COL re-launches short course on OER for Online Learning in the Pacific - Community of Learning

 COL has re-launched the short course ‘OER for Online Learning: An Introduction’ for teachers in the Pacific as part of the Pacific Partnership for Open, Distance and Flexible Learning (ODFL) with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), New Zealand.  With many countries still struggling to address the impact of the COIVID-19 pandemic, the course provides teachers with guidelines for working in new ways, using openly licensed online resources. It serves as a useful foundation on which further, more in-depth learning can subsequently be built.

https://www.col.org/news/news/col-re-launches-short-course-oer-online-learning-pacific

Skyline College Celebrates Open Education Week, March 1-5

 Skyline College is pleased to announce our collaboration with Canãda College and the College of San Mateo on several virtual events happening next week in celebration of Open Education and textbook affordability. The OER Leads for each college have curated a series of events that connect with Open Education Week, or #oeweek.

https://patch.com/california/sanbruno/skyline-college-celebrates-open-education-week-march-1-5

Citing Open educational resources (OER) in APA - Jönköping University

 Create a reference to an open educational resource when the material is directly available. If you are directed to another website, you reference that particular website instead using the format for websites.

https://guides.library.ju.se/apa-en/oer

MTSU developing digital textbook program - Murfreesboro Post

Middle Tennessee State University is launching a pilot project to promote widespread faculty use of free or low-cost digital course content that could result in significant savings for students who struggle to afford necessary textbooks.   MTSU secured a one-year, $100,000 grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents to support the adaptation, adoption and creation of OER to assist underrepresented student populations with staying on track toward earning their degree.

https://www.murfreesboropost.com/news/mtsu-developing-digital-textbook-program/article_778867e8-72ff-11eb-b85f-bfe6c1bb1917.html

U of A Faculty Share Experiences Creating Open Educational Resources - University of Arkansas

 Jingxian Wu, professor of electrical engineering, will discuss his experience creating and using OER in his upper-division course, Signals and Systems. Wu created lecture notes, a homework manual and a lab manual. His OER replaced a $120 textbook, and he teaches about 70 students a year. Russell Sharman, assistant professor of practice in communication, teaches a 1000-level film course. He created an open textbook to replace the $90 textbook he previously assigned to the 400-plus students he teaches every semester. He will discuss why he decided to create the textbook, his experiences completing the work and feedback he received from both students in his course and faculty at other institutions. Claretha Hughes, professor of human resources and workforce development, will discuss the creation of her case studies text. Created to supplement the academic journal articles she regularly assigns in the graduate courses she teaches, this collection of mini-cases can be utilized in various HRWD courses.

https://news.uark.edu/articles/56074/u-of-a-faculty-share-experiences-creating-open-educational-resources

Open educational resources for emergency remote teaching a new paradigm? - Maximiliano Marzetti, Menafn

 The Covid-19 pandemic has forced universities and other educational institutions around the world to implement emergency remote teaching (ERT). In other words, courses that had not been originally designed for distance learning have been adapted to be delivered online. Distance learning and ERT require not only having the right technologies in place but also the correct policies. The global pandemic brought to light the importance of having policies tackling the management of intellectual property and personal data online.

https://menafn.com/1101656437/Open-educational-resources-for-emergency-remote-teaching-anewparadigm

MORE AFFORDABLE, MORE ACCESSIBLE - Allison Ebner, U Delaware Daily

Every semester, students face the seemingly inevitable decision: purchase expensive course materials or spend that money on rent and other essentials. When students choose the latter, they start the course without the assigned materials and at an automatic disadvantage. To remove this barrier to learning, many faculty turn to open educational resources (OER), which are openly licensed, online learning materials that are significantly more affordable or even free. More than just a cost saver, OER materials also enhance students’ ease of access and allow faculty to customize their course materials.

https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2021/february/open-educational-resources-oer-faculty-student-success-eric-greska-sheara-williamson/

Savings add up for students under Libraries' grants for free online textbooks - Sara Volmering, Western Michigan

More than 1,400 Western Michigan University students are expected to save a total of nearly $164,000 on the cost of textbooks and course enrollment in 2021 through a grant program for free online materials. In its second round of Open Education Resources (OER) grants, University Libraries awarded $1,000 grants each to 10 faculty and instructors. View the 2020-21 Open Textbook Grant recipients. Open textbooks are high-quality educational resources licensed to allow instructors to use and adapt the content; students access that content for free online. With support from the grant, faculty and instructors replace higher-cost, traditional textbooks with these open textbooks. 

https://wmich.edu/news/2021/02/63257

Chalk Radio Podcast Episode: The Power of OER with Profs. Mary Rowe and Elizabeth Siler - Open Education Week

In this episode, Worcester State University Professor Elizabeth Siler sits down with MIT Professor Mary Rowe to share how she's remixed Mary's open educational resources to teach undergraduates the art of negotiation.

https://www.openeducationweek.org/resources/chalk-radio-podcast-episode-the-power-of-oer-with-profs-mary-rowe-and-elizabeth-siler

MTSU program aims to lower cost of textbooks - Emily Luxen, News Channel 5

 A new program at Middle Tennessee State University aims to counteract the rising cost of textbooks, by saving students money. The university received $100,000 in grant money from the Tennessee Board of Regents at the end of last year to support the use of more Open Educational Resources (OER).

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/mtsu-program-aims-to-lower-cost-of-textbooks

Majority of UMBC Students Respond Positively to OER - Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology

 A recent student survey on the use of open educational resources at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County garnered positive responses from the majority of respondents, who reported engaging with the low- or zero-cost digital course materials and homework tools. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said the quality of the OER materials used in their courses was equivalent to or higher than traditional textbooks. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they would recommend an OER course to others, and 45 percent said they would be likely to enroll in another OER course themselves.

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2021/02/22/majority-of-umbc-students-respond-positively-to-oer.aspx

Patrick Spoor: Make college textbooks more affordable - Daily Hampshire Gazette

 Us college students around the Five Colleges are all made well aware of the stark price of our education every semester when we have to buy textbooks. Whether they be $80 access codes to let us submit math homework or the newest edition of an economics textbook that costs $200, more than the usual one, our reality is clear. Textbooks are way too expensive.

https://www.gazettenet.com/Letter-Patrick-Spoor-38911381

Some Tennessee college students pay $1,500 for textbooks each year. How MTSU is working to cut costs - Mealand Ragland-Hudgins, Murfreesboro Daily News Journal

MTSU has received a one-year grant in the amount of $100,000 grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents "to support the adaptation, adoption and creation of Open Educational Resources," according to a news release. Known as OER, the materials are designed for teaching and learning and currently exist in the public domain or can be used under a license that allows for widespread use, according to EdWeek.org. The resources can be accessed online with many available for download for free or at a significantly lower cost than a standard textbook.

https://www.dnj.com/story/news/local/schools/mtsu/2021/02/22/mtsu-students-textbooks-lower-costs-open-educational-resources-oer/4513301001/

WSCC instructors opting for more flexible, cost-effective education materials - Kyle Kotecki, News-Advocate

 The use of Open Educational Resources materials has been on the rise West Shore Community College for years. But what is OER and how does it impact students and the college in a beneficial way? OER are teaching, learning and research materials freely available to be used, changed and shared. They give a chance to make learning more affordable and it can be customized by instructors to better meet students' needs.

https://www.manisteenews.com/insider/article/WSCC-instructors-opting-for-more-flexible-15964392.php

OER Virtual Pop-Up Conference - Open Education Week

 Helping you find and explore free, engaging resources for you and your students is the goal of the CCIU’s OE Week Pop-Up Virtual Conference event. During the first week of March, a self-paced component guiding you through a new resource or exercise will be released each day. On Thursday, March 4, 2021, from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m., an optional live event will be held to address your questions and connect you with Pennsylvania OER experts from intermediate units across the state.

https://www.openeducationweek.org/events/oer-virtual-pop-up-conference

Open Education Week: OER Dynamic Coalition Webinar - UNESCO

 The webinar OER Dynamic Coalition is being organised within the framework of the Open Education Week, an annual celebration for actively sharing and learning about the latest achievements in Open Education worldwide. The objective is to present the work followed by the UNESCO OER Recommendation and the creation of the OER Dynamic Coalition.

https://events.unesco.org/event?id=1292001071&lang=1033

An Introduction to Open Educational Resources (OERs) - Duqense Unversity

 OERs are freely available, openly licensed resources for teaching and learning. As an alternative or supplement to proprietary textbooks, they provide great benefits, from saving students money to offering incredible pedagogical opportunities for faculty. We invite you to celebrate Open Education Week with us by learning with us about OERs and why they matter. This session is open to the entire Duquesne community - faculty, staff and students are all welcome to participate!This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence and Gumberg Library.

https://www.duq.edu/about/centers-and-institutes/center-for-teaching-excellence/events/an-introduction-to-open-educational-resources-(oers)

OER: The future of education at OCC and beyond? - Sarah Guidroz, Coast Report

 “The students love it,” Perkins said. “I have some email me about it. The time I notice it the most is during class time. I’ll see them pull up OpenStax on their phones or laptop.” “I’m glad to have a position to promote OER,” Archibald said. “The goal I set for myself is to reach 20% of classes with zero percent cost by fall 2021.”  

https://www.coastreportonline.com/features/article_a0a25400-6fc5-11eb-b7e4-ab18bdea5b8e.html

Enhancing the Digital Transformation of African Universities: COVID-19 as Accelerator - Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and Paul Mzee Okanda, Elephant

 Equally low were levels of national support for open educational resources (OER). In terms of national initiatives in favour of OER, the global average for “Yes, very much” was 16 per cent, similar to Africa’s. The global average for support for online bibliography or library for online content was 23 per cent and for Africa 16 per cent compared to a high of 32 per cent each for Europe and Latin America and Caribbean. At the institutional level only 19 per cent reported fully creating and using OER at the global level, while in Africa 9 per cent did so, which was below the other regions. Commitment to open science was much lower at the national level (17 per cent) compared to the institutional level (56 per cent). 

https://www.theelephant.info/long-reads/2021/02/09/enhancing-the-digital-transformation-of-african-universities-covid-19-as-accelerator/

Current trends in digital learning technology - the Daily Star

As it has become increasingly easier to have an online presence, educators worldwide have created a massive ocean of Open Educational Resources (OER). There's now high quality, top-notch educational content on the internet on any topic imaginable. There is no discipline of education for which professional resources cannot be found on the internet. This has become possible thanks to high speed, instantly accessible internet becoming a permanent fixture in our modern lives. These open resources are free to use, distribute, share and usually download. Some of the biggest OER students and educators should be aware of are Lumen Learning, Merlot, OER Commons, Open Learning Initiative, Khan Academy etc. As a forerunner of the Open Educational Resource movement, MIT OpenCourseWare still stands as one of the most prized resources for learning for students all across the globe.

https://www.thedailystar.net/supplements/30th-anniversary-supplements/going-digital/news/current-trends-digital-learning-technology-2044025

The OER Implementation Collection - UNC Digital Course Enhancement Collections

 The OER Implementation Collection is a companion to the UNC digital course enhancement collections. It was developed for faculty, instructors, and librarians in the UNC System by open educational resources (OER) experts from NC State University, East Carolina University, UNC Greensboro, UNC Charlotte, North Carolina A&T, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and UNC Chapel Hill.  The collection gathers reliable open resources and provides videos of presentations from authoritative speakers to answer the most frequent questions faculty ask about how and why to use OER in their courses. The OER Implementation Collection will provide a guide to finding and using OER for faculty and instructors who are interested in working with the UNC digital course enhancement collections and using other open educational resources in their teaching. 

https://sites.google.com/northcarolina.edu/theoerimplementationcollection