The Institute for Open Learning (IOL) produced nearly one thousand graduates this year, making it the most prolific private institute of higher learning. The graduandi celebrated their success on Thursday 24 November when more than 280 students attended the graduation ceremony in person at a posh hotel in Windhoek. The ceremony was also live-streamed on the institute’s social media channels.
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Open Education can achieve equity - Iza Grek, Mail & Guardian
“Imagine a world in which human knowledge is shared more equitably, unhindered by barriers of cost, time or national borders. “Just think what could be achieved by marshalling the latest ground-breaking research and offering research-led, challenge-focused education at scale, as part of a global effort to meet – and solve – the biggest challenges facing our planet
“This change is desperately needed and long overdue. Now is the time for action, not just words.”
Monday, November 28, 2022
Institutional Grant Opportunities - Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
THECB established partnerships with three higher education institutions: OpenStax at Rice University, Dallas College, and the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin to provide technical assistance to OER Course Development and Implementation applicants and awardees. The technical assistance partner institutions provided help and guidance to applicants and awardees in redesigning Texas Core Curriculum courses, co-requisite remediation for Texas Core Curriculum Courses, and/or courses from the Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM) course inventory.
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Board of Visitors summary of actions and discussions - James Madison University
An admissions application update was provided for the 2023 freshman class with the following first-year demographics: early applicants at 24,156 (30% increase); 12,195 in state (25% increase); 11,573 out of state (32% increase); 62.2% female; 38.8% male; 17% first generation (56% increase); and 28% underrepresented minorities (42% increase); “This is JMU” an updated video used for enrollment marketing was shown; JMU representatives participated in panels at the APLU annual conference; Dietra Trent, U.S. Department of Education, and Sean Hearne, Southeastern Universities Research Association were recently hosted on campus to advance collaborative research and inclusive excellence efforts;
Libraries has a new department to support faculty in identifying, using and creating open educational resources (OER).
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Textbook problems, textbook solutions - Chance Bond, North Idaho Sentinal
Within the past year, the Idaho Department of Education has pushed hard for the adoption of “Project Z”. Project Z’s goal is zero cost textbooks. That is what the “Z” in the project stands for – Zero Cost. During the “building Idaho’s future” initiative, the Idaho state legislature and Governor Brad Little invested over $1,000,000 into the project. “It really works well at the community college level because Idaho has common courses for General Education, making it easier to share curriculum resources across these courses,” Dr. TJ Bliss (State Board of Education’s Chief Academic Officer) said. “Idaho faculty have developed a new textbook for first year writing courses, for example, that is open licensed (meaning other faculty can adopt and adapt it for their courses) and freely available to students online through the Idaho Open Press.”
Friday, November 25, 2022
CULLS Faculty Learning Circle Launching Spring 2023 - Marya Jones, UNM
Jennifer Schaller, OER Librarian, University Libraries and Jennifer Pollard, assistant director of Teaching Support, Center for Teaching and Learning will guide participants through an in-depth exploration into Open Educational Resources (OER). In seven sessions, faculty will develop their own OER curriculum, learn to navigate Creative Commons licenses for the materials they create, and share their work, in either the UNM Digital Repository’s OER Collection or on another open platform. Whether instructors are brand new to the world of OER, or they are ready to put their OER knowledge to greater use, this hands-on, low-stress workshop will be beneficial.
Thursday, November 24, 2022
E-textbooks a growing part of university education – with mixed benefits - Bill Macfarlane, NEWS CALGARY
The merits of digital versus paper are one thing, but the cost to students is increasingly on the minds of professors. Some are now developing their own open educational resources (OERs) to ease the financial burden. Tenured philosophy professor Richard Zach says his intro course has 500 students a year. His previous textbook cost about $100. "I just thought it was unconscionable to continue to do that when there are perfectly suitable alternatives that are free for students – and that I can change as I see fit," Zach said.
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Open Educational Resources for Collaborative Online & Distance Education and eXchange - Erasmus+ funded project
OUR mission is to develop OER course modules conveying digital teaching and learning methods including online collaborative learning in a blended learning context for educators in Higher Education. OER-CODEX builds on connectivism as an appropriate learning method for the digital age that emphasizes social interaction as a key element of the learning process and output of the results.
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Boise State librarian, staff and alumni present on open education resources at conferences - Boise State News
Albertsons Library Open Educational Resources Librarian, Shannon Smith, and World Languages Resource Center Director, Amber Hoye, presented at the Open Education Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. Their session “In the Room Where it Happens: Exploring Student Intersections with Open Ed Beyond the Classroom,” discussed the ways students intersect with furthering the work of open education outside of the classroom.
Monday, November 21, 2022
Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in Open Educational Resources (OER) - Australian Edition
This practical guide provides a framework and tips to enhance inclusion, diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in Open Educational Resources. Nikki Andersen is the Open Education Content Librarian at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ). In this role she supports open educational practices, including the development of open textbooks using the open publishing platform, Pressbooks.
Sunday, November 20, 2022
World History Encyclopedia - OER Commons
Overview: World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization publishing the world's most-read history encyclopedia. Its mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. The website offers thousands of free history articles, with a writing style aimed at students from middle school level and up. Articles are complemented by videos, timelines, 3D models, and interactive maps. The search function offers many filters, including the possibiliy to search for primary source texts. Additionally, the organization published free teaching materials in its education section.
Saturday, November 19, 2022
How to Use the Dall-E AI Art Generator to Create Stunning Images From Text - Eric Griffith, PC Mag
Dall-E is at the forefront of artificial intelligence art creation, which anyone can use. AI art generators have been in the news a lot this year, be it for their amazing advances or questionable uses. OpenAI’s Dall-E 2 is one of the major names in this space. It's now open to the public and developers, and soon it’ll be built into Microsoft software and the Bing search engine. But how, exactly, do you work with Dall-E? Is it really as simple as typing in a description—called a prompt—and getting back a picture? To be honest, yes. But there’s a lot more to be aware of if you want to get anywhere close to the perfect result.
Friday, November 18, 2022
LSU Shreveport’s Noel Memorial Library Named Library of the Year - Bossier Post-Tribune
Last year, three LSUS Library faculty participated in the LOUIS/Department of Education Interactive Open Educational Resources for Dual Enrollment program to develop cost free textbooks for general education courses in the state. Continuing in that effort, Library faculty have also agreed to serve on a similar initiative in 2022, Connecting the Pipeline: Libraries, OER, and Dual Enrollment from Secondary to Postsecondary, a $1.3 million project funded by LOUIS and the Institute of Library and Museum Services. The project will develop and share a model for connecting open educational resources (OER) initiatives between secondary postsecondary institutions within a library context.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Tarleton awarded GEER grant for open educational resources - Your Stephensville TX
Tarleton State University has been awarded a $36,943 planning grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund to support student success.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Just Released: “SPARC Europe Open Education in European Libraries of Higher Education Survey 2022” - Gary Price, InfoDocket
We are pleased to announce the publication of our report, Open Education in European Libraries of Higher Education: Implementing the UNESCO Recommendation on OER. The report presents the findings of the third edition of our annual survey of European academic libraries on the topic of Open Education (OE) and Open Educational Resources (OER). It explores the work being done by European academic librarians to implement the UNESCO OER Recommendation, almost three years on from its initial publication in November 2019.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Student-librarian partnership promotes open educational resources - Boise State News
Graf Kirk is a lot of things to Boise State University. He is a recent graduate who holds a degree in biology. He is a former vice president of academic affairs of the Associated Students of Boise State University. He is currently applying to medical school. Shannon Smith is the open educational resources, or OER, librarian at Albertsons Library where she advocates for open education. Smith works with campus partners to implement OER and open education practices to benefit Boise State students. Kirk and Smith may not have crossed paths if it weren’t for Boise State’s spirit of innovation.
Monday, November 14, 2022
Opinion | Waubonsee Voices: It starts with access - Christine J. Sobek, President Waubonsee College - in Shaw Local
We also recognize other costs, such as the cost of books and other course materials. Books and course materials may be charged to student accounts and paid off as part of payment plans or from scholarships and grants. In addition, many courses offer books and course materials through our Inclusive Access program or Open Educational Resources (OER). When students register for an Inclusive Access or OER class, digital access to the lowest cost or no cost course materials is provided automatically.
Sunday, November 13, 2022
Open Educational REsources for Adult Learners - UNCESCO & BILT
The Korea Open Courseware (KOCW) is the largest platform for open educational resources (OER) in the Republic of Korea. It was set up to assist individuals wishing to access higher education learning resources by providing materials from over 224 universities and institutions from across the Republic of Korea and abroad. Although the KOCW platform provides a wide spectrum of higher education resources, the Korean Ministry of Education and KERIS identified a lack of relevant resources in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). They subsequently worked with both employers and employees to map out areas for digital and technical skills training.
https://unevoc.unesco.org/bilt/Promising+Practices+in+TVET/lang=en/id=6475
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Trends in student spending on course materials and ways to combat the high cost of physical textbooks - Jordanna Garland, UD Review
Student spending on course materials over the past decade has declined to its lowest point. Inclusive access and Open Educational Resources (OERs) are some factors that have made substantial contributions to this downward trend. Student Monitor, a research organization focused on studying the patterns of student spending, reported in a 2022 study that students spent an average of $314 on course materials in the 2021-2022 school year. In contrast, during the 2011-2012 school year, the organization reported students spending an average of $557 on their course materials.
Friday, November 11, 2022
OpenStax announces 10 schools participating in this year’s Institutional Partner Program - Rice University
OpenStax, Rice University’s educational technology initiative, will see 10 colleges and universities join its Institutional Partner Program for the 2022-2023 school year. All of those institutions will receive support from OpenStax experts as they work to save students’ money by increasing the use of free, openly licensed textbooks on their campuses. The University of Notre Dame, Georgia State University, Collin College (Texas), Glendale Community College (California), Maricopa Community College (Arizona), Merced Community College (California), Mt. San Antonio College (California), the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at El Paso are the newest members of the program. They join the College of Southern Nevada, which is returning for a second year.
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Washburn University launches new courses to avoid cost of textbooks - Sarah Motter, WIBW
Washburn University has launched new courses that avoid textbooks, offsetting their financial cost, which will save students around $400,000 this semester. Washburn University announced on Thursday, Oct. 27, that it has established a Zero Textbook Cost course marking initiative. It said students in a ZTC course are not required to buy primary materials such as textbooks. It said these courses are marked in its course schedule with a special icon to make them easily recognizable to students.
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Debut Issue of UW-Published OER Journal Now Available - University of Wyoming
The Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education (JOERHE) offers librarians, instructors and other open educational resources (OER) experts from around the world a platform for their scholarship on OER, open pedagogy, open access and similar topics focused specifically within the context of higher education. The journal’s first issue is available at https://journals.uwyo.edu/index.php/joerhe. The release of the journal’s debut issue coincided with Open Access Week, which takes place annually during the last full week of October.
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
OER Initiative Offers Tools to Expand Awareness of Digital Accessibility - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology
Teach Access, a nonprofit focused on digital accessibility skills education, is launching a collection of free online teaching resources designed to help faculty teach accessibility across a range of computer science, technology, and design programs. Built in collaboration with iDesign, the Teach Access Curriculum Repository provides more than 250 open educational resources to help students better understand digital accessibility as they learn to design, develop, and build new technologies.
Monday, November 7, 2022
How and Why to Evaluate Open Educational Resources (OERs) - Brenda Thomas, Faculty Focus
Open Educational Resources (OERs) are teaching materials that typically have a Creative Commons license specifying permission and parameters for copying, distributing, attributing, or altering. Truly open OERs do not require registration or payment to access. The availability (open) and price (free) make OERs a great addition to an institution’s curriculum and an instructor’s cache of teaching material. Some OERs can be high-quality, valuable resources, but others are worth only the price paid for them. Therefore, if OERs are being used or being considered for use when creating a course, teaching a course created by someone else, or designing a course that others will teach, it is important to thoroughly and regularly evaluate that material.
Sunday, November 6, 2022
Bay Tree Campus Store partnership with Akademos paving the way for more affordable course materials - UC Santa Cruz
The new online bookstore, launched in partnership with UCSC’s Bay Tree Campus Store and Akademos, a premier provider of higher education course content, is in full swing this fall—and the savings are already stacking up. Students have saved $79,861 on textbooks and course materials in fall quarter alone, and $150,961 since the initial launch in spring. Led by the growing preference among students and faculty for digital textbooks and course materials, rental textbooks, and access to Open Educational Resources (OER), UCSC pursued this partnership to provide for the evolving needs of the student body and faculty.
Saturday, November 5, 2022
Alberta needs its own OER program - Allan Birkett, the Guantlet
University of Calgary students are increasingly feeling a squeeze when it comes to financing textbooks and other paid resources. A poll in 2021 identified the cost of textbooks as a cause for financial stress for 85 per cent of U of C students. Mandatory textbooks can add up to the equivalent of an additional course — or more — worth of tuition per year, which places a huge strain on students already struggling to make ends meet.
Friday, November 4, 2022
Students save $1M using open educational resources - University of the Pacific
Students at University of the Pacific have saved more than $1 million over the past five years by using open educational resources rather than buying traditional textbooks. Open educational resources are materials, from single lessons and videos to entire textbooks, which area available for students and faculty to use, adapt and share for free. The use of open educational resources began as a pilot program at Pacific in 2017. The program is administered by University Libraries and the Center for Teaching and Learning with funding provided by the Technology in Education Committee.
Thursday, November 3, 2022
New stipend encourages UHV faculty to use open resources in class - Victoria Advocate
The University of Houston-Victoria has awarded a new stipend to two faculty members who intend to use publicly available, less expensive resources in their spring courses. The Open Educational Resources stipend program was created by the UHV Textbook Access Committee in order to support faculty members who redesign their courses to replace traditional textbooks with open resource materials. The first recipients of the stipend will be Ricardo Teixeira, a UHV associate professor of mathematics and chair of the departments of natural science and mathematics, and Crystal Humble, a UHV psychology adjunct lecturer.
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Library events highlight open access research - Jose Beduya, Cornell University Library
In celebration of the international Open Access Week, Cornell University Library is holding a series of panel discussions and talks, Oct. 24–28, to promote freely accessible scholarship that advances the work of researchers in all disciplines around the world. “Open Access Week highlights our year-round commitment to open access to scholarly articles and information,” said Debra Howell, director of information technology operations at Cornell University Library. “When knowledge is shared, everyone benefits.”
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Musselman Library commits to providing Gettysburg College students an affordable education - Helen O'Neil, Gettysburg College
“OER offer an opportunity to implement inclusive strategies in the classroom that benefit all students,” said Brandauer, who is also the director of the Johnson Center for Creative Teaching and Learning (JCCTL). “We cannot be ‘excellent’ instructors without welcoming all students into our learning environments.” Wertzberger was also recognized as an Affordable Learning Champion by Affordable Learning Pennsylvania, a community of higher education partners who strive to advance educational affordability. Management Prof. Alice Brawley Newlin and Prof. Marta Maras have also received this honor for their dedication toward an affordable education. Together, Newlin and Maras remixed an open textbook to replace a $300 textbook for a statistical methods course.
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