Course Materials Conversion Program Call for Proposals Open - University of Arkansas

Each semester, the U of A Libraries and Global Campus offer incentives for faculty to reduce the cost of textbooks for their students by using Open Educational Resources.   The Course Materials Conversion Program provides faculty with extra compensation. Successful applicants can receive $3,000 for adopting open educational resources, $4,500 for adapting existing open educational resources to meet their needs or $7,500 for creating their own. Visit the OER Course Materials Conversion program website to learn more about the program and the difference between these three options.  

https://news.uark.edu/articles/58791/course-materials-conversion-program-call-for-proposals-open

OER: more accessible knowledge for all Next-generation open-source textbooks brighten the future of education - Marianne Liendo-Dufort, the LINK

Concordia University’s new website promoting Open Educational Resources launched on Jan. 27. OER aims to provide students easy access to cost-free educational resources like textbooks by democratizing education. According to the Government of Canada, students spend up to $1,000 per school year on textbooks and latest editions. While it is possible to save money by purchasing used copies or the eBook version of the textbooks, these expenses remain a burden on many students’ budgets. The main goal of OER is to provide teaching and learning materials on a public domain or under an open licence. Simply put, an open license allows for a no-cost access, use, and adaptation—such as translation of a text—of the material. It confers the redistribution right of the material to the public with limited restrictions or none at all.

https://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/open-educational-resources-more-accessible-knowledge-for-all

Affordable Content Grants: OER@UNO | UNO Libraries – Omaha, Nebraska

UNO Libraries is pleased to announce the next affordable content grant @UNO. This is a great opportunity to embark on a project that can help students and at the same time enhance the customization of materials for one or more courses. Over the last three years, dozens of UNO faculty members have used this program. Through the 2020 textbook Mavericks winners, you can read about the faculty’s experience with these grants. Steffi Jesseau and Zac Suriano, And 2021 Winners, Cameron Logsdon, Stephanie Larsen, and Abbie Syrek.

https://eminetra.com/affordable-content-grants-oeruno-uno-libraries-omaha-nebraska/934852/

How college students can combat the pricey foe of textbook affordability - Nick Lundberg, The State News

Examples of OER include open textbooks, images, course modules, videos, homework assignments, quizzes, lectures, lab and classroom activities, games, simulations and other resources contained in digital media collections from around the world. Millions of dollars have been saved in OER's effort to support students. “We have saved students since we started in the Fall 2019 semester around $4 million” Gong said. 

https://statenews.com/article/2022/01/how-college-students-can-combat-the-pricey-foe-of-textbook-affordability

Immaculata University Continues its Energy Saving Initiatives - Lydia Szyjka, Patch.com

Also, this past year, Immaculata launched a zero-cost textbook program using Open Educational Resources (OER). The ten OER-based courses replaced traditional printed textbooks with a variety of online resources, including online texts from open-source sites, web-based articles and audio-visual resources in the public domain. The University plans to increase the number of OER-based courses available to students.

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/malvern/immaculata-university-continues-its-energy-saving-initiatives

Developing a Sustainable Financial Model in Higher Education for Open Educational Resources - David Annand, Érudit

Financial issues regarding the sustainable production, dissemination, and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education are reviewed and proposed solutions critiqued. Use of OER produce demonstrable cost savings for students. Yet OER development continues to rely almost completely on government and philanthropic funding. This indicates that a mismatch exists between the financial interests of students and those of higher education institutions. Before OER will be broadly adopted, changes to government policy are required to align institutional objectives with faculty motivations and student needs.

https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/irrodl/1900-v1-n1-irrodl05031/1066298ar/abstract/ 

Open educational resources: removing barriers from within - Sanjaya Mishra, Distance Education

Enthusiasts and evangelists of open educational resources (OER) see these resources as a panacea for all of the problems of education. However, despite its promises, their adoption in educational institutions is slow. There are many barriers to the adoption of OER, and many are from within the community of OER advocates. This commentary calls for a wider discussion to remove these barriers to mainstreaming OER in teaching and learning and argues for a rethinking of the idea of ‘open’ to make it more inclusive by redefining the concept. It reminds us of the original thinking behind OER – which was to create universally available educational resources that can improve the quality of teaching and learning. This commentary posits arguments against conflating OER and open education, questions the narrow definitions of OER, and raises issues around how to be more flexible and open to mainstreaming OER and removing barriers from within the OER movement.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01587919.2017.1369350

Issues of context and design in OER (open educational resources) - Ferit Kılıçkaya & Joanna Kic-Drgas, Educational Technology Research and Development

The study conducted by Hilton (2016) focused on open educational resources (OER) by analyzing the findings of 16 studies that investigated (a) the influence of OER on academic learning outcomes at the tertiary context, and (b) students’ and instructors’ perceptions of OER in their teaching and learning contexts. Hilton’s analysis of the findings of these studies indicated two major findings: (1) when students use OER, they obtain the same learning outcomes as with traditional textbooks while saving money; and (2) both students and teachers find OER comparable to traditional learning resources in terms of quality. Several advantages of OER were also revealed. 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11423-020-09852-8

Colleges can spend $198M in new relief funding on basic needs - Emily Bamforth, EdSurge

Digital therapy and open educational resources are among the examples included in U.S. Department of Education guidance released Thursday showing how institutions can use federal higher education relief money to address students’ basic needs. The guidance was part of the agency’s announcement that higher education institutions can apply for an additional $198 million in American Rescue Plan funds through a grant program beginning 

https://edscoop.com/colleges-198m-arp-federal-relief-basic-needs/

Penn State Libraries launches ROAM, an expanded open educational resources repository

Penn State University Libraries’ Open Publishing unit recently launched ROAM, a newly expanded online publication service for openly licensed educational materials authored by Penn State faculty. Short for “Repository of Open and Affordable Materials,” the platform builds on a service created and previously hosted by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) that published most of the college’s courseware free of charge for anyone to access. ROAM will extend EMS’ vision to include content from all disciplines and campuses across the University.

https://www.psu.edu/news/academics/story/libraries-launches-roam-expanded-open-educational-resources-repository/

Auburn's University Writing Department Launches Open Educational Resource - Heesun Yoon, Auburn

"We have long been known locally and nationally for our high-quality ePortfolio resources," says Christopher Basgier, director of University Writing. "I am excited that our OER includes an expanded menu of materials, and that these materials are accessible for different users." As well as resources on ePortfolios, the OER contains resources to help anyone with topics such as editing, proofreading, literature reviews, and more. 

https://www.eagleeyeauburn.com/article/2021/11/auburns-university-writing-department-launches-open-educational-resource

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

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/

Five Free OERs At Your Fingertips You Didn’t Realize - Hannah Nadobny, Impulse

If you are not using Open Educational Resources (OER) yet, you are missing out on being the most efficient learner you can be! Basically, these are free tools learners can use to improve their studies. OERs are readily available at your fingertips, and we’ve done the hard work of finding which ones are best, so you don’t have to! 

https://www.lmspulse.com/2022/five-free-oers-at-your-fingertips-you-didnt-realize/

Copyright in educational material: Lessons from COVID-19 - BASU CHANDOLA, Observer Research Foundation

Copyright exists in textbooks, scholarly articles, online lectures, presentations, library collections, and research databases and, therefore, plays an integral role in education. Copyright consists of a bundle of economic and moral rights using which the author can allow or disallow the usage of their work. Consequently, the author can receive remuneration for allowing the use of their work. Since copyright provides legal means to exclude content, it can act as a lever affecting transmission of knowledge by impeding information flow. COVID-19 has illustrated how copyright acts as a barrier in accessing educational materials and demonstrated the vulnerabilities of copyright system to deal with unprecedented situations like prolonged closure of educational institutions and libraries. However, these problems are but a reflection of the wider and pre-existing access barriers.

https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/copyright-in-educational-material/

New program offering alternatives to textbooks saves West Virginia college students $250,000 in pilot semesters - West VIrginia Higher Ed Policy Commission

Earlier this year, West Virginia’s public higher education office launched a program, Open Learning WV, that gives faculty the opportunity to implement Open Educational Resources (OER) as alternatives to traditional textbooks for their students. When the program was piloted in the spring 2021 semester, 34 faculty members created or adopted OER, and a handful more faculty adopted OER over the summer – resulting in more than $250,000 in savings for approximately 1,200 students.

https://www.wvhepc.edu/news/new-program-offering-alternatives-to-textbooks-saves-west-virginia-college-students-250000-in-pilot-semesters/

There’s What You Assign, and Then There’s What They Read - Matt Reed, Inside HIgher Ed

Yes, the quality of OER can vary across courses. That is also true of commercial textbooks. In the days before OER caught on, faculty and student complaints about textbooks were legion, and often warranted. It’s also true that the development and curation of OER is labor that’s worthy of compensation. But cost isn’t just cost. It’s also a question of access. There’s what you assign, and then there’s what they read. In most classes, those two are not the same. Textbook costs often prevent students from buying the book in the first place. When that happens, what starts as an economic issue quickly becomes an academic issue (and then can become a financial aid issue). A great book that goes unbought and unread isn’t as good as a pretty good book that a student actually reads.

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/there%E2%80%99s-what-you-assign-and-then-there%E2%80%99s-what-they-read

The Latest And Greatest: New Features In Open LMS EDU 3.11 - Gabriela Duque, LMS Pulse

Open LMS EDU is one of the two version of Moodle™ developed and maintained by Open LMS. It is designed for schools, universities and other educational institutions, that enables administrators to create fully customized learning environments that are still easy to maintain and support. Open LMS EDU offers a consistent user experience due to its ease of use. The administrator or course creator has access to a real-time dashboard of the students’ learning progress through visual tools and reports. Other tools and features are incorporated to speed up processes and common Moodle™ tasks, and quickly reach support when needed.

https://www.lmspulse.com/2022/the-latest-and-greatest-new-features-in-open-lms-edu-3-11/

Saving Students Thousands with Open Access Textbook - KARYN S. HOLLINGSWORTH, SEAN KENNEDY, UNLV

Thanks to a free open access textbook, hundreds of students taking the First-Year Seminar in the College of Liberal (COLA 100) collectively saved about $36,000 in fees last fall. Liberal Arts piloted the use of the textbook in the fall semester after teaming up with the Open Educational Resources Task Force, a partnership among the office of information technology, office of online education, Faculty Center, University Libraries, and the UNLV Bookstore. The task force’s mission is to improve student accessibility and combat the rising cost of textbooks through the use of free or low-cost resources.

https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/saving-students-thousands-open-access-textbook

The "F.A.T.E" of Open Educational Resources relies in Katherine Fleitcher, OpenStax - LMS PULSE

You may think it hyperbole if I told you that the “F.A.T.E.” of Open Educational Resources lies on the shoulders of today's guest. But it's kinda true. Katherine Fletcher is the Director of Fairness, Accountability, Transparency and Ethics —that is, “F.A.T.E.”— at OpenStax. She’s our second guest for one of the most important organizations for the advocacy of Open Educational Resources, or OER. And this time around, we dig deeper into the relationship between free quality educational content for everyone and the importance of things like ethics and transparency in our industry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2AjxzD5xvs

Five Free OERs At Your Fingertips You Didn’t Realize - Hannah Nadobny, IMS Pulse

If you are not using Open Educational Resources (OER) yet, you are missing out on being the most efficient learner you can be! Basically, these are free tools learners can use to improve their studies. OERs are readily available at your fingertips, and we’ve done the hard work of finding which ones are best, so you don’t have to!

№1. Write & Improve with Cambridge writeandimprove.com  Write & Improve is an extremely useful online tool for English learners. This OER is developed by Cambridge University. Over 2 million English learners have been able to improve their English using this site. Write & Improve offers instant feedback on learners’ English writing skills. Learners can also choose from hundreds of tasks at any level, or create their own tasks. Learners can also submit their essays and receive results based on the international scale of CEFR levels.

https://www.lmspulse.com/2022/five-free-oers-at-your-fingertips-you-didnt-realize/

Amandeep Singh: A step towards college affordability - Daily Hampshire Gazette

At UMass Amherst, we students are taking a stand towards the unnecessary expenses and encouraging professors to use materials for example, Open Education Resources. These are resources that are free to use, digitally accessible and can be modified without any restrictions. Many classes are already taking advantage of these resources and helping students save money. In the last 10 years, UMass Amherst alone has been able to save students over $2.5 million on textbooks by replacing them with Open Education Resources. With that, students are able to focus on studies, rather than worrying about selecting classes depending on the cost.

https://www.gazettenet.com/ltr-singh-textbooks-44128820