OER Digest – August 29, 2024

Michael Basmajian | Volume 184 | August 29, 2024

THE OER DIGEST
Your monthly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders

OPEN CONNECTIONS
Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

REGISTER NOW: The 2024 Open Education Conference takes place October 8-10 as a hybrid event in Providence, RI and online. Register by September 6th for discounted virtual rates. 

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: The Open Education Network (OEN) is accepting applications for a cohort of librarians to be certified in Open Education Librarianship. Applicants should be, or anticipate becoming, newly responsible for building open education programs at their institutions. The application deadline is October 25, 2024.

SHARE YOUR STORY: The Michelson 20MM Foundation in collaboration with California Community College partners, has launched the ZTC Success Story Project. With the goal of educating policy makers and the broader public on the important work being done and the impacts made, Michelson 20MM wants to hear from CCC faculty, librarians, and OER practitioners about their experiences creating new OER or personal stories related to zero textbook cost (ZTC) degrees.

JOB OPPORTUNITY:  The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is looking for a new Director of Open Education Resources Academic Content. This role is responsible for driving student outcomes by overseeing the academic content team through the procurement, development, review, editing, and continuous improvement cycles of high-quality instructional materials across PK-12 core contents. Flexible work location within the state of Texas may be considered for qualified candidates. 

JOB OPPORTUNITY: The Canadian charity The Rebus Foundation has three job openings: Director of Programs, Program Operations Manager, and Marketing and Communications Manager. Their mission is to serve individuals and organizations across all levels of education — offering guidance, community, and spaces for educators to collaborate on pedagogy and publishing.

REGISTER NOW: The Texas Digital Library and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board invite you to register for Open Texas 2024, a free, virtual OER conference that will be held on September 25- 27, 2024. This year’s theme, “Global Horizons of Open Education: The View from Texas,” promises to broaden your perspective and ignite your passion for OER. Registration is free.

REGISTER NOW: Creative Commons is holding their next Creative Commons Certificate course starting on September 23, 2024.In 10 weeks, you can get CC Certified and become a resident expert in open licenses at your institution. Register by September 16th. Scholarships are being offered for the Open Culture Certificate courses - use the code Y4GLAMSCHOLAR60 to get 60% off the registration price.

REGISTER NOW: The Ohio Open Education Collective is looking for members. This community will meet on Zoom monthly and Discord asynchronously to discuss and share resources with one another about open education, open pedagogy, open educational practices, textbook affordability, and more. Register your interest by September 20th.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD
Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted

FROM VIRGINIA: In the 2023-24 academic year, James Madison University launched a summer stipend program to support faculty in redesigning their courses over the summer to incorporate open course materials. One such instructor is Diana Galarreta-Aima, an associate professor in the Spanish for the Professions program, who was awarded an Open Course Grant of $30,000 from VIVA, Virginia’s academic library consortium, to create an online training program for Medical Spanish. The open online resource will reduce the cost of textbooks for students while making this information accessible to aspiring interpreters and medical providers serving patients with limited English proficiency around the world. Five JMU instructors were awarded stipends which will save about 300 students more than $20,000 in textbook costs in the first semester alone. Read More >>

FROM NEW MEXICO: The University of New Mexico's OER Initiative has made significant strides since its inception in the spring of 2023. Collaborating with faculty, the initiative has championed the adoption, adaptation, and creation of OER at UNM and two other New Mexico colleges. Projections based on historical enrollment and textbook costs estimate student savings from the OER initiative to be between $466,000 and $486,000 for the 2024-2025 academic year. With the creation, adoption, and adaptation of OER, UNM aims to make education more accessible and affordable for students and to allow educators to have more direct control over the content and materials used in their courses. Read More >>

FROM CANADA: Open Education librarian Sarah Adams is leading the way in promoting OER at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Adams is hosting a workshop to inform instructors how to create their own OER on Open Education Alberta — a collaborative publishing service that uses the Pressbooks platform to create teaching material. Adams explained that in addition to reducing anxiety around material costs and budgeting, Open Education Alberta also aims to balance the needs of both students and instructors. Adams said that OER helps to “meet the curricular needs of a course while also balancing the needs of students around their ability to access course materials and be successful in their course. So it does help to create more equity,” The U of C has recently had two courses — five sections in total — adopt OER, which managed to save students over $100,000 in course materials for a single term. Read More >>

HOT OFF THE PRESS
Each edition, we highlight interesting, new, openly-licensed resources

The University of West Florida recently announced their latest Pressbooks publication, Optimizing Population Health: Strategies for Advanced Level Nurses. This resource provides an overview of population health concepts along with health promotion strategies utilized by advanced practice nurses. This resource is meant to introduce the reader to strategies that can be practiced while in graduate school as well as in healthcare settings.

Professor Dave Dillon of Grossmont College in El Cajon, CA recently announced the Pressbooks publication, Modern Blueprint for College and Career Success, a new college success OER. Modern Blueprint is a post-pandemic student guide for classroom and career success, covering student success strategies, self-management, career development, health and wellness, self and cultural awareness, social development, and financial literacy. 

WEIGH IN
Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

College Textbooks: Tips for saving money in the new school year | Student PIRGs
College textbooks and civic preparedness | WAMC Northeast Public Radio
How “course marking” can bring OER to the mainstream | University Business
OpenStax partners with Google’s Gemini Apps | Rice University
Textbook Access | Santa Barbara Independent

Survey: Cost of Course Materials Impacts Student Success | Inside Higher Ed

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.