OER Digest - January 27, 2022

From Bilan Jama (CC USA)  | Volume 145 | January 27, 2022 

THE OER DIGEST

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

 OER IN COVID RELIEF: The U.S. Department of Education released new guidance for the use of COVID emergency funds allocated to colleges and universities under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). The Department’s FAQ document outlines a set of activities that are considered allowable uses of HEERF dollars, and OER is explicitly mentioned as one of the strategies to meet students’ basic needs during the pandemic. Some institutions have already invested COVID relief funds in OER programs, and the Department’s explicit guidance opens the door for more efforts to leverage OER as a strategy to ensure all students have access to course materials. Read More>>  

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

 REGISTER NOW: A three-part Equity in Open Webinar series is being hosted by OpenStax and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education from January 26- February 10th. Each webinar will focus on broadening our understanding of equity within different facets of Open Education and provide tangible action steps we can take to further equity in Open. Learn more and register here.  REGISTER NOW: Transforming Workforce Programs with OER and Open Practices is being hosted by the Community College Consortium for OER (CCOER) from Feb 9, 12pm-1:00 pm PT. Learn more and register here.  REGISTER NOW: Putting Anti-Racism to Practice in Peer-Review, a workshop co-sponsored by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ), Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) and Open Education Network (OEN) on February 15, 12pm-1:30 pm PT. Learn more and register here.  DEADLINE EXTENDED: OpenSkill is supporting institutions to implement high quality OER, and providing up to $10,000 in grant funding, through the spring, summer, and fall of 2022. The team at Arizona State University will be providing services ranging from technology integration to learning design to course development in LMSs. Applications will now be accepted until January 31st at 5pm PT. Learn more and apply here. JOB OPPORTUNITY: The University of South Florida, St. Petersburg campus, seeks a Digital Scholarship Librarian to coordinate efforts related to current and emerging research methods, including data visualization, text analysis, and computational research platforms at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library. JOB OPPORTUNITY: The Albert B. Alkek Library at Texas State University is seeking applicants for the position of Undergraduate Open Education Resources Librarian. Learn more and apply here. JOB OPPORTUNITY: The University of Oklahoma Libraries is looking to hire an individual to serve as the Director of Open Initiatives & Scholarly Communication. Learn more and apply here.  CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Seeking submissions for the Indigenous Knowledges and Open Education Edited Volume. Many conversations around open education focus on a Eurocentric framework of copyright and intellectual property rights that are sometimes in tension with Indigenous knowledge systems, and the goal of this volume is to center Indigenous ways of knowing, culture, experiences, and worldviews within the work of open education pedagogy and advocacy work. Proposals are due March 15. 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

 FROM IDAHO: In 2018, Associate Professor of Spanish, Kelly Arispe was working with Idaho educators and realized that when districts were unable to afford textbook licenses, teachers were no longer getting access to the quality curricula for their students. Fortunately, Boise State researchers across campus work to create OER. One project called The Pathways Project, led by Arispe and Co-director Amber Hoye, works with faculty, K-12 teachers, and 72 interdisciplinary Boise State students to create a repository that is currently home to more than 700 high-quality, editable digital materials for 10 world languages and cultures. Now, with a $100k two-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Arispe and her team of researchers will work with three user groups of rural and urban teachers from across Idaho to give them the training and confidence to both use and create OER that integrate a wide array of digital humanities content. Read More >> FROM NEVADA: The University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) is working to make higher education more affordable, so students in the freshman seminar in the College of Liberal Arts now have the opportunity to save $80 each by downloading the required textbook for free. Denise Tillery, associate dean for students and professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts at UNLV, said the cost of textbooks can be a significant barrier for many low-income students. "A lot of times, students will have to wait until their financial aid has been disbursed, or even then they can't afford it," Tillery observed. "Or they're scrambling around getting used copies that might be a different edition than the one that's being used in the classroom." Collectively, the 375 students taking the class will save about $30,000. The average full-time undergraduate at UNLV spends more than $1,200 a semester on books.  Read More >> 

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

 Milne Open Textbooks has published Gendered Lives: Global Issues written by Nadine T. Fernandez and Katie Nelson. This textbook takes a regional approach to examine gender issues from an anthropological perspective with a focus on globalization and intersectionality.  

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

 Great to Share >>  Colleges can spend $198M in new relief funding on basic needs | EdScoop The Open University’s Free Learning Site Turns 15 and Reaches 100m Visitors | Business NewsWales Interesting to Consider >>  Colleges can spend $198M in new relief funding on basic needs | Observer Research Foundation  How college students can combat the pricey foe of textbook affordability | The State 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.