OER Digest – November 19, 2020

From Hailey Babb (SPARC) | Volume 117 | November 19th, 2020

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

COMBATTING SYSTEMIC RACISM: The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation has pledged $15M to groups working across a range of issues—from health to education to human rights—to advance racial justice by centering Black communities. “Realizing the potential of open education is only going to be possible to the extent that it roots out structural racism”, says Angela DeBarger, Education Program Officer at the Hewlett Foundation. “We must be more ambitious about dismantling racist policies, practices, and ideas through our work”.

BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION: Congratulations to Kristina Ishmael of Open Education Global who has been appointed to the Biden-Harris Transition Team as a member of the U.S. Department of Education’s Agency Review Team. Agency review teams are responsible for understanding the operations of each agency, ensuring a smooth transfer of power, and preparing for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris and their cabinet to hit the ground running on day one of the new administration, January 20th 2021. 

OPENED20 AND OEGLOBAL: Over the past two weeks, both the Open Education Conference and the OE Global Conference successfully hosted their first ever fully virtual editions. Both events reported fantastic attendance and engagement, and they intend to share their recorded content with the open education community in the future. OE Global has been sharing recorded sessions via their Youtube channel, and the Open Education Conference plans to release the content openly in the coming months (for conference attendees, all sessions are already posted in the conference website). Be sure to check out the great sessions from both events! You can see more at the hashtags #OEGlobal20 and #OpenEd20.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

SURVEY: Pressbooks is looking for people of various roles to participate in a 1hr paid remote interview to improve their understanding of the higher education OER ecosystem. To participate, fill out the survey here. 

JOB OPPORTUNITY: The Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD University) in Toronto, Ontario is hiring a temporary/contract role of Project Manager, Hybrid & Online Learning. Applications are due no later than Monday, November 30, 2020. View the job posting here. 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM CANADA: The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) has released a communiqué entitled “Equitable, Affordable Access to Digital Course Materials for University Students: Issues and Solutions”. The document endorses measures to create digital access models that foster an accessible, affordable, and inclusive environment for students, and invites other stakeholders involved in academic publishing to develop solutions that will better serve the common community of users. Read more>>

FROM NEW YORK: The student association at Syracuse University is coordinating with Syracuse University Libraries on an initiative to improve textbook affordability for students. “SA is working to expand students’ access to open educational resources”, said Ryan Golden, SA vice president. He also said the organization is on a “fact-finding mission” for how to make textbooks more affordable to students. Their goal is to urge faculty to use more textbooks available on the Open Educational Resources Commons so students don’t have to spend as much money on textbooks. Read more>>

FROM MONTANA: The Montana University System and the Treasure State Academic Information & Library Services (TRAILS) consortium are proud to share details of their statewide open education program, “Montana Higher Education’s Open Education Initiative” in their Year One Report. After creating and launching the dynamic program in 2019,  students and faculty across the state are already seeing its benefits. Read more>>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

Sophie Mackenzie and Juan Pablo Alperin of Simon Fraser University have published a first draft of The Web, Publishing, and Ourselves, a new open textbook that critically explores the relationship between technology and publishing. You can take part in their open review process here. 

Bahram Assadian, Matthew Knachel, Cassiano Terra Rodrigues, Michael Shaffer, Nathan Smith, Benjamin Martin (Book Editor), and Christina Hendricks (Series Editor) have released Introduction to Logic, an open textbook that provides students with the concepts and skills necessary to identify and evaluate arguments, as part of the Rebus Community library. 

The OER Lab at Ontario Tech University, alongside contributors Ayman Abdulkadir, Pranjal Saloni, Rebecca Maynard, Dr. Ana Duff and Sarah Stokes, have released Business Math I, an open textbook aimed at university business students as an introduction to the mathematics required for the field of business.

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Want to Make College More Affordable for Your Students? | University of Nevada, Las Vegas Campus News

Interesting to Consider >> 

How a Pandemic Could Change Higher Education | EdSurge

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest.

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of stakeholders across the higher education community. Subscribe here.

OER Digest – November 5th, 2020

From Bilan Jama (CC USA)  | Volume 116 | November 5th, 2020

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

OER & ONLINE LEARNING: ISKME has just released OER & Online Learning: Faculty Quick Start Guide, Strengthening the Shift to Online Learning in California Community Colleges Through the Use of OER. The guide is supported by a grant from the Michelson 20MM Foundation, to conduct a study and develop a set of resources to accelerate OER use for distance education, especially the urgent shift to remote learning during the pandemic in 2020. Tailored to faculty and campus administrators both in California, the Guide has the aim is to enable system-wide shifts to meet postsecondary institutions’ long term goals for distance learning, and faculty’s emergency plans for remote learning in response to the COVID-19 and potential future crises.

IMLS GRANT:  Oklahoma State University, East Central University, Redlands Community College and the Oklahoma Council of Online Learning Excellence have partnered on a three-year project to develop a reliable methodology to assess the efficacy of OER on lifelong learning competencies. The project is made possible through a $428,300 National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “Open access is about democratizing access to knowledge curation,” says Kathy Essmiller, OER Librarian at OSU. “We’re actively and intentionally facilitating access to the scholarly conversation.”

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

ALMOST HERE: The Open Education Conference (#OpenEd20) will be held virtually November 9-13, 2020. That’s next week! Check out these tips for getting the most out of this (and any) virtual conference, and note that registration and scholarships are still available. 

COMING SOON: The 2020 Open Education Global Conference will virtually take place November 16-20th. For more information on the conference, click here. 

REGISTER NOW: Registration is now open for World Access to Higher Education Day event Locking Down, Opening Up: Prioritising Equitable Access and Success in a Time of Uncertainty on Tuesday, November 17th. The event will consist of practical sessions featuring case studies, research-informed practice, and an action planning workshop reflecting on the role of higher education in Australian society and the inequality facing students. See the complete schedule and register here.

SAVE THE DATE: Join North Carolina State Libraries every Tuesday for a casual Café via Zoom and enjoy a relaxed, coffee shop-style chat about open educational topics. Next session, “Making Your Online Course Even Better with OER” will be held on November 10th. Click here for more information. 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM CALIFORNIA: California State University Northridge (CSUN) Library recently joined the Open Education Network in efforts to reduce the cost of textbooks for students. CSUN has long worked to help students find ways to save money on textbooks and curricular materials. The eText initiative was launched in 2013 to aid faculty in authoring their own course materials and creating OER.“Students who struggled with accessing course materials and relied on the Library’s Campus Quality Fee-purchased print textbooks before the pandemic could access ebooks through the library,” said CSUN librarian Yi Ding. “However, many major publishers refuse to sell eTextbooks to libraries so it’s critical that faculty consider adopting more affordable course materials. This partnership with the Open Textbook Library will give faculty more resources to help support our students.” Read more>>

FROM COLORADO: Governor Jared Polis recognized six higher education faculty and institutions on Thursday for their work in advocating for and providing free instructional materials as part of the Zero Textbook Cost Challenge.  The Colorado Department of Higher Education has boasted a $3.9 million savings to students in Colorado over the lifetime of the OER initiative, which was launched in 2018. “It’s inspiring to see the progress campuses and educators across Colorado are making in saving students money on textbooks in the last few years” said Polis. “We’re excited to see the cost savings for students and pursuit of accessible, equitable, and high-quality curriculum for Colorado’s learners.”  Read more>>

FROM TEXAS:. Dr. Adam Weiss, an assistant professor of education at West Texas A&M, is one of six grantees chosen by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in its OER Grant Program. Weiss’ project will focus on a textbook composed of two parts; the first, used by community college students in an entry-level class, Learning Framework, which is part of the Texas core curriculum and one of the courses most widely transferred to four-year universities in the state.. “Many students who want to be teachers across the state of Texas, both in community colleges and universities, and if students can use OER books, they can save significant amounts of money,” Weiss said. “OER is a great opportunity to help make education a more affordable and more democratic institution, and this project is an exciting way to link community colleges with four-year institutions.” Read more>>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

Joel Quam and Scott Campbell from College of DuPage released The Western World: Daily Readings on Geography. In essay format, this textbook considers examples of various subcategories of Geography in combination with five regions of the Western World.

Manon Allard-Kropp from University of Missouri–St. Louis has released Languages and Worldview. Asking and answering questions about what culture entails and examines the fundamental properties and intertwining nature of language and culture. This text explores linguistic relativity, lexical differences among languages and intercultural communication, including high and low contexts.

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Inclusive access is not as inclusive as it seems | The Daily Texan

Transform higher education — make textbooks free | EdSource

Interesting to Consider >> 

Digital Equity is the Right to Learn | MarketScale

Building an openly-licensed “course in a box” in a month | KPU

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest.

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of stakeholders across the higher education community. Subscribe here.

OER Digest – September 24th, 2020

From Bilan Jama (CC USA)  | Volume 114 | September 24th, 2020

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

APPLY NOW: The 2020 application period for the Open Textbook Pilot program is now open. The grant competition will award approximately $6 million in federal funds to higher education institutions to create or expand the use of open textbooks. This is a great opportunity to seek funding to support effective and impactful open education work. 

• Applications are due November 16, 2020. See the notice inviting applications for further instructions.
• U.S. institutions of higher education and state higher education agencies are eligible to apply.
• The maximum grant size is up to $2 million for a period of up to 36 months. 
• Grants are awarded on a competitive basis according to their score. A call for reviewers is also currently open.

FEDERAL UPDATE: In addition, the Final Priorities, Requirements, and Definitions for the federal Open Textbook Pilot program has been published, which contains the U.S. Department of Education’s response to the public comment period held in March and April. Overall, the changes reflected in the final notice are limited, but a new $2 million maximum grant size will ensure that the funding supports multiple projects. The Department also made minor adjustments to the program’s priorities, including to remove the exclusive preference for “personalized learning” as a technology-based strategy for student success, to add requirements regarding interoperability and accessibility of materials, and to encourage participation by community colleges and Minority-Serving Institutions. All told, the changes to the program are broadly reflective of community input.

#FREETHETEXTBOOK: Free the Textbook is a nationwide initiative that calls on institutional leaders, teachers, and students to read the fine print on automatic textbook billing partnerships, and consider open textbooks instead to offer truly inclusive access to course materials. Share why you want more OER instead of automatic billing using the hashtag #FreetheTextbook, and check the initiative’s website for more information and sample materials to support your OER advocacy.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

CALL FOR INFO: Mark your calendar for Open Access Week October 19-26, 2020! Please send all of your event’s information and registration to oerdigest@gmail.com to be featured in our next edition. 

APPLY NOW: The Open Education Network is accepting applications for a cohort of librarians to be certified in OER Librarianship. Applications are due on November 6, 2020, 11:59 pm Central.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM CALIFORNIA: Cerro Coso faculty implemented a strategy to support student success by reducing educational costs for students by adopting OER to replace costly textbooks. “There are many reasons why college students do not buy recommended and required textbooks, but fundamentally the biggest reason is they cannot afford them,” said Heather Ostash, Vice President of Student Services.  “It is very important that students have access to these OER textbook alternatives.” Students agree. One student said, “I had to drop a class this semester because the cost of a book was $200 and I could not afford that as a single mother. I had already paid over $200 for the two classes I had.” Read more >>

 FROM MASSACHUSETTS:  MassBay Community College is doubling the number of courses that use free or pen educational resources to 74 courses, which makes classes more affordable for students. “As four-year colleges are also shifting to an online format, they simply cannot compete with the price of our courses. In addition to our significantly lower tuition and fees, by utilizing OER, our students save even more money by requiring little to no printed materials. OER courses are closely aligned with our mission of providing an accessible, practical, and affordable education for students who choose MassBay,”  said MassBay President, Dr. David Podell. Read more >>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has published “Advanced Community College ESL Composition: An Integrated Skills Approach”, a book that has been created to provide a framework for building skills in writing and critical thinking. It provides access to published samples from professional authors along with essay drafts from ESL students who have polished their skills in their respective writing courses.

University of California at Berkeley professor Bob Glushko created a new resource titled “The Discipline of Organizing: 4th Professional Edition”, that builds a bridge between organizing and data science. It reframes descriptive statistics as organizing techniques, expands the treatment of classification to include computational methods, and incorporates many new examples of data-driven resource selection, organization, maintenance, and personalization.

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Increasing Access and Savings For Students | SDSU Newscenter

Interesting to Consider >> 

The Next Phase for Open Education | The Good Men Project

College students have been left behind. What’s the plan to support them? | U.S. PIRG

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest.

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of stakeholders across the higher education community. Subscribe here.

OER Digest – September 10, 2020

From Mo Nyamweya | Volume 113 | September 10, 2020

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

OPENSTAX MILESTONE: OpenStax has officially surpassed $1 billion in student savings since publishing their first open textbook in 2012. In just under a decade of operation, OpenStax has had a massive impact on teaching and learning, serving over 14 million students worldwide. They’ve also just announced that they have plans to double their library of open textbooks with $12.5 million in grant support from various national foundations, marking the largest investment in OER to date.

OER PROJECT PARTNERSHIP: The Nevada Department of Education announced the OER Project’s collaboration with the state on two new history courses. The Big History Project focuses on foundational skills and concepts for students to help prepare them for high school-level work, while the World History Project focuses on preparing students for Advanced Placement coursework. The courses will allow teachers to adapt lesson plans and materials to the needs of their middle and high school students. 

COLLABORATION IN BC: Science and geography faculty from post-secondary institutions in British Columbia collaborated on developing an open resource that will be introduced this fall. In three months, they developed a 22-assignment lab manual for students in first year geography courses. The project was conceptualized as a result of the sudden shift to online learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

REGISTER NOW: The 2020 Open Education Global Conference (November 16-20) has opened registration. 

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Renton Technical College – located in Renton, Washington – is hiring an OER and Instruction Librarian. Applications received by Wednesday, October 7th will receive priority consideration, but the position is open until filled.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM KENTUCKY: The Eastern Kentucky Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Open Textbook Resources is awarding a $23,000 grant funding courses with zero textbook costs. As a result of this first round of funding, approximately 4,500 EKU students will save an estimated $333,000 each year. “It provides a huge return on investment in terms of the impact it will have for EKU student success,” said EKU librarian Kelly Smith. “For some students, it could mean the difference between passing and failing a class.” Read more >>

FROM ARKANSAS: The University of Arkansas Library’s new course development project resulted in savings of over $50,000 for students who take the required core curriculum two semester sequence in American history during the 2020-21 academic year. “As a third of our first-year students from Arkansas are Pell eligible, this project further reduces the barriers students face to access our undergraduate courses,” said James Gigantino, professor and chair of the Department of History. Read more >>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

The University of San Francisco has published “A Way of Proceeding: Ethical Decision-Making for Management Students at Jesuit Colleges”, a resource including assignments, suggested readings and lectures for a 7 week course on ethical decision making.

University of Iowa instructor Brandon Myers created a new resource titled “Guided Inquiry Activities for Programming Language Concepts”, a collection of open resources intended to support the use of POGIL in intermediate level undergraduate computer science courses on functional programming and the implementation of programming languages.

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Fall Update: Meeting Student Basic Needs During COVID-19  | U.S. PIRG

Three strategies to manage any classroom environment this year brings | OpenStax

Interesting to Consider >> 

Textbook Affordability in the Time of COVID-19 | Taylor & Francis Online

Instructors prepared for fully online semester | The Connection

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest. 

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of stakeholders across the higher education community. Subscribe here.

OER DIGEST – August 13, 2020

From Bilan Jama  (CC USA)  | Volume 112 | August 13th, 2020

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

NEW FACULTY SURVEY: Bay View Analytics has released a new survey in partnership with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET). The survey found that initiatives to raise awareness of OER are having a measurable impact on the number of faculty members using OER in their classrooms. Faculty members who are aware of one or more OER initiatives are much more likely to be adopters of OER. This is true regardless of the instructors’ type of institution, the level of course they teach, or where they are located in the U.S. “If you’re aware of an OER initiative, you’re much more aware of OER in general, much more likely to adopt, and if you haven’t adopted, you’re much more likely to say that you will adopt in the future,'” said Jeff Seaman, director at Bay View Analytics. A total of 4,399 faculty and 1,431 chairpersons responded to the survey, which took place in the fall of 2019. The results do not capture the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on OER awareness and decisions, but OER proponents told Inside Higher Ed that they have seen a notable increase in interest since March.

NEW PUBLICATION SERIES: The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education has announced the creation of new publication series focused on OER and open educational practices. The widespread interest in the National Forum Open Licensing Toolkit, published in June 2019, and accompanying webinar, ‘Introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Licensing’, prompted the National Forum to establish a series of guides and associated webinars focused on the topic of OER/OEP. The second guide in the series, ‘How to Choose an Open Licence’, has now been published.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The call for proposals is now open for #OpenEd20. The conference will be held virtually on November 9-13, 2020. Proposals are due September 1, 2020. Learn more and submit your proposal here.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: The Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) is seeking submissions for its 8th annual Library Publishing Directory. They are surveying the landscape of scholarly publishing in libraries across the globe, and invite you to share information about your library’s scholarly publishing activities. The call for entries will close on Monday, September 14, 2020.  Learn more here.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The call for chapter proposals is now open for the forthcoming book from ACRL Press, Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice. Email an abstract (up to 500 words, submitted as a Word document) and author(s) CV to OERsocialjustice@protonmail.com. The deadline to submit is October 30, 2020. 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM ALBERTA: University of Alberta Libraries and other post-secondary institutions across the province are collaborating to provide students and instructors with the ability to access and create digital learning materials for free. The service, Open Education Alberta, is a platform that enables the adaptation, creation and use of open education resources (OERs) in post-secondary courses. As universities move to online learning in the wake of COVID-19, “Faculty [members] are already looking at ways to revisit how they’re going to deliver their courses for the fall, and OERs might solve some of the problems that they’re encountering in terms of student access to learning materials,” said project co-lead Cari Merkley, a librarian at Mount Royal University. Read more >>

FROM NEW JERSEY: Rutgers University Libraries have created a program that incentivizes faculty to use free or low-cost learning materials that save students money. The Open and Affordable Textbooks (OAT) program is projected to save over 16,400 students a total of more than $2.1 million in the cost of textbooks and other course materials over the next year.“With the ongoing pandemic putting financial pressures on so many families, it is more important than ever to do what we can to keep our students’ education affordable,” said Krisellen Maloney, vice president for information services and university librarian. “I’m proud that the Libraries can offer a program like OAT that not only helps relieve financial burdens for our students but can also help foster their academic success.” Read more >>

FROM TEXAS: DigiTex has launched Texas Learn OER, a set of ten peer-reviewed, openly licensed, self-paced modules for faculty, staff, and administrators. The modules include information on understanding OER; open licensing, including Creative Commons; finding and evaluating OER; accessibility; adapting, creating, and sharing OER; and OER in Texas.  DigiTex has worked with Carrie Gits, Head Librarian and Library Services OER Team Leader at Austin Community College, to adapt for a wider audience modules she created for ACC as a part of her capstone project for the 2018-19 SPARC Open Education Leadership Program. Read more >>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

A new memoir published on the CUNY Manifold platform My Slipper Floated Away has been released. My Slipper Floated Away is an anthology of fresh, compelling essays written by students at Lehman College in the Bronx. The writers are immigrants or the children of immigrants and/or POC.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University recently published Doing Research, an open textbook that highlights a modules-based approach to learning research skills that emphasizes the reflective nature of information discovery, the contextual basis for evaluating that information, and a recognition that information has value.

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Why It’s So Hard to Lower the Cost of Textbooks | EdSurge

How to Make Lessons Cohesive When Teaching Both Remote and In-Person Classes | Education Week

Back to School Resources for Distance Education | Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

Interesting to Consider >> 

Colleges’ Pivot to Remote Education Has Some Upsides, Too | The Chronicle of Higher Education

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest.

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of stakeholders across the higher education community. Subscribe here.

OER Digest – July 30, 2020

From Mo Nyamweya, SPARC | Volume 111 | July 30, 2020

With updates from Nicole Allen, SPARC

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

SUPPORT OER: The Steering Committee of DOERS3, a collective of 23 higher education systems and state/province-wide OER initiatives in the U.S. and Canada, released a statement urging higher education institutions to accelerate their adoption of high-quality OER this summer and fall. The statement outlines the advantages of OER over traditional textbooks in the COVID-19 learning environment and calls on senior officials to take action by positioning OER as the “first option,” developing OER strategic plans, and providing financial support. 

RESEARCH METHODS: GO-GN, the Global OER Graduate Network, released a Research Methods Handbook aimed at newer open education researchers and those starting out on their doctoral projects. The Handbook presents an overview of scientific methodology for open research and features contributions by 28 network members who are doctoral or postdoctoral researchers working in the field of open education. GO-GN also hosted a webinar on research methods earlier this year.

HEY OPENED! It’s official – the 2020 Open Education Conference will take place as a virtual event on November 9 – 13, 2020. Organized through a community-driven planning process, the conference welcomes all who are interested in sharing and learning about OER, open pedagogy, and open education initiatives. More information on the save the date is available here, and stay tuned for more information on registration and the call for proposals. Follow along at #OpenEd20 and @HeyOpenEd.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

REGISTER NOW: The Student Government Resource Center, a project of the Student PIRGs, is holding a free workshop for student leaders focused on the basics of campaign planning and design. This workshop will use a case study of an open textbook initiative to illustrate key concepts. While targeted for student government leaders, the training is open to all students taking on a leadership role on campus. The first half of this two-part series will be held on Tuesday August 4th at 4:00 EST. Learn more and register here.

REGISTER NOW: The Open Education Conference Steering Committee will be having a conference community call Friday, August 21, 2020 at 1:00 EST. Please register here.

APPLY NOW: Atla has launched a new pilot program to support the creation of open educational resources (OER) for courses in theology and religious studies. Click here for more information. 

APPLY NOW: BCcampus is seeking proposals for grants to develop OER and open online courses. Click here for more information on eligibility and how to apply.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM CALIFORNIA: Humboldt State University (HSU) received a $15,000 grant to support their OER program. The grant will facilitate adoption and OER research while also supporting faculty and lecturer training. HSU’s OER program has already saved students $1 million in textbooks and over $1.3 million in various course materials. “Open Educational Resources, in addition to the HSU Library’s textbook rental program, helps students get the educational materials they need to succeed as well as their basic needs to thrive,” said Kyle Morgan, scholarly communications librarian. Read more >>

FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Penn State University’s OPEN.ED, a website hosting high-quality learning materials, saw a surge of interest in March as a result of the switch to remote learning. The website was created through Penn State’s OER initiative launched in 2007, and now offers more than 80 courses spanning over 1,715 topics. “We’ve always had great content, and we wanted to create a system that allows users from around the world to easily search and access that content,” said Jennifer Babb, a learning designer in the Dutton Institute who worked on the website. Read more >>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

Chippewa Valley Technical College recently published Nursing Pharmacology, an open textbook designed for entry-level undergraduate nursing students. The material explains basic concepts of pharmacology and describes common medication classes. The book is available for download in multiple formats, but the online version is required for interaction with the adaptive learning activities included in each chapter.

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Grant allows instructors to create affordable class materials | The Daily Evergreen

Letter to the Editor: Open source textbooks | Coastal View

Interesting to Consider >> 

Opinion: Michigan community colleges are fighting injustice | The Detroit News

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest.

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of stakeholders across the higher education community. Subscribe here.

OER DIGEST – July 2, 2020

From Bilan Jama  (CC USA)  | Volume 109 | July 2nd, 2020

With updates from Kaitlyn Vitez

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

NEW REPORTS:  The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) released their report by its Open Education Working Group (OEWG) that examines the landscape of regional and institutional post-secondary support for open education in Canada. The report illustrates the state of open education in Canada, and highlights regional variations, strengths and weaknesses of current approaches, as well as gaps and opportunities. The Open Education in European Libraries of Higher Education report was just released, which summarizes the results of a survey of European libraries on Open Education (OE) and Open Education Resources (OER) prepared by SPARC Europe in consultation with the European Network of Open Education Librarians (ENOEL). The survey was launched at the beginning of this year, and targeted academic libraries across Europe, garnering 146 responses from 29 countries. 

STATE BILLS: Several states are adopting new legislation relating to textbooks. In Florida,  SB 72 was signed by the governor, allowing Florida institutions to make “inclusive access” style automatic course material billing programs to be opt-out. Previously, the law had guaranteed students the right to opt-in. Meanwhile, Georgia adopted SR 87, which creates the “Senate Study Committee on Digital Education and Screen Time” in Georgia public schools. This bill requires the committee to undertake a study of the conditions, needs, and issues identified in this resolution, including the effect of “digital education” on academic effectiveness and its effect on student users. 

OPEN FL DEFUNDED: Also from Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis unexpectedly vetoed funding in the state budget for the program that houses the Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative (FALSC). FALSC provides online journal subscriptions, e-books, and other resources for schools across the state, and FALSC’s Open Florida initiative provides training and support for institutions to switch to OER. Advocates have expressed opposition to the move, because it cuts off faculty and students from essential resources and advising during a crucial period of preparation for summer and fall classes, which are still largely remote. 

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

APPLY NOW: The Open Education Group is accepting applications for the 2020-2021 OER Research Fellows due July 10th. Click here for more information. 

APPLY NOW: OpenStax is accepting applications for its 2020-2021 institutional partnership program. The deadline has been extended to July 17th.

REGISTER NOW: The Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas is hosting a webinar on July 15 titled “Open Texas: State Initiatives to Support OER in Higher Education.” Click here for more information and registration. 

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The call for proposals for the Creative Commons Global Summit is live. The event will be virtual and free of cost, taking place October 19-24. Proposals are due July 17th. 

APPLY NOW: Open Oregon Educational Resources seeks a researcher to work on a contract basis to conduct research on the impact of the Equity and Open Education Faculty Cohort Model. Please submit your proposal by July 31, 2020, to hofera@linnbenton.edu.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Umpqua Community College is hiring a library director. Learn more and apply for the position here.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM KENTUCKY: The University of Kentucky Libraries recently awarded 10 Alternative Textbook Grants to faculty who will replace traditional commercial textbooks with open educational resources, library-licensed materials or original content created by the faculty themselves. So far, the program has  saved nearly 9,000 students over $1.14 million. Each student who enrolled in a course taught with an alternative textbook saved approximately $129. “Having relied on my open source textbook has made my current start into the online teaching world due to COVID so much easier,” Regina Hannemann from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering said. Read more>> 

FROM NORTH CAROLINA: With remote learning becoming the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic, some groups have expressed concern that expensive access codes for online learning materials may pose a barrier for some college students. Last month, U.S. PIRG released a new study titled Fixing the Broken Textbook Market, Second Edition, highlighting the impact of textbook prices on college students. The survey received 121 responses from UNC students. “If they don’t buy the access code, students are being priced out of access to their homework, their exams, the materials they’ve been assigned and participation in a class they’ve already paid tuition for,” Nagle said. Read more>>

FROM UTAH: When Melissa Hardy took over a biology laboratory class at Salt Lake Community College, she inherited a commercial lab manual that was out of date and did not align with the structure of her course. The manual also cost each student $100, a price they couldn’t avoid by purchasing a used copy, since the book was designed to be written in. In response to this issue, Hardy and a colleague decided to create their own open access lab manual. They added activities that take advantage of resources in their region, and the lab manual is “super adaptable”, according to Hardy. “What I’ve long said about OER is, it really makes the instructor think differently about their teaching and their courses,” says Steve Greenlaw, a professor of economics at the University of Mary Washington . “It gives you the possibility of doing these revisions. Suddenly you think about stuff you never thought about before.” Read more>>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

Oregon State University released State and Local Government and Politics: Prospects for Sustainability (2nd Ed.). Written by Christopher A. Simon, Brent S. Steel and Nicholas P. Lovrich, the textbook considers their decades’ long research, and the meaning of that research to both the broader society and to students of contemporary politics.

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Open textbooks, in more ways than one: Save money and increase educational diversity with high-quality, up-to-date, learning options | New York Daily News 

Interesting to Consider >> 

We’re All in This Together | Inside Higher Ed

Letter: Save our neighbors’ jobs | Pocono Record 

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