OER Digest – February 24, 2022
Michael Basmajian (PIRG) | Volume 146 | February 24, 2022
THE OER DIGEST
Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders
OPEN EDUCATION WEEK - MARCH 7-11: Open Education Week is coming up soon on March 7-11. The week, which is hosted by Open Education Global (OEG), is an annual celebration and opportunity for actively sharing and learning about the latest achievements in Open Education worldwide. You can participate in a number of ways such as hosting your own event, attending an activity hosted by another organization, sharing your favorite open assets, and promoting awareness on social media using the hashtag #OEWeek. Learn more and register your events here.
OPEN CONNECTIONS
Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities
REGISTER NOW: InclusiveAccess.org is hosting a webcast called Reexamining "Inclusive Access" Textbook Programs on March 9, 2022, at 1:00 pm Eastern. Learn more and register here.POSTDOC FELLOWSHIP: The Scholarly Communications Lab in Vancouver, BC, Canada is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to join their interdisciplinary team of researchers. The program is focused on examining the Value of Openness, Inclusion, Communication, and Engagement for Science in a Post-Pandemic World.OPEN ED GRANT: OpenSkill at Arizona State University is awarding OER Impact Grants of up to $10k to institutions as part of the Dept. of Ed. Open Textbooks Pilot Program. Our submission deadline has closed, but they are still accepting rolling submissions as funding permits.JOB OPPORTUNITY: The University of Kansas Libraries is hiring for an Open Education Librarian, who will lead and grow an established open education program and collaborate to support related scholarly communication initiatives. This is a full-time, 12-month, tenure-track faculty position and has the option of a hybrid work arrangement
STORIES FROM THE FIELD
Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted
FROM MISSOURI: Librarians Lena Marvin and Judy Schmitt from the University of Missouri–St. Louis worked with the university to launch a new landing page that collects OER created for use at UMSL and general information on the topic. Recently, Marvin and Schmitt helped create an updated version of one such resource, an immensely popular open textbook titled “An Introduction to Statistics in Psychological Sciences.” “It’s only been out since December 2021, and it’s over 700 downloads, which is pretty fast for a statistics textbook,” Marvin said. Read More >>FROM WISCONSIN: Chippewa Valley Technical College is using some relief funding to respond to pandemic issues, but also to expand a free and low-cost textbook program. The college is using about $125,000 of its relief funding to draft a new, free nursing textbook. “Students took a financial hit during the pandemic, and developing more free textbooks means fewer financial barriers for them,” said CVTC director of Library Services Vince Mussehl. Read More >>
HOT OFF THE PRESS
Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource
The University of New Mexico’s Open Textbook Library, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary and is about to celebrate 1,000 OER, recently released The Story of Earth: An Observational Guide. The book, which was written by Daniel Hauptvogel and Virginia Sisson from the University of Houston, is a lab manual that focuses on helping students make observations of geologic data, including rocks, minerals, fossils, maps, graphs, and more.
WEIGH IN
Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider
Great to Share >> Professors push colleagues to drop expensive textbooks | Spectrum News 1Student groups take action against overpriced textbooks | The Daily Universe Interesting to Consider >> Librarian's lament: Digital books are not fireproof | ZDNetUniversity of Wisconsin-Stout’s Textbook Fee Model Keeps Students’ Interests at Center | SPARCOpen-access publishing fees deter researchers in the global south | Nature 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.