OER Digest - June 4th, 2020
From Kaitlyn Vitez and Cailyn Nagle | Volume 107 | June 4th, 2020
THE OER DIGEST
Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and reminders
BLACK LIVES MATTER: We stand in solidarity with those protesting the killing of George Floyd, those whose right to free speech and peaceful protest has been attacked, and with all victims of systemic violence against Black communities. We encourage you to check out resources at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and consider sharing a recent webinar on “Working Towards Antiracism and Culturally Responsive Teaching in Open Education” by Creative Commons USA and New America (to be posted to YouTube in the next few days) with educators on your campus. If you know of other openly-licensed anti-racism resources, please share them with our team at oerdigest@gmail.com so that we can include them in our next edition.COVID-19: This edition, we want to highlight a few resources that would be great to share with your institution’s administration as you push for greater investment and support for OER as part of their fall planning:
- From the American Association of Community Colleges, “When it comes to OER, don’t be afraid to start small.”
- From eSchoolNews, “10 Ways Administrators Can Collaborate with Librarians Even Remotely”
- From Achieving the Dream, “OER at Scale: The Academic and Economic Outcomes of Achieving the Dream’s OER Degree Initiative”
- From BCcampus Open Education, “Virtual Lab and Science Resource Directory”
- From Foresight Law and Policy, “Using the CARES Act to Acquire the High-Quality Materials Students Need for Online and Classroom Learning”
COURSE MARKING: Marking Open and Affordable Courses: Best Practices and Case Studies is now available from Mavs Open Press. Edited by Michelle Reed (University of Texas at Arlington), Sarah Hare (Indiana University), and Jessica Kirschner (Virginia Commonwealth University), this open access book was written by a team of more than 30 authors and supported by the Rebus Foundation is the first and only guide for institutions navigating the uncharted waters of course material markings, by summarizing relevant state legislation, providing tips for working with stakeholders, and analyzing technological and process considerations. The authors invite readers to continue the conversation by interacting with the text using Hypothesis, posting to the project discussion board, and sharing experiences and examples on Twitter using the project hashtag #MarkingOER. OPENING UP THE LMS: This week, OpenStax announced that the Instructional Innovation and Support team at San Jacinto College in Houston has developed “cartridges,” or plug-and-play frameworks for class pages within a learning management system, for Blackboard. This builds on top off work from OpenStax and the California Community College system to develop free cartridges for Canvas, D2L, and Moodle. These tools can be accessed in the “instructor resources” page of each OpenStax title.
OPEN CONNECTIONS
Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: The OER Digest Team is asking readers to share their thoughts and feedback so we can better design the digest to suit our community's needs. Please take 5 minutes to complete our reader survey. All are welcome to participate, and your feedback will allow us to better serve the open education community. You can find the survey here. APPLY: SPARC is now accepting applications for the 2020-21 cohort of the Open Education Leadership Program. Entering its fourth year, this fully-online intensive professional development program has graduated more than 60 library professionals who continue to advance open education across the community. The priority deadline is June 19th, and you can learn more and sign up for an info session here.ATTEND: The Colorado OER Council and Department of Higher Education are hosting the Colorado OER Virtual Summit on Friday June 5th. Registration is available here.PROPOSALS: The OE Global conference is accepting proposals for their November 16-20th conference, which will be fully online. Their theme for the year is Connecting the Global Open Education Community. The deadline for proposals is June 30th. Learn more here. REGISTER NOW: The Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at American University Washington College of Law and Creative Commons USA are hosting a webinar on “Using Open Licensing to Support LGBTQ-Inclusive Learning”. The webinar will be held next Friday, June 12th at 12 PM EST. Click here to register.
STORIES FROM THE FIELD
Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those impacted
FROM WYOMING: The most recent round Alt Textbook Grant from the University of Wyoming Library is projected to save students over $20,000 this next semester through six grants. Professors are using the $1,000 grants to create texts that include everything from 3D brain scans and rock samples to test banks and interviews. "With the Alt-Textbook Grant Program, [UW] Libraries not only hopes to encourage the creativity and innovation that we have seen in past applicants but also, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, to provide an affordable and accessible alternative to a traditional textbook as students continue to rely on online resources," said Hilary Baribeau, digital scholarship librarian. The program has saved students over $100,000 in the past two years. Read more >>>FROM ARKANSAS: University of Arkansas continued expanding participating classes for their Open Educational Course Materials Conversion Program. Professor Sharman Russell’s film class joins the growing number of classes switching to open textbooks. His newly published open textbook adds an additional $20,000 in savings for the student body. "After years of trying to force unwieldy and overpriced textbooks to fit my teaching style, only to have students ignore the reading anyway, I decided I should write something myself," said Sharman. Read more >>>
HOT OFF THE PRESS
Each edition, we highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource
From Melissa Randall and the students of the Community College of Denver comes Fundamentals of Business Law. This textbook includes practical advice from judges and attorneys to business students on how to avoid legal liability and maximize success. Developed thought open pedagogy, undergrad business students edited, revised, and created graphics throughout this textbook.
WEIGH IN
Great reads to repost or share and interesting discussions to consider
Great to Share >>
- Small Investment Saves ND $2 Million Annually | Minot Daily News
Interesting to Consider >>
- Q&A with Heather Miceli on How OER Promotes Hands-On Learning While Saving Students Money | New England Board of Higher Education
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.