[Open-education] OER DIGEST - May 4th, 2017

Thu May 4 16:21:48 UTC 2017

>From Ethan Senack (Creative Commons USA) | Volume 30 | May 4th, 2017

With help from Brady Yano (SPARC) and Cable Green (Creative Commons)

THE OER DIGEST

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

AUTHOR’S NOTE (ES): As you may have heard, Digest co-author Katie Steen
(USPIRG) is moving onto a summer campaign for the next few months and will
be away from her email, so I’m temporarily returning to the Digest team to
help Brady Yano (SPARC) bring you consistent updates from the OER field.
I’m thrilled to come back and see how much the Digest community has grown,
and I look forward to sharing your updates and ideas.

REPORTING BACK: This past week saw a ton of OER and open advocates in
Toronto, Canada, for the Creative Commons Global Summit
<https://summit.creativecommons.org/>. More than 400 practitioners,
lawyers, and advocates gathered to discuss the direction of the CC network
and licenses. Two major updates - the release of Made with CC, Creative
Commons’ kickstarter-funded book on open business models around the world
that will be available to the public on May 5th at
https://creativecommons.org/made-with-cc/, and the release of the 2016
State of the Commons report, which shows over 1.2 billion CC-licensed works
at https://stateof.creativecommons.org/.

STATE LEG UPDATE: A Texas bill (SB810
<https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB810/2017>) creating a $200,000 state OER
grant program, establishing protocols for “OER course designations” in
course catalogs, and ordering a statewide feasibility study has passed the
Senate and moved to the House there. In Washington state, the Governor
signed legislation (SB5449
<http://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5449&Year=2017>) that
included a provision to “to identify and develop additional open
educational resources to support digital citizenship, media literacy, and
internet safety in schools.

FINAL COMMENT: A coalition letter signed by 18 organizations urging the
Department of Education to move ahead with their Open Licensing Rule,
finalized this January but delayed until May 22nd, has been posted. In the
weeks ahead, the Department will be reviewing the comments submitted - many
of which were positive toward OER - and will make a decision about whether
or not to delay the rule any longer. The letter, here>>
<https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=ED-2015-OS-0105-0185>

PEARSON’S PARTNERSHIP: Publishing giant Pearson announced
<http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/04/prweb14248807.htm> a partnership
with indiCo, a subsidiary of the National Association of College Stores
(NACS), to list their digital “rental-only” textbooks in over 1,500 campus
bookstores. All of the titles will be rentable for less than $100.

PANOPEN X LEARNOSITY: Last week, panOpen and Learnosity announced that they
have partnered to integrate Learnosity’s assessment and homework
capabilities into panOpen’s OER-based learning platform. They pitch it as
the “First OER Platform with Commercial-Quality Assessments and Homework.” Read
more>> <http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/04/prweb14276667.htm>

CAMPUS ACTION:  University of Arkansas, Fayetteville recently announced
<http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/apr/29/33-000-in-ua-grants-aim-to-cut-student--1/?f=news-arkansas>
that five of their faculty are set to receive up to $33,000 as part of a
new grant program encouraging faculty to use OER. The first set of UA
grants have been awarded to faculty teaching introductory or core classes
and are expected to impact  more than 1,000 students. Houston Community
College also announced
<https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-04-20-houston-community-college-receives-300k-to-develop-z-degree-program>
that they’ve received a $300,000 grant to develop a Z-Degree, or
zero-textbook cost degree, in Business Administration and General Studies.
They plan to pilot it with 100 students starting this fall.

A DIFFERENT TAKE: The Drexel student newspaper reported these interesting
findings <http://thetriangle.org/opinion/textbooks-are-too-much/> from the
Green Press Initiative last week: “Each year, approximately 30 million
trees are used to make books sold in the United States — 1,153 times the
number of trees in New York City’s Central Park. Many of these trees are
sourced from endangered forests with devastating impacts on the people and
wildlife that rely on them. So, by making the switch to digital, we can
minimize the impact our actions have on forests and wildlife.”

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

EVENT: bepress will be hosting a webinar entitled Supporting Student
Success with Open Educational Resources on May 9th from 11-12 PDT.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4275264429721961986

EVENT: Registration for the Open Textbook Summit 2017, is still open!
BCcampus’ annual event will be taking place May 24-25 in Vancouver, BC.
https://bccampus.ca/otsummit-2017/

EVENT: The Rebus Community will be hosting their June Office Hour event on
June 5th at 3 EDT/ 12 PDT. The topic of the call will be Accessibility in
Open Textbooks. RSVP here.
<https://docs.google.com/a/sparcopen.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeemy5U64wpvGlp3j4eb-58OYbLLHTyo5VFjzKaEUBNRN0cEQ/viewform>

OPPORTUNITY: OpenStax announced that they’re accepting a new round of
applications for their  Institutional Partnership Program.
https://openstax.org/impact

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM PENNSYLVANIA: “To keep her course content relevant, Serrano used to
spend time making copies, writing exercises, and tailoring resources to her
students’ needs. With her digital textbook, she provides current resources
that can be continually updated in the online environment. Serrano used her
e-book for the first time this semester, and her 25 Spanish I students
collectively saved approximately $8,440.” Read More>>
<http://news.psu.edu/story/466004/2017/05/02/academics/lehigh-valley-instructor-saves-her-students-over-8000-authors-free>

FROM TEXAS: “In fall 2017, the Z-Degree pilot program will start offering
an Associate of Arts in business Administration and an Associate of Arts in
General Studies. Both degree tracks will be completely free of jaw-dropping
textbook price tags.“In these times of increasing educational costs, it’s
essential that HCC does everything that it possibly can to help reduce
costs for student and help make a college education more affordable for our
students,” said Steve Levey, HCC’s Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic
Instruction.” Read More>>
<http://hccegalitarian.com/5396/community/textbook-price-sticker-shock-free-degree/>

FROM CANADA: A deep dive on eCampus Ontario, BCcampus, what their leaders
are up to, and more. Read the article>>
<http://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/open-educational-resources-movement-redefining-concept-online-textbooks/>

TWEET OF THE WEEK

@LaylaBonnot <https://twitter.com/LaylaBonnot/status/857417257793847297>: @
Alanis we rewrote iconic 'Ironic' around our open licensing and #oer work! #
nerds #oer17 @creativecommons @txtbks
<https://twitter.com/LaylaBonnot/status/857417257793847297>

SYLLABUS

Interesting Reads on Education and Open

A New Value Proposition for Open Textbooks | Inside Higher Ed

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/new-value-proposition-open-textbooks-0

Blackboard Launches K–12 Cloud-Based Digital Learning Environment | THE
Journal

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/05/01/blackboard-launches-k12-cloudbased-digital-learning-environment.aspx

eCampusOntario Launches Open Textbook Library to Address Student
Affordability | On the Go Toronto

http://www.onthego.to/back2school/ecampusontario-launches-open-textbook-library-address-student-affordability/

OER, on the Ground | Inside Higher Ed

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/04/26/faculty-member-and-librarians-discuss-how-college-makes-progress

Open Educational Resources Movement Welcomes Growing Pains | The Chronicle

http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/letters/open-educational-resources-movement-welcomes-growing-pains/

Open on Whose Terms? | The Chronicle

http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/open-on-whose-terms/63986

What Would Happen if Learning Materials Were Available Day One? | Education
Week

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/education_futures/2017/04/what_would_happen_if_learning.html

Have suggestions for the next edition?

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

You can subscribe to the OER Digest here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsVwP-hgmvxYey_D1QbsKGAitjHhobvW6cX1vHGxSVWuq_sA/viewform>
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