For the first time, OpenAI will hold a conference in San Francisco. Called “DevDay”, it will support the arrival of new products, such as the appearance of watermarks for AI content, and certainly improvements in terms of GPT-4 image understanding. What about GPT-5? On its blog, the Californian company managed by Sam Altman remained vague on the program of the event. An opening speech, several round tables organized by members of the company’s management, and finally the revelation “new tools”. A form will arrive in the next few weeks to apply for physical participation in the event. OpenAI says there will only be a few hundred places.
Monday, September 11, 2023
Sunday, September 10, 2023
WE NEED FRAMEWORKS THAT BALANCE SHARING AND CONSENT - Alek Tarkowski, OpenFuture
Salvaggio’s piece is also relevant for another reason. In his analysis of the impact of generative AI on creativity, he quickly focuses on the field of free culture enabled by Creative Commons licenses. Salvaggio makes a crucial observation that: Copyright is insufficient to understand these issues. We also need to consider the role of data rights: the protections we offer to people who share information and artistic expression online.
In our AI_Commons work, we reached similar conclusions – although, in that case, our focus was on photographs seen not just as creative works but also as content that expresses personal data about a person. Salvaggio rightly notes a tension between stewarding the commons that can be accessed and reused and ensuring data rights – as this quickly leads to limiting access.
Saturday, September 9, 2023
‘Français inclusif’ curriculum named finalist for Open Education Awards for Excellence - Boise State News
Every year, the Open Education Awards for Excellence honors outstanding contributions in the Open Education community, recognizing exemplary individuals, distinctive open educational resources, and innovative open practices from around the world. Boise State’s Français inclusif has made the shortlist of 2023 finalists in the category of “How We Share: Open Reuse / Remix / Adaptation!” The awards received 174 nominations across 16 categories and winners will be announced on Sept. 13.
Friday, September 8, 2023
WT Students Won’t Pay for Textbooks Beginning in 2024 - Chip Chandler, Pampa News
West Texas A&M University announced Aug. 24 an ambitious plan to eliminate most textbook-related costs for WT students. “Making education affordable is our responsibility,” President Walter V. Wendler said. “We want to help lower the cost of higher education for students and families and continue to make WT the University of choice for students across the region, the state, the nation and the world.”
https://www.thepampanews.com/stories/wt-students-wont-pay-for-textbooks-beginning-in-2024,53927
Thursday, September 7, 2023
JU, DLIS organises lecture on 'Understanding Open Educational Resources for Teaching, Learning, and Research'
The Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS) University of Jammu is honored to host Dr. Shri Ram Panday, Head of DLIS at the Central University of Haryana, Mahendargarh, for an engaging lecture on the topic "Understanding Open Educational Resources for Teaching, Learning, and Research. Dr. Panday's lecture brought together students, faculty, and professionals from the field of library and infor mation science to delve into the dynamic world of open educational resources (OER). His extensive expertise in the subject matter added significant value to the academic community's understanding of OER and its role in modern education and research.
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Exploring Preference Signals for AI Training - Catherine Stihler, Creative Commons
One of the motivations for founding Creative Commons (CC) was offering more choices for people who wish to share their works openly. Through engagement with a wide variety of stakeholders, we heard frustrations with the “all or nothing” choices they seemed to face with copyright. Instead they wanted to let the public share and reuse their works in some ways but not others. We also were motivated to create the CC licenses to support people — artists, technology developers, archivists, researchers, and more — who wished to re-use creative material with clear, easy-to-understand permissions.
https://creativecommons.org/2023/08/31/exploring-preference-signals-for-ai-training/
Tuesday, September 5, 2023
Rice University: OpenStax To Launch Open Access Organic Chemistry Textbook - Iednewsdesk
The first 12 chapters of the textbook Organic Chemistry: A Tenth Edition are now freely accessible to students through OpenStax, an educational initiative of Rice University. On Sept. 20, students and faculty will have free access online to the full version of this historically costly textbook that is a required material for organic chemistry courses nationwide. OpenStax is also providing free, aligned supplemental resources, including lecture slides, test items and a solution manual on their website. For those preferring print materials, the textbook will be available to purchase at an affordable price in hardcover and paperback. The author of the text, Cornell University professor emeritus John McMurry, chose to publish the upcoming 10th edition with OpenStax as a tribute to his son, Peter McMurry, who died in 2019 after a long battle with cystic fibrosis.
Monday, September 4, 2023
University Says It Won’t Charge for Textbooks. Professors Ask How. - Ryan Quinn, Inside Higher Ed
West Texas A&M's Faculty Senate voted no confidence in its president last spring, partly for his talk of a “textbook-free” campus. Now he's doubling down. “If a course requires a textbook, the college’s dean will utilize college resources to pay for the textbook—not the student or student fees,” Walter V. Wendler wrote in an email Thursday to students, staff and faculty members. (His message did note that there are a “multitude of examples … which will surface” of “reference books and digital materials,” such as the International Building Code, that won’t be considered “textbooks.”) “I wrote an op-ed published on October 26, 2018, entitled Text-Book Free, Not Free Textbooks,” Wendler wrote. “I waited and prodded for campus responses for five years.
Sunday, September 3, 2023
Librarians advocate for alternative to textbooks - Maddie Pukite, Daily Lobo
An alternative to requiring students to purchase textbooks, University Libraries have begun to develop programs and offer grants to help professors integrate Open Educational Resources into their curriculum. All resources on an OER are licensed as Creative Commons - free to use. Three librarians at the University of New Mexico – Holly Surbaugh, Jennifer Jordan and Leo Lo – conducted a study in July of 2023 on the impact of textbook cost at a Hispanic-serving institution UNM. 70% of the 315 UNM undergraduate students in the study reported the amount they spent on textbooks was “somewhat or extremely unreasonable,” and 102 said the cost of materials impacted their ability to purchase basic needs such as housing, food and transportation.
Saturday, September 2, 2023
Fall 2023 Affordable Content Grants: OER@UNO - University of Nebraska Omaha
Applications are now available in the NuRamp system! To apply, log in to the system using your NetID. You can find the “Open Internal Competitions” list: Affordable Content Grants: OER@UNO – Spring 2022. Applicants who are interested in viewing the full grant rubric can visit our OER Research Guide. Grant funds will vary based on the scope of the project with $1,250-$2,750 for single section conversions and a maximum of $11,000 for large-scale, multi-section course conversions involving multiple faculty. Grant recipients will be notified by October 27, 2023.
Friday, September 1, 2023
New open educational resource helps students to save this fall - Sara Velasquez, University of New Mexico
The University Libraries Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative is thrilled to announce its collaboration with the Department of English Language and Literatures in the development of an Open Educational Resource (OER) designed for First-Year English Core Composition classes. The creation of the OER will save students money and make course work much more accessible. With an enrollment of approximately 3,509 students in their composition classes, the UNM English Department is poised to make a substantial impact on student affordability. At a conservative estimate of $27.50 per course material for the OER, this translates to an astounding savings of $96,500 for students within a single semester.
http://news.unm.edu/news/new-open-educational-resource-helps-students-to-save-this-fall
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Intensive English Communication Program focuses on sustainable development goals - PSU
One essential component of this programmatic transformation was the adoption of exclusively open educational resources (OER) as opposed to commercial textbooks and materials for all core courses. The core courses are a group of eight courses focused on either speaking and listening or reading and writing for international students in higher education. The adoption of OER was supported by Penn State OER librarians Christina Riehman-Murphy and Bryan McGeary.
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
MTSU team completes training to expand OER free course accessibility for students - WGNS
While the cost of textbooks in higher education poses a significant challenge to many students, accessibility to course materials for those with disabilities is an even greater challenge for some whose limitations make learning more difficult. So a multidisciplinary team of five Middle Tennessee State University faculty is working toward improving accessibility for all through Open Educational Resources, which are course materials made free to students through a variety of platforms.
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
UW Libraries Names Alternative Textbook Grant Recipients for 2023-24 Academic Year - University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming Libraries recently awarded alternative textbook grants to six faculty members to implement open educational resources (OER) in their classes for the 2023-24 academic year. The open course materials and textbooks resulting from the grants are projected to save UW students more than $30,400 per semester. Grants are awarded to instructors who adopt, adapt or create new open textbooks or other learning materials for their courses.
Monday, August 28, 2023
Open Educational Resources at The Open University
Projects led by The Open University (OU) around open educational resources (OER) aim to tackle a range of questions from 'What is the impact on teaching and learning of OER?' to 'How can we help researchers and practitioners in the OER field to contribute to the evidence of OER effectiveness?' Research around OER is broad and can be institutionally driven or set by external funders.
Sunday, August 27, 2023
University of Manitoba OER Grants for UM Full-time tenure track/tenured faculty, continuing/probationary instructors, and librarians
Advance Open Ed 2023-24 provides financial and practical support along with educational opportunities to help the UM community create, adapt, and/or adopt OER. OER are teaching materials that have an open-copyright license that allow them to be created, adapted, adopted and shared by instructors and students at no cost.
Saturday, August 26, 2023
What does “free for profit” mean? - Can Tech Letter
“Free for profit” is a term that might seem contradictory at first glance. However, it typically refers to content or resources that are made available without cost or payment for use in for-profit activities. In other words, even though something is provided for free, it can still be used in ways that generate profit. For example, in the context of creative works like music or art, “free for profit” might mean that the content is offered without requiring payment upfront, allowing individuals or businesses to use it in their projects, products, or services that are intended to generate revenue. This approach can sometimes be part of a broader strategy to attract more users or customers by offering useful resources at no initial cost.
https://www.cantechletter.com/2023/08/what-does-free-for-profit-mean/
Friday, August 25, 2023
Wreaths Across America Unveils New Curriculum - Oakdale Leader
This week, Wreaths Across America (WAA) announced new, back-to-school curriculum as part of its year-round Teach program. The free, downloadable, standards-based lesson plans include resources for all grade levels. The K-12 curriculum includes new lesson plans for Constitution Day and lessons focused on the Navajo Code Talkers and Patriot Day. The free, downloadable plans ensure stories of service, sacrifice and valor are passed down to future generations while building good character and self-worth through service to others. Lesson plans and other educational resources are standards-based and created for teachers, parents and anyone educating young people.
Thursday, August 24, 2023
OpenStax to launch open access organic chemistry textbook - Rice University
The first 12 chapters of the textbook Organic Chemistry: A Tenth Edition are now freely accessible to students through OpenStax, an educational initiative of Rice University. On Sept. 20, students and faculty will have free access online to the full version of this historically costly textbook that is a required material for organic chemistry courses nationwide. OpenStax is also providing free, aligned supplemental resources, including lecture slides, test items and a solution manual on their website. For those preferring print materials, the textbook will be available to purchase at an affordable price in hardcover and paperback.
Wednesday, August 23, 2023
Open Educational Resources: Innovative Practices - Michael S. Dillard, PA Times
Open Educational Resources (OER) are free communication technologies designed to increase student participation, engagement and interactivity. Materials are openly shared educational resources that are translated, combined or broken apart for educators and students to reuse and recycle for teaching, learning and research. The shift in teaching and learning ideology empowers the users to engage in a more robust pedagogical experience that augments classroom instruction with blended learning access and support. The “open” in OER denotes that anyone can participate in 5R activities, which are to retain, reuse, revise, remix and redistribute.
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
UN To Relaunch Chair On Multimodal Learning And Open Educational Resources At North-West University - IedNewsDesk
A key United Nations agency has shown its confidence in the North-West University (NWU) by relaunching the Chair on Multimodal Learning and Open Educational Resources for a second term of four years. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has approved the NWU’s submission for a renewal of the chair, which was initially awarded to the university in 2019. The chair was relaunched in June. “The renewal shows that the NWU is recognised as a leader in promoting multimodal learning and research in open educational resources (OERs),” says the chairholder, Prof Dorothy Laubscher, associate professor in mathematics.
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