OER Digest – April 7, 2022
Michael Basmajian (PIRG) | Volume 150 | April 7, 2022
THE OER DIGEST
Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders
10 YEARS OF OPENSTAX: OpenStax, Rice University’s educational technology initiative celebrates ten years of publishing free, open textbooks by releasing ten new titles this year. The latest publications are Introduction to Anthropology and a writing guide for English composition courses. Upcoming topics include finance, political science, computer applications, contemporary math, and world history. Read More >>
OPEN CONNECTIONS
Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities
APPLY NOW: Applications for the SPARC Open Education Leadership Program 2022-2023 cohort are now open. The program is intensive professional development designed to empower academic professionals with the knowledge, skills, and connections to lead successful open education initiatives that benefit students. The deadline to complete the application form is May 6th at 11:59pm PDT.
REGISTER NOW: Join Open Education instructors and advocates Robin DeRosa and Rajiv Jhangiani for an open discussion via Zoom on Frameworks for Going Open. Robin and Rajiv will explore how Open Education can shape a hopeful and humane vision for the future of higher education. Learn more and register here.
REGISTER NOW: Interested in designing OER with sustainability in mind to facilitate future reuse and adaptation? Join the Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER) for a “Sustainable OER Course Design” webinar on April 13th at 3pm ET! Learn more and register here.
REGISTER NOW: A new report, Toward Convergence: Creating Clarity to Drive More Consistency in Understanding the Benefits and Costs of OER will be released from MHEC on April 13. The report describes six principles to help define efforts to identify savings and returns from OER investments and offers two frameworks for making those calculations. A webinar introducing the report will be hosted on April 13, 1 pm CT.
JOB OPENING: University of Houston Libraries seeks an Open Educational Resources Librarian to join the Collections Strategies and Services Department. The librarian will collaborate with colleagues in and out of the library to promote open education and affordable course materials.
REGISTER NOW: The Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas is hosting a webinar, Supporting Equitable Access to Career & Technical Education through OER, on April 21, 2022 @ 2:00 PM CDT. Speakers include Teryk Morris, Machine Tool Technology Instructor at Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon, and Dr. Esperanza Zenon, Associate Professor of Physical Science at River Parishes Community College in Louisiana. The webinar is free and open to all, and live closed captioning will be provided. Learn more and register here.
CALL FOR PAPERS: The peer-reviewed Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy has put out a call for papers for its winter 2022 OER-themed issue. The issue is particularly special, as it is slated for our first ever to be launched in Manifold, the journal's upcoming platform, which includes robust OER functionality itself. The deadline for submissions is May 15th.
STORIES FROM THE FIELD
Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted
FROM MICHIGAN: A Washtenaw Community College program in Ann Arbor, MI has saved about $9 million for students in the last few years. The program has been applied to 47 of the college’s courses since fall 2017.“I have to work to pay my school, so for me it was a very good help at that time,” said Ana Andrade, a nursing student who has been at WCC since 2018. “With books, tuition, transportation, and other costs of college, it’s great to have more tools to help students with all the expenses.” Read More >>
FROM PENNSYLVANIA: An online bachelor’s degree program at Penn State has adopted free, open-source materials for its courses to help students save on their college costs.The bachelor of science in agribusiness management is the first degree program offered online at Penn State to exclusively use OER, in its core courses. The approximately 50 students enrolled in the major will not have to pay for textbooks, course packets, case studies or other course materials for the agribusiness management courses. Read More >>
FROM NEBRASKA: An OER program at the University of Nebraska Omaha has saved students more than $2 million since it began in the spring of 2019. Beginning with the Spring 2022 semester, courses that are fully converted to no-cost or low-cost (less than $40) are tagged in UNO’s online catalog as a part of the Open Nebraska (ONE) initiative so that students can make more informed decisions about their classes. Read More >>
HOT OFF THE PRESS
Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource
At the end of February, OpenStax released Introduction to Anthropology, authored by professors from the University of Pennsylvania, Oregon State University, and the University of West Georgia. The book is a four-field text integrating diverse voices, engaging field activities, and meaningful themes like Indigenous experiences and social inequality to engage students and enrich learning. The contributors to and dangers of socioeconomic inequality are fully addressed, as is the role of inequality in social dysfunction, disruption, and change.
WEIGH IN
Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider
Great to Share >>
Momentum Grows For Open Educational Resources | Southern Regional Education Board
UMass should speed up transition to open education resources | Daily Hampshire Gazette
Interesting to Consider >>
Perlego raises $50M to build out its vision of being the “Spotify for textbooks” | TechCrunch
Why This Professor Believes OER Can Make STEM More Inclusive and Affordable | 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.