagara Frontier Center (NFC) a culturally ‘Open’ Center for learning?” This presentation discussed her pilot study findings (AY 2010-2011) related cultural inclusivity at the Niagara Frontier Center (NFC). Now a formalized research project (AY 2012-2014) with research assistance and a co-PI, the Buffalo Project has been successfully impacting cultural understanding and the development of student-centered programming at NFC since its inception. To learn more, please visit the Buffalo Project site.
My fourth OER project: VIMEO OER TUTORIALS AND OPEN SUNY
My current OER project: LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT
Latin American History & Archaeology OERs 