Carleigh Charlton, Vice-President of Student Affairs with the Brock University Students’ Union (BUSU), has been shortlisted for a globally recognized 2024 Open Education Award for Excellence.

More than 100 individuals or projects across 28 countries were nominated for awards this year. Charlton was selected as a finalist in the People In Open: Student Category.

This award recognizes outstanding student contributions to the advancement and promotion of open education resources or practices, possibly inspiring others to pursue degree programs using these resources.

Open education aims to remove barriers to learning by using resources that make education more affordable and accessible to all and by using flexible and inclusive methods of teaching and assessment.

A founding member of Brock’s Open Education Working Group, Charlton was selected in recognition of her efforts to advance and raise awareness of open educational practices at the University.

Charlton and her colleagues on the BUSU executive team supported the launch of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant program, which is now a model for other post-secondary institutions across Ontario. Fully funded by BUSU in its first year, the grant is now augmented with University funding and provides financial support to educators at Brock who wish to reduce or eliminate the cost of commercial textbooks by adopting open educational resources for required course materials.

Charlton and the BUSU team also participated in campus-wide events during Open Education Week, supported a survey of undergraduate students related to the affordability of course materials and have supported OER research and advocacy with provincial student organizations, such as the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.

Winners of the 2024 Open Education Award for Excellence will be announced Wednesday, Sept. 18.