From Bilan Jama (CC USA)  | Volume 116 | November 5th, 2020

THE OER DIGEST

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

OER & ONLINE LEARNING: ISKME has just released OER & Online Learning: Faculty Quick Start Guide, Strengthening the Shift to Online Learning in California Community Colleges Through the Use of OER. The guide is supported by a grant from the Michelson 20MM Foundation, to conduct a study and develop a set of resources to accelerate OER use for distance education, especially the urgent shift to remote learning during the pandemic in 2020. Tailored to faculty and campus administrators both in California, the Guide has the aim is to enable system-wide shifts to meet postsecondary institutions’ long term goals for distance learning, and faculty’s emergency plans for remote learning in response to the COVID-19 and potential future crises.

IMLS GRANT:  Oklahoma State University, East Central University, Redlands Community College and the Oklahoma Council of Online Learning Excellence have partnered on a three-year project to develop a reliable methodology to assess the efficacy of OER on lifelong learning competencies. The project is made possible through a $428,300 National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “Open access is about democratizing access to knowledge curation,” says Kathy Essmiller, OER Librarian at OSU. “We’re actively and intentionally facilitating access to the scholarly conversation.”

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

ALMOST HERE: The Open Education Conference (#OpenEd20) will be held virtually November 9-13, 2020. That’s next week! Check out these tips for getting the most out of this (and any) virtual conference, and note that registration and scholarships are still available. 

COMING SOON: The 2020 Open Education Global Conference will virtually take place November 16-20th. For more information on the conference, click here. 

REGISTER NOW: Registration is now open for World Access to Higher Education Day event Locking Down, Opening Up: Prioritising Equitable Access and Success in a Time of Uncertainty on Tuesday, November 17th. The event will consist of practical sessions featuring case studies, research-informed practice, and an action planning workshop reflecting on the role of higher education in Australian society and the inequality facing students. See the complete schedule and register here.

SAVE THE DATE: Join North Carolina State Libraries every Tuesday for a casual Café via Zoom and enjoy a relaxed, coffee shop-style chat about open educational topics. Next session, “Making Your Online Course Even Better with OER” will be held on November 10th. Click here for more information. 

 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM CALIFORNIA: California State University Northridge (CSUN) Library recently joined the Open Education Network in efforts to reduce the cost of textbooks for students. CSUN has long worked to help students find ways to save money on textbooks and curricular materials. The eText initiative was launched in 2013 to aid faculty in authoring their own course materials and creating OER.“Students who struggled with accessing course materials and relied on the Library’s Campus Quality Fee-purchased print textbooks before the pandemic could access ebooks through the library,” said CSUN librarian Yi Ding. “However, many major publishers refuse to sell eTextbooks to libraries so it’s critical that faculty consider adopting more affordable course materials. This partnership with the Open Textbook Library will give faculty more resources to help support our students.” Read more>>

FROM COLORADO: Governor Jared Polis recognized six higher education faculty and institutions on Thursday for their work in advocating for and providing free instructional materials as part of the Zero Textbook Cost Challenge.  The Colorado Department of Higher Education has boasted a $3.9 million savings to students in Colorado over the lifetime of the OER initiative, which was launched in 2018. “It’s inspiring to see the progress campuses and educators across Colorado are making in saving students money on textbooks in the last few years” said Polis. “We’re excited to see the cost savings for students and pursuit of accessible, equitable, and high-quality curriculum for Colorado’s learners.”  Read more>>

FROM TEXAS:. Dr. Adam Weiss, an assistant professor of education at West Texas A&M, is one of six grantees chosen by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in its OER Grant Program. Weiss’ project will focus on a textbook composed of two parts; the first, used by community college students in an entry-level class, Learning Framework, which is part of the Texas core curriculum and one of the courses most widely transferred to four-year universities in the state.. “Many students who want to be teachers across the state of Texas, both in community colleges and universities, and if students can use OER books, they can save significant amounts of money,” Weiss said. “OER is a great opportunity to help make education a more affordable and more democratic institution, and this project is an exciting way to link community colleges with four-year institutions.” Read more>>

 

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

Joel Quam and Scott Campbell from College of DuPage released The Western World: Daily Readings on Geography. In essay format, this textbook considers examples of various subcategories of Geography in combination with five regions of the Western World.

Manon Allard-Kropp from University of Missouri–St. Louis has released Languages and Worldview. Asking and answering questions about what culture entails and examines the fundamental properties and intertwining nature of language and culture. This text explores linguistic relativity, lexical differences among languages and intercultural communication, including high and low contexts.

 

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

 

Great to Share >> 

Inclusive access is not as inclusive as it seems | The Daily Texan

Transform higher education — make textbooks free | EdSource

Interesting to Consider >> 

Digital Equity is the Right to Learn | MarketScale

Building an openly-licensed “course in a box” in a month | KPU

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest@gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest.

 

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