From Cailyn Nagle (PIRG) | Volume 115 | October 8th, 2020

 

THE OER DIGEST

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

2020 Open Education Conference: With the theme of “Reimagining Open Education” the 2020 Open Education Conference (#OpenEd20) is now open for registration. The conference is virtual this year and will take place from November 9-13th. Currently, the conference is being redesigned through community input. Early registration runs until October 30th. Scholarships are available.

Copyright and Fair Use Focus Groups: The next week is the last chance to participate in this stage of the development of the best practices in fair use and fair dealing for open educational resources. Come take part in a focus group to help document the pedagogical, social, and emotional purposes for including third party materials in OER. These workshops are currently focused on fair use in the United States and fair dealing in Canada – so we encourage participants in both of those jurisdictions to participate. Register for the K-12 or higher education track.

 

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

APPLY NOW: The 2020 application period for the Open Textbook Pilot program is open. The grant competition will award approximately $6 million in federal funds to higher education institutions to create or expand the use of open textbooks. Applications close November 16th, 2020. Learn more and apply here. There is also a call for reviewers.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The Scholarly Communication Notebook is accepting proposals. The SNC is a collaboration of libraries creating OER for library students. They are looking for OER around scholarly communication and are offering a financial award to participants. Review of proposals will begin October 20th. Read more and apply here.

REGISTER NOW: Kennesaw State University has opened their Open Access Week events to the broader community. They have a different event Monday-Friday, from panels to film screenings. See the complete list of events and register here.

REGISTER NOW: Virginia Tech’s OA week has been going strong since 2012! This year they are hosting discussions and webinars every day of the week. See their event descriptions and register here. 

SAVE THE DATE: The Open Education Policy Forum is scheduled for October 29th. This international conversation has gone virtual and with the main session focused on the results of their study on Open Education’s responses to the pandemic. Read more here. 

 

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM CALIFORNIA: Saddleback College has added 15 zero textbook cost (ZTC) pathways, which means students can complete these degrees and certifications without purchasing a single textbook. The college has embraced the ZTC movement in fields ranging from economics to aging studies. “Sometimes a textbook can be more expensive than the class,” said one student at Saddleback College. “One of the textbooks for a non-ZTC class was around $200. I was able to take an extra class with the money I saved from enrolling in a ZTC course instead.” Read more>>

FROM NEBRASKA: First launched in 2015, University of Nebraka Kerny’s OER initiative has grown to include 50 faculty teaching 83 classes. The program has saved students nearly half a million dollars since it’s start and continues to expand its impact. The university is currently working to include course designations for OER classes during the registration process. In addition to savings, faculty are seeing additional benefits to participating in the program. “The dollar amount is obviously very important, but what really resonates with me is the interactivity and engagement in OER courses. The material is always very relevant,” said Jane Petersen, UNK director of Academic Technology and Client Services. Read more>>

FROM KENTUCKY: This fall term, West Kentucky University’s Affordable Textbook Initiative has saved students nearly $70,000 in textbook costs. The new program, run out of the library, worked with eight faculty and are planning to continue the program into 2021.  Read more>>

 

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

Dr. Brain Weidner from Butler University released Brass Techniques and Pedagogy. This guide for the band music educator focuses on beginner level brass instruction and includes the horn, trumpet, tuba, euphonium, and trombone. 

DePaw University’s Dr. Humberto Barreto released a second edition of Intermediate Microeconomics with Microsoft Excel.The book’s interactive examples use Excel to let students manipulate live graphs to learn by doing. While it uses Excel 2019, it is also compatible with older versions.

 

WEIGH IN

Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider

Great to Share >> 

Open Educational Resources are Helpful | Pierce College Round Up

Professors, Help Your Students Succeed By Adopting No Cost, Open Textbooks | Michelson 20MM

How can teaching materials promote equity? | William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

 

Interesting to Consider >> 

Pandemic Amplifies Trouble with Restrictive Licensing and E-Textbooks | SPARC 

 

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.