OER Digest – April 29, 2021

From Aishah Abdullah (SPARC) | Volume 128 | April 29, 2021

With updates from Hailey Babb

THE OER DIGEST

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

OER IN COVID RELIEF: Several states have leveraged COVID-19 relief funding from the federal government to expand OER programs, recognizing the benefits of OER in distance learning. The latest is Oregon, which has awarded a $1.2 million grant from the federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) to Oregon’s statewide open education program. With this grant, Open Oregon Educational Resources will launch new initiatives, including hiring a statewide Open Education Instructional Designer, translating OER into languages other than English, designing a related professional development course for non-faculty roles, and developing openly-licensed materials with an equity lens. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is implementing a $500,000 OER Grant Program and Texas established an OER Course Development and Implementation Grant Program through their respective GEER funds.

COLORADO RENEWS FUNDING: The Colorado legislature passed a bill that would renew funding for the state’s successful OER program. The bill will provide $1 million in state funds annually for the next five years. Governor Jared Polis, a long time champion of OER while serving in Congress, is expected to sign the bill. Colorado’s OER program has funded numerous initiatives that focused on OER. Institutions, small groups, and faculty members have received funds to assist in the implementation of OER at their institutions. More than 300 OER course titles have been addressed by the grantees, which has led to students saving over $4 million.

OER IN ALBERTA: The Government of Alberta, Canada has released its long-awaited Alberta 2030 review, which is described as “a transformational vision, direction and new way of working for our province’s higher education system.” Explicitly mentioned in the report is a recommendation to “support the expansion of Open Educational Resources, such as course materials and textbooks,” as a key objective to achieve the Government’s goal of improving access and student experience.Meanwhile, at the national level, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) recently hosted a webinar on developing a national strategy for OER, which is available in English and French.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Open Education Global 2021 Conference has launched their call for proposals. The deadline to submit is May 7th. You can learn more and submit here. 

APPLY NOW: Applications are now open for the SPARC Open Education Leadership Program 2021-22 cohort. The year-long program is available for open education professionals in the US and Canada. Apply by May 28. 

REGISTER NOW: OpenCon Cleveland 2021 is open for registration. This free, virtual conference celebrates the benefits of open education to student learning. This three day event begins on May 13th. You can register for the event here. 

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Texas State University has a position open for an Open Education Resources Librarian. You can learn more and apply to the job here. 

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Open Oregon Educational Resources is hiring an Open Education Instructional Designer. This a grant-funded, two year position. You can learn more and apply here

 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM ALBERTA: Students at the University of Calgary have been pushing for the adoption of open educational resources at their university and successfully managed to secure a grant. The grant is $500,000 which they expect will create over 50 OERs for students to utilize within the classroom. Student leaders have recognized that there is a huge need for learning materials to be more affordable. “We’re hoping for some kind of movement, some kind of commitment to fund it potentially because there is a very high demand for it and need for it” said student Semhar Abraha who is the Vice President Academic of the Student Union. Read More>>

FROM HAWAI’I: Students at Leeward Community College, which is located in Hawai’i, have saved over $6 million from the adoption of open resource. In the University of Hawai’i 10-campus system, Leeward CC are the leaders of zero-cost textbook classes. The campus has been conducting zero-cost textbook classes for a few years and during the pandemic, their usage increased. In Spring of 2021, over half their classes were instructed using zero-cost textbooks. These savings are benefiting students immensely. Genesis Larson shares how, “With the money I didn’t have to spend on a textbook, I saw the world I was learning about.” Leeward CC plans to only increase their usage of free educational resources within their classrooms. Read More>>

FROM OHIO: The Ohio State University has completed an evaluation of an Ohio statewide textbook affordability initiative. The report is titled “Try it, Make it Better, Perfect it: Implementing a Statewide Textbook Affordability Initiative” and focuses on the Ohio Open Ed Collaborative (OOEC). OOEC is a statewide initiative to develop open and affordable college course materials. Within this report, they analyze the implementation of this program in areas that improvement can be made as well as the successes where other institutions can learn from. Read More>>

 

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

Talea Anderson, a Scholarly Communication Librarian at the Washington State University, has released an open textbook titled Accessibility Case Studies for Scholarly Communication Librarians and Practitioners. This open resource is filled with case studies to help guide librarians, and those with similar professions, to implement accessible open education, open access, and open data initiatives. 

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

It’s Time for Open Educational Resources | Inside Higher Ed

Investing in Textbook Alternatives Makes Post-Secondary Education More Affordable | Edmonton Journal 

 

Interesting to Consider >> 

4 Strategies this Administrator uses to Evaluate Free Resources | eSchool News

Leveraging Creative Common License with Dr. Amy Nusbaum | Open Knowledge Spectrums

Open Education Resources to Shape Post-Pandemic World | University World News

Platforms Like Canvas Play Fast and Loose With Students’ Data | The Nation

 

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 – April 15, 2021

From Cailyn Nagle (PIRG)  | Volume 127 | April 15th, 2021

 

THE OER DIGEST

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

UPDATES FROM THE STATES: In Colorado, bi-partisan legislation that would expand the statewide OER grant program to include zero textbook cost degree pathways is moving through the state senate. The bill would also provide $1 million in annual state funding for the next five years. Meanwhile, legislation that would regulate automatic billing for course materials has met with strong resistance from the commercial publishing industry, who have framed the legislation as OER vs automatic billing. California’s AB403, which would require automatically billed materials to allow students to opt-in, has stalled in the Committee on Higher Education for now. Two bills in Texas remain under consideration after hearings last month, HB 1707 and HB 1027.

UCF CHOOSES OPT-IN: Students at University of Central Florida have won their campaign to maintain the opt-in structure of their campus’s “First Day” Barnes and Noble program. After a strong grassroots effort of a broad coalition of student groups including WikiKnights, FloPIRG Students, College Republicans, College Democrats, and Young Socialists of America, UCF has decided to not move forward with the proposed opt-out change to their automatic billing program, and will allow students to choose whether to get billed. 

MIT OCW TURNS 20: On April 7th, MIT OpenCourseWare celebrated its 20th anniversary. One of the first large-scale open education programs, MIT OCW has become an invaluable resource to millions of learners around the world. “The idea for OCW came from MIT faculty: to give away MIT’s course materials to the world online,” said MIT President L. Rafael Reif. Over the last two decades, people of all ages and all walks of life have used the lectures, videos, problem sets, and other content. 

 

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

REGISTER NOW: The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is hosting a webinar on Thursday, April 22 at 1pm ET investigating how stakeholders in Canada can successfully collaborate to advance national capacity for OER. Learn more and register here. 

REGISTER NOW: The webinar, OER in Dual and Concurrent Enrollment Programs: Current Practice and Best Practice, shares the findings and best practices of a study funded by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact and the Southern Regional Education Board. The webinar will take place May 26th from 1:00 – 2:00 PM CT. Learn more and register here.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga library is looking for a new Director of Acquisitions and Content. The position is tenure track and the review of applications begins May 10th. Learn more and apply here.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Utah State University Library is looking for a new Open Educational Resource and Outreach librarian.  This is a tenure track position and review of the applications begins April 26th. Learn more and apply here.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Texas Tech University is looking for a new OER Librarian. This full-time position assistant librarian position is based in Lubbock. Learn more and apply here. 

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The Open Learning & Teaching Collaborative and the Interdisciplinary Studies Department at Plymouth State University have a paid opportunity to contribute to a new textbook. The chapter must be on the history of disciplinarity. Submit a cover letter, writing sample, and outline by May 14th. Special preference will be given to graduate students and adjunct faculty. Learn more here.

 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM NEBRASKA: At University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Successful Teaching with Affordable Resources initiative has saved students over $3.5 million in textbook costs since it was created in 2019. The program encourages faculty to use cheaper or free textbooks through participating in an automatic billing program or adopting an open textbook. “The other big win is that no matter what area a student is struggling in we can provide them a textbook in that area without any costs (through OER),” said Nathan Wakefield, director of first-year mathematics programs. “So there’s the real cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars we’re saving, but I think there’s also this big benefit of access. We’re giving the book to them at their fingertips without any extra expenses.” Read more>>

FROM MICHIGAN: Grand Valley State University plans to expand the use of OER on campus through their Innovation Fund. “If you imagine OER as a bus line, we’re adding more stops so that people who are interested in getting involved don’t have to walk all the way to the early adopter station,” said Matt Ruen, scholarly communications outreach coordinator for University Libraries. The program will fund a student editorial assistant, adjunct OER coordinator, a faculty workshop, and stipends for reviewing an open textbook. Read more >>

FROM WISCONSIN: Starting next fall, students in statistics courses across the Chippewa Valley Technical College campus will be using Lori Ann Simmons’ new OpenStax textbook, saving $200 each. Simmons wrote the book after attending an OER class funded by the Federal Open Textbook Pilot. This is the second open textbook to come out of CVTC, and while this statistics book is currently an on campus project Simmons is working to make it available on more campuses.  Read more >>

FROM INDIANA: The Private Academic Library Network of Indiana’s PALSave Program has created a grant to fund six new open textbooks. The grant has funded textbooks in subjects from religion and theater to mathematics and actuarial science. The textbooks funded by the program will be available for the public in 2023, tentatively. Read more >>

 

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

From Florida A&M University comes From Growing to Biology: Plants, by Dr. Gokhan Hacisalihoglu. This “voyage through plants” features horticultural information suitable for both academic and industrial audiences. The textbook comes with assessments, vocabulary, learning outcomes, and identification information for over 120 plants. 

 

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Our OER Epiphany: Advocating for Open Educational Resources as Tools for Affordability and Equity | Association for American Colleges and Universities

Boosting Adoption of Open Educational Resources | Inside Higher Ed 

 

Interesting to Consider >> 

Opinion: Buying college textbooks is an avoidable stress | Taunton Daily Gazette

The Challenge of OER and Experiential Learning | CUNY Academic Commons

Student Council legislation reiterates financial need of U.Va. community, supports access to open textbooks | The Cavalier Daily  

 

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 – April 1, 2021

From Bilan Jama (CC USA)  | Volume 126 | April 1st, 2021

 

THE OER DIGEST

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

 

NEW REPORT: Bay View Analytics has released their latest report on Digital Texts in the Time of COVID on behalf of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The Fall 2020 academic semester saw a shift in the proportion of higher education faculty teaching online, driving a transition of existing courses and educational materials into digital formats, according to a survey of faculty conducted by Bay View Analytics. Survey results also show that while the level of awareness of OER grew for the fifth straight year, OER adoption rates remained stable. The results reflect responses from over 3,200 faculty and department chairpersons. The report shows improvements in faculty satisfaction with OER textbooks and an increased reliance on digital materials to meet online instruction demands.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

 

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The 2021 Michigan OER Virtual Summit is accepting session proposals until Friday, April 9th. You can submit a proposal here.

SAVE THE DATE: Join North Carolina State Libraries every Thursday for a casual Café via Zoom and enjoy a relaxed, coffee shop-style chat about open educational topics. Next session, “Libraries Programs in Support of Open Education Initiatives” will be held on April 8th. Click here for more information. 

JOB OPPORTUNITY: OpenStax is seeking a Community Relations Specialist. The job posting is available here.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES: The National Endowment for the Humanities has created the Fellowships Open Book Program designed to make outstanding humanities books available to a wide audience. Applications for the competition are due July 15th, 2021. Click here for more information. 

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Pressbooks is hiring a Technical Support & Documentation Specialist to support their Open Publishing team. More information is available in the job posting. 

 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

 

FROM FLORIDA: The Nelson Poynter Library at University of South Florida St. Petersburg adopted the Textbook Affordability Project in 2016, saving USF students a total of $1 million and helping library staff move toward their goal of making textbooks entirely open universitywide. The Textbook Affordability Project received a $3,500 grant from St. Pete campus-based nonprofit Town and Gown to buy books and spent over $4,000 to acquire multidisciplinary resources for student access. “We’ve reached out to faculty and built very strong relationships with them to help them get into their Canvas courses,” said Catherine Cardwell, regional associate vice chancellor of academic affairs and dean of the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library. “Overall, I think our experience is that faculty want to do what is right for students.” Read more >>

FROM NORTH CAROLINA: The University of North Carolina System is launching a new website, OpenUNC, to make it easier to access research and other educational resources. System leaders said the website helps advance open research practices, open access publication methods, open dissemination of research outputs, and open educational resources. It also provides easy access to all open access journals published at UNC System institutions, as well as open access monographs published by the UNC Press. OpenUNC also provides links to repositories and open publishing contacts at each university. “Universal access to knowledge in an environment of open scholarship and shared creativity supports UNC’s mission to discover, create, transmit, and apply knowledge to address the needs of individuals and society,” said Janice S. Lewis, director of Academic Library Services at East Carolina University. Read more >>

FROM WASHINGTON: Faculty from across the Washington State University system are developing innovative course materials that are saving students thousands of dollars in textbook costs each semester. Affordable Learning Grants issued in 2020 helped fund transitions from traditional textbooks to open educational resources (OER) – openly licensed digital textbooks and course materials. Collectively, the projects saved students nearly $200,000 in textbook costs in 2020-21 alone. “We found last fall based on reflections that students wrote that the instruction was much more concrete and they were able to really tie it to the University’s land grant mission,” said Johanna Phelps, an assistant professor and director of Technical and Professional Writing at WSU Vancouver. “We found there was a gap in the instructional and reading content for community engagement in undergraduate technical communication classrooms. And it’s not just for students, but the OER is something we can share with colleagues at other institutions – it’s a way to give back to the field.” Read more >>

 

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

Virginia Commonwealth University has released Language and Culture in Context – A Primer on Intercultural Communication by Robert Godwin-Jones. The text introduces some of the key concepts in intercultural communication as traditionally presented in (North American) courses and textbooks, namely the study of differences between cultures, as represented in the works and theories of Edward Hall and Geert Hofstede.

 

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

 

Great to Share >> 

 

The Rising Cost of Textbooks in the US | The Cooper Point Journal

 

UW universities lowering costs by using open-source textbooks | WTMJ-TV Milwaukee 

 

Interesting to Consider >> 

 

The Pandemic’s Impact on Open Educational Resources (OER) | Inside Higher Ed

 

High-Quality Curriculum as a Transformation Tool for Equity | ASCD Express

 

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.