[Open-education] OER DIGEST- April 19th, 2018

Thu Apr 19 20:47:52 UTC 2018

*From Kaitlyn Vitez (U.S. PIRG) | Volume 55 | April 19th, 2018THE OER
DIGESTYour bi-weekly newsletter for open education updates, opportunities,
and reminders BACK TO BACK TO BACK: April has been a packed month for
conferences. - The CC Summit (April 13-15) had more than 400 attendees from
64 countries. If you weren’t able to make it to Toronto, check out the
keynote recordings <https://twitter.com/hashtag/ccsummit?src=hash> or, of
course, follow along at #ccsummit
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/ccsummit?src=hash> on Twitter.- #OER18
<https://twitter.com/search?q=%23oer18&src=typd> (April 18-19) is wrapping
today in Bristol, UK. You can view session recordings within the conference
schedule. <https://oer18.oerconf.org/programme/#/day1>- The Open Ed Global
conference starts on the 24th in Delft and expects an audience of 360.
Participate virtually or follow along at #OEGlobal18
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/OEGLOBAL18?src=hash>. OPEN TEXTBOOKS PILOT
UPDATE: The co-sponsors of the Affordable College Textbook Act
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3840/all-info?r=37>
have expanded upon their intentions in funding a $5 million open textbook
pilot and their vision for the program. U.S. Senators Durbin, King, and
Smith, as well as Representatives Polis and Sinema sent a letter
<https://www.durbin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Open%20Textbooks%20Pilot%20Implementation%204.18.18.pdf>
to Secretary DeVos to use the funds to spur the creation and adoption of
OER at traditional institutions of higher education. Furthermore, they
requested that she use their 2017 bill as guidelines for the application
process, including allowing funds to be used for professional development
and greater accessibility. In addition, 26 U.S. Senators signed onto
another letter
<https://www.durbin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY19%20Open%20Textbook%20Letter%204.13.18.pdf>
urging their colleagues to renew and expand the program in next year’s
budget.DEFINING THE PROBLEM: As teachers across the country strike for
better pay and school funding, greater scrutiny is being paid to conditions
in K-12 classrooms. Teachers have been sounding off
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/reader-center/us-public-schools-conditions.html>
on their out-of-pocket expenses, multiple jobs, and crumbling textbooks. In
one notable example
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-blake-shelton-textbook-first-grader-school-protests-funding/>,
a girl had received a textbook previously owned by country star Blake
Shelton in 1982. COURT RULES ON CC-BY: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
2nd Circuit has ruled in favor of school districts
<https://creativecommons.org/2018/04/02/recent-u-s-legal-decision-reinforces-strength-cc-licenses/>
exercising the full permissions of CC-BY-NC-SA. The suit was originally
brought to the court in 2016 by Great Minds, after the school district had
hired FedEx to print copies of their open Eureka Math materials. According
to the court, “each teacher and administrator who handles the Material is a
‘downstream recipient’ who acts as an independent licensee,” and may hire a
for-profit company to print the open materials as they see fit. TOP HAT
STOPS CHARGING FOR OER: The for-profit platform has announced
<https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180412005017/en/Top-Hat-First-Ever-Free-Platform-Access-Textbooks>
that they will stop charging students for access to OER, which constitutes
about 90% of their textbook inventory. The company had received criticism
for demanding students pay for open content. Top Hat cites the CARE
Framework
<https://careframework.org/2018/03/04/toward-a-sustainable-oer-ecosystem-the-care-framework/>
as the guiding principles of their transition to the new model. They will
continue to charge for access to its classroom and assessment features, as
well as closed copyright texts.OPEN CONFERENCESUpcoming Events, Proposal
and Registration Deadlines, Report-Backs   CALL FOR PROPOSALS: The Open
Education Southern Symposium is being hosted by the University of Arkansas
in Fayetteville on October 1st-2nd. You can read more and submit a proposal
by May 31st here <https://openedss.uark.edu/>.CALL FOR APPLICATIONS:
OpenStax has announced that they’re seeking a new cohort of institutional
partners. Submit your application by April 24th here
<https://openstax.org/institutional-partnership>.CALL FOR APPLICATIONS:
SPARC is officially launching their intensive Open Educational Leadership
Program for library professionals following a successful pilot.
Applications for the 2018-2019 cohort open next week — more details here
<https://sparcopen.org/our-work/open-education-leadership-program/#enroll>.
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Creative Commons has announced boot camps and online
workshops to grant CC Certificates, building expertise in open licensing.
The first class is in July — look at their calendar and course options here
<https://creativecommons.org/2018/04/14/announcing-open-registration-for-cc-certificates/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitterfacebook&utm_campaign=jennryn-cert&utm_content=>.
 STORIES FROM THE FIELDQuick snapshots of those making change on the ground
level, and those impacted FROM VIRGINIA: "As our campus becomes more
diverse, we expect that there will be students from very diverse
backgrounds, including socioeconomic backgrounds, and we want to be sure
we're supporting those students, as well as everyone else, so that those
students have a chance to be successful academically rather than being
priced out of being able to afford textbooks," said Anita Walz, the
scholarly communications librarian at Virginia Tech. Read more >
<http://www.whsv.com/content/news/479527863.html?ref=863> FROM MARYLAND:
"Some professors aren't even aware that they can apply for grant money for
adapting open-education resources into their classroom," said Ary
Papadopoulos, a senior public health science major. "If they don't know
about this program, then how can we expect them to utilize it?” Read more >
<http://www.dbknews.com/2018/04/09/march-open-source-textbooks-umd/> HOT
OFF THE PRESSEach edition, we’ll highlight an interesting, new,
openly-licensed resourceNew America has published a new guide, “Making
Connections: PreK–12 OER in Practice
<https://www.newamerica.org/in-depth/prek12-oer-in-practice/>.” It contains
information on how other school districts are using OER, search tools, and
tips for professional trainings.WEIGH INInteresting Discussions and
Strategic Reads to Repost or Share Great to Share >> Battle over college
course material is a textbook example of technological change | Washington
Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/battle-over-college-course-material-is-a-textbook-example-of-technological-change/2018/04/14/fb3d0394-0db5-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.676bdee8bc83
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/battle-over-college-course-material-is-a-textbook-example-of-technological-change/2018/04/14/fb3d0394-0db5-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.676bdee8bc83>
Interesting to Consider >>Tips for Bringing OER to Your University,
Institution, or School | Model
eLearninghttps://modelelearning.com/2018/04/10/tips-for-bringing-oer-to-your-university-institution-or-school/
<https://modelelearning.com/2018/04/10/tips-for-bringing-oer-to-your-university-institution-or-school/>
As Good or Better than Commercial Textbooks | Canadian Journal for the
Scholarship of Teaching and
Learninghttps://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol9/iss1/5/
<https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol9/iss1/5/>“You might want to tell
your instructors about this:” students as sales reps? | U.S.
PIRGhttps://medium.com/u-s-pirg/you-might-want-to-tell-your-instructors-about-this-students-as-sales-reps-d81a0dd5d3b4
<https://medium.com/u-s-pirg/you-might-want-to-tell-your-instructors-about-this-students-as-sales-reps-d81a0dd5d3b4>
Textbooks, OER, and the Need for Open Pedagogy | Jesse
Stommelhttp://www.jessestommel.com/textbooks-oer-and-the-need-for-open-pedagogy/
<http://www.jessestommel.com/textbooks-oer-and-the-need-for-open-pedagogy/>
Have suggestions for the next edition? Let us know at oerdigest at gmail.com
<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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