OER Digest – October 26, 2023

Michael Basmajian (PIRG) | Volume 175 | October 26, 2023

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

HAPPY OPEN ACCESS WEEK: This week is Open Access Week! It's an opportunity to join together, take action, and raise awareness around the importance of community control of knowledge sharing systems.This year’s theme, “Community over Commercialization,” focuses on the approaches to open scholarship that prioritize the best interests of the public and the academic community. You can learn more at https://www.openaccessweek.org/ and follow the conversation on social media with #OAWeek.

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

REGISTER NOW: The 2023 Open Education Conference (#OpenEd23) will be held virtually on November 7-9. Register now or apply for a scholarship to join the 20th annual convening of this long standing event, which brings together 1500+ open education enthusiasts from across the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Program highlights include keynotes by Rajiv Jhangiani and Jasmine Roberts-Crews, 150+ presentations connected to the theme Innovation & Praxis, and daily breakout sessions to connect with other participants.  

REGISTER NOW: The Wisconsin Technical College System is holding their 3rd Annual Wisconsin Open Education Symposium this Friday, October 27. The Symposium is free, virtual, and has been developed to support the advancement of OER in 2-year colleges. More information, including the program agenda, can be found on the Symposium website.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The Missouri Affordable and Open Educational Resources Conference invites you to share your research, ideas, and best practices for their Spring 2024 Affordable and Open Educational Resources (A&OER) Conference. The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2023. The Conference will be held virtually on March 7, 2024. Learn more and submit your proposal here.

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS: You are invited to submit an abstract for a chapter in an upcoming edited book with the working title, Open Movements: Recognizing Challenges and Building Connections. This volume seeks to bring together experts from across various open movements to discuss the connections and differences between their work, from practical examples of current workflows to hypothetical discussions about how we might effectively collaborate for more sustainable change.The deadline for submissions is December 20, 2023. Learn more and submit your proposal here.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: The Open Education Network is accepting applications for faculty and librarian partners to receive a certification for open educational practices (OEP). Applicants should be higher education librarians and faculty who have a lesson, unit, or other educational experience that they wish to transform through the use of open educational practices and teach in the fall of 2024. Applications are due this Friday October 27th. Learn more and apply here.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Clemson University Libraries in South Carolina is seeking a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and collaborative Scholarly Communications Librarian to help advance the Libraries’ scholarly communications initiatives. Learn more and apply here.

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

FROM OREGON: This month, the Oregon Institute of Technology announced their ongoing commitment to creating OER. The Oregon Tech Library has been collaborating with faculty to produce OER course materials, with their most recent publication by the Oregon Tech/Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) faculty. The Oregon EMS Psychomotor Skills Lab Manual is free to students and outside agencies to support their coursework and certification goals. “Oregon Tech librarians have the expertise to support textbook affordability initiatives like OER and have long been engaged in this work,” said Interim University Librarian Kristin Whitman. “Equipping our faculty with the tools and skills to create openly licensed resources is one way we help to make education more equitable and affordable for our students.” Read More >>

FROM INDIANA: Three Trine University staff members have been honored by the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) for their innovation and excellence in support of higher education, textbook affordability and student success. Trine University now has more than 200 courses that use OER or free materials. “I use OER because it not only supports diverse learning styles, it challenges learners in a more effective way,” said Melissa Brown, Graduate Advisor and one of the award participants. Read More >> 

FROM DELAWARE: Over the past year, the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press has increased its efforts to support initiatives around open access publishing. In 2015, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution allowing the Library to make UD faculty research publications publicly available via UDSpace.Digital publishing specialist Jessica Deshaies connects with faculty, students and staff to track, catalog and clean their research for deposit into UDSpace. As a result, 437 open access articles were added to UDSpace during the 2022-23 academic year — a 51% increase over the previous year. “One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is empowering UD researchers...Every time I guide researchers to these opportunities, we progress toward our goal of inclusive and accessible knowledge for all.” said Deshaies. Read More >>

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

The Open Education Network has created a new collection in the Open Textbook Library for Library Science and Museum Studies. The collection ranges from titles such as Introduction to Library and Information Science to Artificial Intelligence and Librarianship.

North Broad Press, a joint imprint of Temple University Libraries and Temple University Press, recently announced the publication of A Developmental Systems Guide for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Practitioners by Sean E. Snyder. Sean is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has taught courses on child emotional challenges at Temple University and Thomas Jefferson University and has lectured at the University of Pennsylvania. 

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

Great to Share >> 

Volume 2, No. 1 | Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education

Student Research Finds Free Materials Could Replace Books | Stockton University

Interesting to Consider >>

How Struggling Bookstores Found a Way to Beat Amazon | Forbes

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.