UMASS AMHERST FALL 2021 OPEN SCHOLARSHIP HIGHLIGHTS

The UMass Amherst Libraries present the highlights of open scholarship activity during the fall 2021 semester at the university. Faculty Incorporate OER Commitment in Their Syllabi. “There is no required textbook to purchase for this course” are welcome words to students, many of whom struggle to purchase expensive textbooks. Faculty using open education resources (OER) are adding a version of this sample statement to their syllabi under the “Textbooks and Materials” section, demonstrating their commitment to equitable access and education affordability through their use of OER.

https://www.umass.edu/news/article/umass-amherst-fall-2021-open-scholarship-highlights

Dear Users of CC Search, Welcome to Openverse - Anna Tumadóttir, Creative Commons

Starting today, all our wonderful, loyal users of CC Search will be redirected to Openverse at WordPress. You’ll find the same important, openly-licensed collections. You’ll see a familiar interface, allowing you to search by use case, license type, or several other filters. Significantly, Openverse has built language support into the project, so users now have options for what language to use the search engine in, with 10 languages already fully translated. A lot of work has been done to prepare for this day, and we anticipate a smooth transition. If any of our community members experience any issues, we invite you to please let us know or contact the Openverse team, and we will all do our best to resolve them as quickly as possible. 

https://creativecommons.org/2021/12/13/dear-users-of-cc-search-welcome-to-openverse/

ROAM Repository of Open and Affordable Materials - Penn State

Spread the Word - Help others find free educational materials by sharing your experience on social media! Link to TwitterTWITTERLink to LinkedInLINKEDINlink to FacebookFACEBOOKlink to InstagramINSTAGRAMLink to YoutubeYOUTUBE

Share Back - If you use our resources in a unique way, please share the modified resource with us. We love seeing how other people are using our materials and will consider adding your modifications to this site. You can also contribute to the global OER community by sharing your own OER materials on sites such as OER Commons.

https://roam.libraries.psu.edu/how-to-help

How Can Educators Find and Use OER in Their Classrooms? - Matthew Lynch, Techedvocate

An educator can find many types of OER in many places online. For instance, BC Campus and the Open Textbook Library are full of free, CC-licensed textbooks.  You can simply reuse what you find, revise, or mix it with your work to make it your own. Educators can use OER to encourage their students to study independently in a flexible environment. These free courses and learning opportunities give students the chance to explore what the school has to offer before they enroll. Thus, they get to experience the classroom, taste what the school has to offer, and be better prepared upon actually entering the classroom. There are other available resources besides textbooks and courses. Two others include slide decks and lectures. Educators no longer have to start from scratch when they want to create a lecture or a presentation. They can grab OER to supplement what they already have!

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/how-can-educators-find-and-use-oer-in-their-classrooms/

Principles for CC License Enforcement published - Kat Walsh, Creative Commons

The principles for license enforcement are now published. The consultation period has ended, and we’re grateful to everyone who contributed their many thoughtful comments: These principles will be useful for:

Platforms that host CC-licensed materials and want to incorporate them into site policy to guide user expectations

Creators who want to enforce rights under a CC license, but aren’t sure how to do it without being overly aggressive

Reusers who want to know whether a copyright enforcer might be trolling

Lawyers or other professionals who want to give informed advice to creators and users of CC licensed works about enforcement of rights

https://creativecommons.org/2021/12/08/principles-for-license-enforcement-published/

Welcome to the Open Publishing Awards

Open Publishing Awards celebrates individuals and communities developing open creative, technological, scholarly, artistic, and civic publishing projects. As we witness a rise in the creation of content, software, systems, and infrastructure that help share knowledge globally without barriers, the Open Publishing Awards seek to recognize the contributions of individuals and organizations that advance open in publishing. A moment for reflection and chance for celebration, the Open Publishing Awards bring together people, projects, and organizations from around the world to shine a light on one another.

https://openpublishingawards.org/index.html

Libraries, Global Campus, Student Success Center Launch Cost-Reducing Initiative - University of Arkansas

A new initiative by the Student Success Center and Open Educational Resources Team aims to reduce the cost of attendance for first- and second-year University of Arkansas students by helping faculty make the switch from traditional textbooks to Open Educational Resources in general education courses.  The Student Success Center will provide funding for the initiative. Elaine Thornton, open education and distance learning librarian, and Scott Wright, instructional designer for the Global Campus, will work with teams of 3-4 faculty to convert general education course materials from expensive traditionally published textbooks to free Open Educational Resources. 

https://news.uark.edu/articles/58530/libraries-global-campus-student-success-center-launch-cost-reducing-initiative

OERs: Benefiting Students Educationally and Financially - Matthew Lynch, Tech Edvocate

Educators use OER for a few different purposes. One is to educate their students outside of the classroom. Educators can assign these free courses to their students before classes begin so students can better prepare themselves for the semester. Students can also subsidize their schooling with free online courses. Though these courses are not always transferrable as credit, they offer the student the ability to increase their knowledge in their desired niche. Students can also take some entire programs for free, making education financially feasible for [lower-income] America. Students are typically awarded a certificate after graduating from these programs

https://www.thetechedvocate.org/oers-benefiting-students-educationally-and-financially/

Professors receive nearly $14,000 to fund Open Educational Resources - Cornell News

Professors will use the funding, which ranges in value from $1,000 to $5,000, in many different ways and on many different projects. OER can be teaching, learning, or research resources such as videos, textbooks, online tutorials, software, or lab books that have been created for anyone to use. In fact, due to the open license they carry, educators can use, reuse, and redistribute them as they see fit, at no cost. “This second round of grants provides additional support to our faculty as they expand their use of Open Educational Resources,” said Consulting Librarian for Social Sciences & Special Collections Meghan Yamanishi, who helped guide this grant effort. 

https://news.cornellcollege.edu/2021/12/professors-receive-nearly-14000-fund-open-educational-resources/

HOW TO ACCOUNT FOR THE QUALITY OF OER? - Open Science

The quality criteria presented in the form of a checklist are intended as assistance to authors and users of open educational resources and the organisations behind them. The quality criteria will:

• help authors create resources of a higher quality from the perspective of openness;
• help users in quality assessment as they are reviewing open educational resources;
• give the background organisations a tool they can use for facilitating the preparation and evaluation of open educational resources as part of other guidelines and instructions provided by the organisation.

The guidelines define five different quality criteria for open educational resources and more detailed quality dimensions for each of them. 

https://avointiede.fi/en/open-science-expert-panels/open-education/how-account-quality-oer

Now is the Perfect Time to Bring OER into Online Education - Education Technology, Spark Grants

The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) is designing the future of education. The nonprofit is on a mission to improve learning and collaboration in the education sector through social science research, research-based innovations, and by assisting schools, colleges, and universities in developing open education environments. Remote learning will likely continue for some time, and ISKME is helping educators integrate open educational resources (OER) into virtual classrooms. We’re  proud to award ISKME a Michelson Spark Grant to support this work and accelerate the use of OER for distance education.

https://20mm.org/2020/07/16/now-is-the-perfect-time-to-bring-oer-into-online-education/

$1 Million Saved by Students Through Lakeshore Technical College’s Textbook Affordability Program - Ryan Brahm, Seeharvern News

A textbook affordability program offered by Lakeshore Technical College has helped students save more than $1 million they would otherwise have spent buying textbooks. Instructors eliminated textbook costs by adopting what is referred to as open educational resources. Open educational resources include free online textbooks and other learning tools.

https://www.seehafernews.com/2021/11/26/1-million-saved-by-students-through-lakeshore-technical-colleges-textbook-affordability-program/

UW–Madison Libraries tip: Options to provide equitable access to course materials - UW–Madison Libraries

Use Open Educational Resources (OER) – These are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. The Libraries can help you find or create OER for your courses. Visit Discovering & Using OER for more information.

https://ecals.cals.wisc.edu/2021/12/06/uw-madison-libraries-tip-options-to-provide-equitable-access-to-course-materials/

Sinclair College reduces textbook costs for College Credit Plus students - WHIO

The Sinclair College Board of Trustees is reducing the price of the textbooks for high schoolers participating in the College Credit Plus (CCP) program. This marked the eighth year in a row that the college lowered the cost for CCP students.

https://www.whio.com/news/local/sinclair-college-reduces-textbook-costs-college-credit-plus-students/KBF5PHJ4YFDOTK7BWF2TB76YCM/

Bloomsburg University student helps peers cut costs through free textbook library - Madonna Manitone, PA Home

We’ve seen sharing services save people lots of money. Ridesharing is just one example. But now a local university student has taken the idea and applied it at an academic level. And it’s proving cost effective, saving students thousands in used book fees. “You think about the tuition which is expensive, and then your housing, and then you have to think about meals, and then you finally get to class and you have to buy your books,” Bloomsburg University junior and BU Book Pantry founder Cameron O’Neill said.

https://www.pahomepage.com/top-stories/bloomsburg-university-student-helps-peers-cut-costs-through-free-textbook-library/

OER may be free, but you still need to invest to use them - ARIAM MOGOSESTHER GACICIOEDMOND GAIBLE, World Bank

Calls for access and equity underpin the OER (Open Educational Resources) movement, but it’s yet to be seen if the potential impact of OER will materialize in education. Perhaps COVID-19 will change that (cautiously said).However, it’s important to consider that successfully using OER requires a substantial investment of resources, particularly in time and capacity. Without the work, there will be no reward. The team at the World Bank has written about this before, but we felt compelled to reiterate some of these points during the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/oer-may-be-free-you-still-need-invest-use-them-part-i

Community College Course Sharing Initiative Opens Access to STEM and Other Courses in Rural and Remote Texas

The Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas (DigiTex), a coalition of community colleges in Texas, today announced it has been awarded a $645,405 grant from the Greater Texas Foundation for its flagship project, Harnessing Course Sharing to Support Texas Pathways at Scale. This funding will expand a collaboration between Texas community colleges and Acadeum, the creator of an online course-sharing platform used by nearly 400 colleges and universities, to increase access to STEM and shorter-term courses and in turn improve persistence and on-time completion through guided pathways.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/community-college-course-sharing-initiative-opens-access-to-stem-and-other-courses-in-rural-and-remote-texas-301434376.html

Lumen Learning User Testing Center to Examine Equity in OER Solutions - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

Open educational resources provider Lumen Learning is partnering with Rockland Community College to launch a user testing center that will gauge the effectiveness and cultural relevance of the company's OER solutions, particularly for low-income and minority students. Rockland is a minority-serving institution of about 9,000 students, part of the State University of New York system.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/11/23/lumen-learning-user-testing-center-to-examine-equity-in-oer-solutions.aspx

Open texts and student success - Marco Seiferle-Valencia - Moscow-Pullman Daily News

According to a 2020 survey, 65 percent of college students nationwide can’t afford their textbooks and course materials. This makes sense when you realize textbooks can cost more than $1,200 a year. For some students, costs can easily exceed even that impressive amount. Advice published for some majors in 2021 suggests students budget at least $400 a text. All these costs have real impacts. 

https://dnews.com/life/open-texts-and-student-success/article_af06fe79-efec-5bdc-8e28-b328794a7a0e.html

Schuylkill professor publishes open-source textbook, saving students money - Samantha L. Bower, Penn State

Ronald Kelly, assistant teaching professor and program coordinator of criminal justice at Penn State Schuylkill, has authored an open education resource (OER) textbook focusing on introductory criminal justice concepts. The book will save students as much as $165 on general education-level supplies while catering to various learning styles.

https://www.psu.edu/news/schuylkill/story/schuylkill-professor-publishes-open-source-textbook-saving-students-money/

UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science Ratified - Cable Green, Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) applauds the unanimous ratification of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science at UNESCO’s 41st General Conference. This landmark document is a major step forward towards creating a world in which better sharing of science is open and inclusive by design. CC is honored to have been part of the global community that drafted, reviewed and revised the Recommendation. We firmly believe open access to knowledge is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition to solving big, complex problems.

https://creativecommons.org/2021/12/02/unesco-recommendation-on-open-science-ratified/

Minnesota West receives grant to develop courses with free textbooks, other materials

A state grant will pay instructors at Minnesota West Community & Technical College to research and find no-cost teaching materials for courses that could lead to a Z-degree, saving students money by allowing them to earn degrees without paying for textbooks. Minnesota West Community & Technical College has received a $100,000 grant to implement Z-degree offerings at the college. A Z-degree includes courses that have no costs for required textbooks, lab manuals or other educational resources.

https://www.wctrib.com/news/education/7301273-Minnesota-West-receives-grant-to-develop-courses-with-free-textbooks-other-materials

Creative Commons: Opportunity: Campaign Manager

Climate change, and the resulting harm to our global biodiversity, has been one of the world’s most pressing challenges for decades. Creative Commons (CC) and its partners SPARC and EIFL are launching a global campaign to develop and deliver on equitable, effective messaging, strategies and tactics to empower stakeholders currently leading critical climate and biodiversity work to embed open practices and policies in their operations, and make open sharing of climate and biodiversity research the default.

https://creativecommons.org/about/team/opportunities/opportunity-campaign-manager

Using OER and OEP in teaching and learning - University of Limerick

We have had the pleasure to contribute to the new National Forum resource Using Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) for Teaching and Learning. We hope that the content and curated resources will be useful to individuals seeking to learn more about using OER and OEP. We invite open conversation and feedback on these resources as we go on to develop an open course in this area. Whether you are an expert or novice user of OER/OEP, or anywhere in between, we welcome your feedback. We invite you to share your comments and feedback in any of the following ways:

Add your comments here on the site, directly on the relevant pages

Engage in conversation on Twitter, using the hashtag #NFopen

Email open@teachingandlearning.ie with your feedback or further queries

https://www.ul.ie/ctl/resources-staff/open-pedagogical-practice/using-oer-and-oep-teaching-and-learning

OpenStax Gets Federal Funding for Computer Science OER - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Open educational resources publisher OpenStax has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education to address a gap in the OER textbook market. The nonprofit, founded by Rice University, will work with 12 collaborators on creating three openly licensed textbooks for computer science courses. In addition to the textbooks, which will build on existing OER, the group will develop digital resources, such as adaptive testing, as well as instructor training.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/11/16/openstax-gets-federal-funding-for-computer-science-oer.aspx

Boundless Anatomy and Physiology - PolyU Library

This catalog contains educational content originally curated by Boundless. In collaboration with the Boundless team, Lumen Learning imported these OER courses to the Lumen Platform, to ensure they remain freely available to the education community after Boundless ceased operations. Lumen maintains the Boundless content in the same condition it was provided to us. Please note, courses may contain issues with formatting, accessibility, and the degree to which content remains current, accurate, and complete.

https://oer.lib.polyu.edu.hk/concern/works/2514nk55f

Columbia State launches open educational resources program - Mike Christen, The Daily Herald

The Open Educational Resources program has a goal of improving educational outcomes for traditionally underserved students through access to inclusive and low or no cost educational materials. Students currently enrolled in Columbia State’s English Composition I and English Composition II courses are now participating in the program through a grant provided by the TBR. The pilot courses were implemented this fall serving 480 students.

https://www.columbiadailyherald.com/story/news/education/2021/11/15/columbia-state-launches-open-educational-resources-program/6378351001/

Why This Professor Believes OER Can Make STEM More Inclusive and Affordable - Wendy McMahon, EdSurge

James Wilson, Associate Professor at Colorado State University Fort Collins hasn’t used a single for-profit book in his Computational Algebra classes in years. He and his students happily use open educational resources for textbooks. Wilson knows how to find high-quality OER publications that deliver benefits like lower costs for students and reduce the onerous marking strain on professors. He also knows that the right OER provides professors opportunities to teach the latest research and even make areas like math and science more inclusive by moving away from traditional texts and homework assignments that often lack diverse perspectives.

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-11-15-why-this-professor-believes-oer-can-make-stem-more-inclusive-and-affordable

16 OER Sites Every Educator Should Know - Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology

Open educational resources not only save students from triple-digit (or more!) textbook costs, but they also allow instructors to mix-and-match content for a more personalized, engaging learning experience. Here are 16 resources that offer a wide range of content and tools to help implement OER in just about any course.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/07/02/16-oer-sites-every-educator-should-know.aspx

Inequitable Access: An Anti-Competitive Scheme by Textbook Publishers - RORY MIR, EFF

Educators are moving increasingly towards digital textbooks, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has left publishers scrambling to keep access limited and revenues high with paywalls, DRM, and expiring access. These options force students to choose between a rotten deal and gambling with their grade by skipping the purchase altogether.  Rather than challenge these artificial scarcity tactics by embracing Open Education, colleges are making a deal with publishers by creating "inclusive access" models—but this positive sounding name isn't inclusive at all. Under inclusive access, colleges simply charge students for digital textbooks and materials on their tuition bill—and their access often expires when the course is over. 

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/10/inequitable-access-anti-competitive-scheme-textbook-publishers

Affordable Textbooks & Open Educational Resources - UC Santa Cruz Library

Emily Travis, Jennifer Guerrero, and Chessa Adsit-Morris worked with Associate University Librarian Kerry Scott and Katharin Peters, the Library’s Head of Research and Support Services, on the Library’s efforts to promote and support the use of open educational resource (OER) textbooks in undergraduate courses. OER textbooks are free, high-quality textbooks that are available online. More information is available at the library guide to affordable textbooks:  

https://guides.library.ucsc.edu/affordable-textbooks