[Open-education] OER Digest - January 26th 2017

Thu Jan 26 23:09:54 UTC 2017

>From Katie Steen (US PIRG) | Volume 23 | January 26th, 2017

With help from Brady Yano and Nicole Allen (SPARC)

THE OER DIGEST

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

PEARSON PROBLEMS: Stock prices for textbook publisher Pearson plummeted 30%
last week, following information released by the company about poorer than
expected 2016 results. Pearson cites lower performance in the North
American higher education market as the major culprit, and has announced
new steps including a cut to the price of e-books and a new print rental
program. While Pearson has acknowledged OER as a player in the marketplace,
it points to lower enrollments, inventory backlog and unpredictability in
the market as the source of falling profits. This time last year, Pearson
announced a major restructuring that eliminated 4,000 jobs. Read more>>
<https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/pearsons-stock-falls-sharply-after-gloomy-projections/>

“Whereas we had previously anticipated a broadly stable North American
higher education courseware market in 2017, we now assume that many of
these downward pressures will continue.”  — Pearson’s statement
<https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/pearsons-stock-falls-sharply-after-gloomy-projections/>

OPEN LICENSING PLAYBOOK: The U.S. Department of State has published a new
government “playbook”
<https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/01/267125.htm#.WIEPhDwT3Xw.twitter>
for federal programs to adopt open licensing policies for grant-funded
resources. The playbook provides guidance to federal agencies and other
funders interested in expanding the impact of their investments through
open licensing of educational resources. While the playbook is primarily
intended for the U.S. government, many of the topics and suggestions are
applicable to grants at all levels. The playbook has been released into the
public domain and can be downloaded here
<https://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/open_licensing_playbook_final.pdf>.

YEAR OF OPEN: Last week, the OE Consortium announced the Year of Open
<https://www.yearofopen.org/what-is-the-year-of-open/>, an initiative aimed
at celebrating openness in the fields of open access, open education, open
data, open government and open source software. 2017 marks three important
anniversaries for the open education movement, including the term open
educational resources, the Cape Town Open Education Declaration
<http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/> and the Paris OER Declaration
<http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/open-educational-resources/what-is-the-paris-oer-declaration/>.

ONTARIO E-LEARNING FORUM: Last week eCampusOntario hosted the 2017 eLearning
Seminar + Showcase
<https://www.ecampusontario.ca/Content/elearning-seminar-showcase-2017> in
Downtown Toronto. In attendance was an array of elearning professionals
from eCampusOntario member institutions, with guest speakers and industry
experts on the agenda. The event provided college and university level
faculty, instructional designers and administrators with a unique
opportunity to network with their peers, showcase their latest achievements
and work together to create the best online programs.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

EVENT: The Rebus Community is hosting an Office Hours Webinar on January 31
at 2pm EST on Making Open Textbooks With Students.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CWGoZzcjikgRsYpxq7OODcPj4IuLH7JcTifCr-14C7A/viewform?edit_requested=true

EVENT: Registration for #OER17: The Politics of Open is now open! The
conference will be taking place April 5-6 in London, UK
https://oer17.oerconf.org/#gref

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM CALIFORNIA: ““UCR students come from less-privileged backgrounds,
which means textbooks are a burden,” said Chikako Takeshita, a professor of
gender and sexuality studies who organized the task force. “Students skip
buying books because they can’t afford it. It’s harder to do well without
textbooks.” The initiative is part of a trend among American colleges and
universities. At UCR, the project has saved students an estimated $507,250
since fall 2015. Read more>> <https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/43558>

FROM GEORGIA: “We knew from our first day that we wanted to focus on making
college more affordable. It's a huge objective, so we've found two key ways
to tackle this issue: textbooks and student fees,” Gaines said. “Our goal
is to transition large lecture classrooms that currently use expensive
textbooks to Online Educational Resources.” Online Education Resources are
typically at a free or reduced cost. Read more>>
<http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/sga-initiative-hopes-to-increase-textbook-affordability/article_3af5203e-db9e-11e6-8edf-971675f93a1a.html>

FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA: “This semester, all of my profs have all of their
resources online — I don’t have to buy one textbook,” said Fischer. “My
back isn’t breaking as I’m walking to class and it’s also much more
liberating because you feel like you aren’t spending an excessive amount of
money on a course.” Read more>>
<http://www.ubyssey.ca/news/math-department-moves-textbooks-online-saving-students-money/>

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Will Cross @tceles_B_hsup <https://twitter.com/tceles_B_hsup>

"When the Txtbook You Need Hasn’t Been Written Yet" going frm #textbookbroke
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/textbookbroke?src=hash> to #openpedagogy
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/openpedagogy?src=hash> w/ #OER
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/OER?src=hash> @ncsulibraries
<https://twitter.com/ncsulibraries>
https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/stories/when-the-textbook-you-need-hasn%E2%80%99t-been-written-yet

https://twitter.com/tceles_B_hsup/status/824628420378292224

SYLLABUS

Interesting Reads on Education and Open

Of OER and Platforms: Five Years Later | David Wiley
https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/4892

U.S. Dept. of Ed Launches Supplement to Technology Plan Focused on Higher
Education | MIT

http://news.mit.edu/2017/department-of-education-launches-supplement-to-technology-plan-focused-on-higher-ed-0119

Students’ No. #1 Higher Education Obstacle May Surprise You | New America

https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/students-no-1-higher-education-obstacle-may-surprise-you/

Have suggestions for the next edition?

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