Hi! I’m Jamie Witman. Originally from South Florida, I moved to Tallahassee in 2008 to begin my undergraduate career. I earned my B.A. in Religion in 2012 and while in school I had the honor of being a member of the Marching Chiefs. Shortly after graduating in 2012 I began my M.S. in Library Science also at FSU (can you say Go ‘Noles?!) and graduated in 2015.
I am the Open Educational Practices (OEP) Specialist at the Open Education Network (OEN). It is truly a privilege to work for the Open Education Network. The OEN’s guiding ethos is something that I wholeheartedly believe in and it is wonderful to work with a team that shares my ideals and goals for democratizing education. My main responsibilities as the OEP Specialist is to work with our members to advance open education using different technologies and platforms. I have always been interested in technology and emerging trends, so this position really marries my passion for open education and technology.
Before coming to the OEN, I was the Online Learning and OER Librarian for the Community College of Baltimore County in Baltimore, Maryland. It was a big change moving from Florida to Maryland but I can tell you the humidity is about the same. My position at CCBC was new for the college which provided me the opportunity to help grow its focus and branch out into areas of librarianship previously unattended at CCBC. My main responsibilities included coordinating all OER initiatives at the college, working with the Online Learning and Instructional Design Department to build a relationship between online students and library resources, and performing everyday public services work. While at CCBC I also began two leadership projects that allowed me to work beyond CCBC in the world of open education: the Maryland H5P Collaborative and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship.
Previously, I was the Collection Development Library Associate for Strozier Library at FSU. As a Library Associate at FSU, I provided customer service and reference help to a diverse group of students, faculty, and visitors. I also got to be a part of a great team focusing on collection development and co-managing FSU’s government document collection and collaborating on interdisciplinary projects.
Outside of my work responsibilities, my professional interests include the Open Education Movement, Digital Scholarship, and Library Instruction Innovation.
When I’m not at work, I spend time with my husband and sons and our sweet senior dog. My husband and I play competitive ultimate frisbee, when we have the time, and all five of us enjoy going on hikes in the wonderful Maryland wilderness.
