[Open-education] OER Digest - September 7th, 2017

Thu Sep 7 18:15:34 UTC 2017

>From Katie Steen and Brady Yano (SPARC) | Volume 39 | September 7th, 2017

With updates from Apurva Ashok and Ethan Senack

THE OER DIGEST

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

HOT OFF THE PRESS: This week SPARC released the first “Connect OER Annual
Report, 2016-2017 <https://sparcopen.org/our-work/connect-oer/reports>,”
detailing insights from their Connect OER
<https://sparcopen.org/our-work/connect-oer/> pilot which ran from May -
July 2017. The report comprises of information collected from 65 SPARC
member institutions. During the pilot phase, Connect OER profiles were
available only for SPARC member institutions. In early October, all higher
education institutions in the U.S. and Canada will have the opportunity to
join the directory. To be notified when registration is available, academic
libraries may sign up here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1I0jqkwwfXiDj9M_ietE3m5s3-4J1ScWMwpnFcHMlx6o/edit>.
Key Insights:

   -

   Libraries are the most engaged entity on campus in efforts to advance
   OER.
   -

   Mathematics and statistics is the academic subject with the most OER
   traction.
   -

   Nearly half of the participating institutions have a faculty or staff
   person with explicit OER responsibilities.
   -

   SPARC member institutions saved students an estimated $5 million through
   the use of OER in the 2016-2017 academic year.

STATE UPDATE: The Colorado Open Educational Resources Council, created
after a bill <https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb17-258> passed the Colorado
legislature this session, has already started meeting to discuss the
current state of OER in the state and to develop recommendations for future
OER development. You can check out Council membership and meeting agendas
here
<http://highered.colorado.gov/Academics/Groups/OERCouncil/schedule.html>. A
digital discount bill in California, SB 727
<https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB727>,
has been amended after OER advocates in the state expressed concerns over
the bill’s impact on OER and students. The amendments removed language
promoting digital materials that can only be “used within a course" and
added language to protect students from being required to purchase
materials through an “innovative pricing technique”.

REBUS RESOURCE: The Rebus Community <http://rebus.community/> has developed
a new resource to support those interested in running an open textbook
project in their classroom. The new collaboratively-created Guide to Making
Open Textbooks With Students
<https://press.rebus.community/makingopentextbookswithstudents/> contains
project ideas, case studies, resources, sample assignments and more. You
can learn more about the project here
<https://about.rebus.community/2017/08/new-resource-from-the-rebus-community-guide-to-making-open-textbooks-with-students/>
.

AMAZON INSPIRE: The Amazon Inspire Beta <https://www.amazoninspire.com/>—geared
towards the K-12 OER market—has once again started to allow contributors to
upload OER to the site. This time, however, all content submitted is set to
be reviewed prior to publishing. The Beta allows four different Creative
Commons licenses and an Amazon Inspire Custom License.

PLATFORM LAUNCH: The Creative Commons Global Network announced
<https://creativecommons.org/2017/09/05/invitation-join-cc-open-education-platform/>
the launch of their Open Education Platform, an international community
focused on collaboration and coordination around furthering open education.
These platforms are open to all interested parties working in the platform
area and adjacent spaces. Those interested can join via Slack, Google
Groups, or phone from the link above.

‘OPEN’ MATH: Open Up Resources released
<http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2017/08/can_open_math_curriculum_compete.html>
an open version of major middle-school math curriculum aligned with the
Common Core Standards. The most recent release comes with edits from
feedback gathered after the curriculum was initially piloted. Open Up
Resources will provide training on how to use the open curriculum for an
added cost.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

EVENT: Please note that due to potential impacts from Hurricane Irma,
the Florida
OER Summit <https://www.flvc.org/oersummit> has been postponed.

EVENT: The Rebus Community and Open Textbook Network are hosting their
September Office Hour event on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in OER. The
call will be taking place on September 26th at 12pm EDT. Click here
<https://forum.rebus.community/topic/208/office-hours-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-oer-tuesday-sept-26-12-p-m-est?utm_source=Rebus+Community+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9bf913425d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c42869f96a-9bf913425d-77335437>
to RSVP.

EVENT: The Lumen Learning team is holding office hours from 4:30-5:30 ET
Monday-Friday for anyone that needs help with Lumen Candela or Waymaker
courses and Open Educational Resources (OER).
http://lumenlearning.com/office-hours/

JOB: Farmingdale State College is looking for a new Scholarly Communication
Librarian at the Greenley Library. Applications close on September 29th.
https://farmingdale.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdetails.jsp?JOBID=88908.

JOB: The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga Library is hiring for a
Director of Desk and Patron Experience. Applications opened on August 28th
and will remain open until the position is filled.
https://www.utc.edu/library/about/jobs/index.php

SUBSCRIBE: If you haven’t already - subscribe to the OER Digest here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsVwP-hgmvxYey_D1QbsKGAitjHhobvW6cX1vHGxSVWuq_sA/viewform>
.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM CALIFORNIA: "For me, it was getting over this textbook mentality,
which was developed before the internet was around," says Farmer, a
recipient of Sonoma State's Excellence in Teaching Award. "When I started
teaching, I thought you have to have a textbook for the course. That's how
I learned to do it." Read more >>
<http://news.sonoma.edu/article/saving-money-open-textbooks>

FROM MICHIGAN: "One of the big initiatives that I'm working on is open
textbooks," Appiagyei-Dankah said. "I just really think that textbook
affordability is something that is really important and it is a huge
barrier to student success, so I'd really like to have some faculty members
adopt open textbooks." Read more >>
<http://statenews.com/article/2017/08/asmsu-holds-first-fall-semester-meeting-new-leadership-within-organization>

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Open Up Resources @OpenUpResources <https://twitter.com/openupresources> Aug
28th

BIG NEWS! We've debuted our first freely licensed curriculum. Check out
Illustrative Mathematics 6–8 Math: http://im.openupresources.org
<https://t.co/pH3ZKwtxQr> #OER <https://twitter.com/hashtag/OER?src=hash>

SYLLABUS

Interesting Reads Relating to Education and Open

An Unlikely ESSA Provision: Warning on Copyright Piracy | Education Week

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/08/30/an-unlikely-essa-provision-warning-on-copyright.html

Free Textbooks? Effort Aims to Take Some Financial Burden Off Students’
Shoulders | Berkeley Library

http://news.lib.berkeley.edu/2017/08/28/free-textbooks/

State to Study Open Source Materials to Lower Textbook Costs | The Durango
Herald

https://durangoherald.com/articles/181264

Barnes & Noble Education Shares Plunge on Earnings Miss | USA Today

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/08/30/barnes-noble-education-shares-plunge-earnings-miss/615691001/

Sharing Information Globally: BU Should Utilize OER in order to Benefit
Students | Pipe Dream

https://www.bupipedream.com/opinions/83954/sharing-information-globally/

Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest at gmail.com,
or tweet us @OERdigest <https://twitter.com/oerdigest>.

The OER Digest is a public newsletter distributed to a broad group of
stakeholders across the higher education community. You can join the open
Google Group or check out the distribution list here
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/oerdigest>.
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