OER Digest – May 21st, 2020

From Bilan Jama  (CC USA)  | Volume 106 | May 21st, 2020

THE OER DIGEST

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

COVID-19: This edition, we’re highlighting some relevant upcoming webinars:

• The Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at American University Washington College of Law and Creative Commons USA are hosting a series of webinars on best practices in fair use, divided into two tracks. The next webinar “Working towards Antiracism and Culturally Responsive Teaching in Open Education” will be held tomorrow, May 22nd at 12 PM EST. Click here to register.
• New America is hosting a webinar on Thursday, June 4 from 3-4:30 PM EST on leveraging OER to meet student and institutional needs. Presenters will cover available resources and repositories of OER, how to identify high-quality resources, how to build institutional teams to support OER usage, and best practices for using OER in online or hybrid course environments. Click here to register and find more information. 

MERGER CANCELLED: College textbook publishers McGraw-Hill and Cengage called off their proposed merger this month in response to antitrust concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies. The companies cited hefty divestitures as the reason for abandoning the deal, as they would have had to sell off too many overlapping products to satisfy antitrust enforcers. From the beginning, the proposed merger was criticized by a wide range of higher ed stakeholders because it would further consolidate the textbook market, leaving students with fewer choices and higher prices. Read more “OER Digest – May 21st, 2020” →