About the Project

What is SUOL4ed?

Twenty-first century high education institutions will have to rely not only on adaptable physical infrastructure and qualified human resources, but also on a reliable and scalable digital infrastructure.

The Southern University System (SUS) signed a partnership Memorandum of Understanding with the California State University's MERLOT organization on April 19, 2016 for the design and deployment of Southern University's Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) Initiative, and to create the Southern University Open Online Library for Education (SUOL4Ed). MERLOT is a free and open online community and collection of teaching and learning resources designed primarily for faculty, staff and students of higher education. MERLOT's open educational services enables teachers and learners from around the world to freely share their instructional resources and pedagogy. MERLOT's library (www.merlot.org) provides a collection of peer reviewed online learning materials, including almost 5,000 free and open etextbooks, catalogued by registered MERLOT members. MERLOT also provides a wide range of faculty development and student support services.

This partnership will enable the SU System's institutions and higher education in Louisiana to create a digital infrastructure that will improves college affordability for students with free etextbooks and educational resources. Having free and immediate access to instructional resources can enable more students to enroll and succeed in more courses as they progress toward graduation in a more timely manner.

SUOL4ED will enable SUBR faculty to develop online courses and programs using free and quality Open Education Resources (OER). It will also help faculty develop educational multimedia resources and open textbooks to contribute back to the OER and Open Access (OA) global movements. This project will not only enhance SUS' eLearning infrastructure, but it will help engage other HBCUs and international partners in Africa.

Learn more about this partnership by visiting the SUS institutional highlight.

Project Team

• Moustapha Diack (Project Leader), Chair of the Doctoral Program in Science/Math Education (SMED) &​ Director of Online Learning and Faculty Development - SUBR
• Gabriel Fagbeyiro, Associate V.P. for IT and SUS CIO
• Thomas Miller, Foreign Languages and Faculty Senate President
• Emma Bradford Perry, dean of libraries, J.B. Cade Library
• Dawn Kight, assistant University librarian for technology and information services, J.B. Cade Library
• Charlotte Henderson, assistant University librarian for collections and resource development, J.B. Cade Library
• Mohammad Abdus Salam, professor and graduate coordinator, Department of Computer Science
• Francesca Mellion Williams, academic technology/innovation coordinator, Division of Information Technology (DoIT)
• Chrisena R. Brown, LMS Administrator, DoIT
• Veronica McEachin, Director E-Learning, Southern University at Shreveport
• Shelia Wood, Director E-Learning, Southern University at New Orleans
• Cynthia Bryant, SUBR Dean College Arts, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies
• ReShonda Corley, research assistant, SUBR SMED Program
• Ogbonna Ofor, doctoral student, SUBR SMED Program
• Ajayi Anwansedo, doctoral student, SUBR SMED Program
• Foluso Ayeni, doctoral student, SMED Doctoral Program