[Open-education] OER Digest - December 1st, 2016

Thu Dec 1 19:11:56 UTC 2016

>From Katie Steen (USPIRG) | Volume 20 | December 1st, 2016

With help from Brady Yano (SPARC)

THE OER DIGEST

Your bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities, and
reminders

NEW RESOURCE ON ADAPTATION: The Open Textbook Network recently
released Modifying
an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know
<https://press.rebus.community/otnmodify/>, a resource built for people who
want to know what it takes to edit an open textbook and how to get started.
This guide, an adaptation of Clint Lalonde’s original work, focuses on the
fundamental aspects of editing open textbooks and will help users assess
the effort, expertise and technical tools needed.

FELLOW OF THE YEAR: Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani <http://thatpsychprof.com/about/>
has been named the Senior BCcampus Open Education Advocacy and Research
Fellow
<https://open.bccampus.ca/2016/11/17/announcement-senior-open-education-advocacy-and-research-fellow/>
for the 2017 year. Dr. Jhangiani will lead a team of three faculty
researchers in the development of research related to the educational
outcomes that take place when OER are substituted for traditional learning
materials within B.C. For any B.C. faculty interested in applying
<https://open.bccampus.ca/call-for-proposals/faculty-fellows/> to be one of
the three Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellows, the deadline is
December 19th.

OTN LANDS BIG FISH: OhioLINK, Ohio’s Academic Library Consortium, is joining
the University of Minnesota’s Open Textbook Network
<https://www.ohiolink.edu/press/ohiolink_takes_steps_toward_textbook_affordability>.
OhioLINK is a serves over 600,000 end users and is a member of the Ohio
Technology Consortium of the Ohio Department of Higher Education. With
OhioLINK’s membership, the Open Textbook Network now extends across more
than 350 campuses. Get their newsletter
<http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/About.aspx>

12 DISTRICTS RECOGNIZED: The Learning Counsel recognized 12 districts
for improving
student outcomes
<http://www.educationdive.com/news/learning-counsel-recognizes-12-districts-for-digital-curriculum-tech-innov/431324/>
through personalizing instruction, open educational resources and digital
tools for better collaboration. The 12 districts are in Washington, Kansas,
North Carolina, Florida, North Dakota, Texas, Arizona and Georgia.

MATH STUDENTS SAVE $1M: The Math Department at the University of British
Columbia has adopted OER in all first-year and most second-year courses.
Over 7,000 are enrolled in these OER math courses this year and
collectively they are saving between $608,000 and $1,024,000.
<https://science.ubc.ca/news/open-textbooks-save-math-students-1-million-year>

PREPARING A STEM WORKFORCE: The Borough of Manhattan Community College
(BMCC) received federal grants to broaden pathways to STEM careers in
fast-growing fields. Math instructors at BMCC are developing a
comprehensive suite of Open Educational Resources
<http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/community-college-works-to-grow-stem-ready-workforce-2179307.htm>
for four gateway math courses. Resources include videos, supporting class
materials and assignments from WeBWork
<http://ctt.marketwire.com/?release=11G123564-001&id=10389475&type=0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwebwork.maa.org%2f>,
an open-source online homework system for math and science.

SECRETARY OF EDUCATION ANNOUNCEMENT: Last week U.S. President-elect Donald
J. Trump announced Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education
<http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/23/trump-devos-education/94344918/>.
DeVos is known for being supportive of the school choice movement and
currently holds a position on the board of the Foundation for Excellence in
Education (FEE). DeVos’ appointment is subject to confirmation by the U.S.
Senate.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

EVENT: BCcampus is hosting an Accessibility for Open Textbooks Webinar on
December 6th from 12:30-1:30 PST https://bccampus.ca/event/acce
ssibility-for-open-textbooks/?instance_id=2436

EVENT: The Open Education Consortium is hosting a Planning for OER
Professional Development webinar on December 7th at 10am PST/1pm EST
http://www.oeconsortium.org/news/

JOB: The University of North Carolina Wilmington Randall Library is looking
for a Digital Initiatives Librarian https://jobs.uncw.edu/postings/6544

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

A brief snapshot of those making change on the ground level, and those most
impacted

FROM ILLINOIS: Members of the Associated Student Government at Northwestern
are gathering faculty and student support for Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL)
Affordable College Textbooks Act. The students hope to lobby for the bill
with other students during the Big Ten on the Hill spring conference in
D.C. “We’re hoping to build a coalition, so it’s not just Northwestern
students supporting this, but it’s a bunch of schools supporting this.” Read
More >>
<https://dailynorthwestern.com/2016/11/15/campus/asg-renews-effort-to-support-bill-that-could-reduce-the-cost-of-textbooks/>

FROM ILLINOIS X2: Heartland Community College (HCC) in Illinois is set to
save students $204,000 next semester through OER adoption. This spring,
there will be 32 faculty members at HCC using open textbooks in 89
sections. “I'm trying to meet them where they are,” Evans said. “Let the
textbook fit into their lives in a seamless way.” Read More >>
<http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/education/open-textbooks-save-students-money-at-hcc/article_092d54e7-6a22-502d-9a1c-552b52bb9187.html>

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Janice Ward @JaniceWard09 Nov 29

“5 Ways to Participate in the #GoOpen
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoOpen?src=hash> Movement” by @vifglobaled
<https://twitter.com/vifglobaled> https://medium.com/@vifglobale
d/5-ways-to-participate-in-the-goopen-movement-818a2ca1505b#.z8vitp96s

SYLLABUS

Interesting Reads on Education and Open

The College Bookstore, Disrupted | Publishers Weekly

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bo
okselling/article/72133-the-college-bookstore-disrupted.html

Digital Publishing and the World’s Largest Publishing Company | Digital
Publishing Innovation Summit

http://memeburn.com/2016/11/digital-publishing-worlds-larges
t-education-company/

How Will the Presidential Election Results Influence Education Technology
in Schools? | The Hechinger Report

http://hechingerreport.org/how-will-the-presidential-electio
n-results-influence-education-technology-in-schools/

Digital Tools Provide Cost Savings, Flexibility | The Argus Observer

http://www.argusobserver.com/news/digital-tools-provide-cost
-savings-flexibility/article_183cd824-acd8-11e6-a191-cf11e5616c34.html

Library Resources as Course Materials | Open Oregon

http://openoregon.org/library-resources-as-course-materials/

Have suggestions for the next edition?

Let us know at oerdigest at gmail.com, or tweet us @OERdigest
<https://twitter.com/oerdigest>.

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