[Open-education] OER Digest - June 13th, 2019

Fri Jun 14 01:00:26 UTC 2019

>From Ethan Senack and Bilan Jama (Creative Commons USA) | Volume 83 | June
13th, 2019

THE OER DIGEST

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

STATE LEGISLATION: Lawmakers in Connecticut introduced budget bill HB 7424
<https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&which_year=2019&bill_num=7424>
with an amendment that would establish the Connecticut OER Coordinating
Council to identify high-impact courses for OER and create competitive OER
grants. SB 117
<http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=18rs&b=SB117&sbi=y> in Louisiana
was signed into law, which would require public institutions to
conspicuously highlight courses using low-cost or OER course materials. Texas
Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 2653
<https://capitol.texas.gov/billlookup/text.aspx?LegSess=80R&Bill=HB2653>,
which requires the state board to contract with a high-quality open
educational resource repository. The Governor of Oregon signed a HB 2213
<https://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2019/HB2213/> requiring institutions to
establish textbook affordability plans incorporating OER.

UNVEILING GOOPEN.US: The GoOpen Network recently launched a new website
<https://goopen.us/groups/> for their campaign around K12 OER, and a Twitter
account <https://twitter.com/GoOpenNetwork> to match. The site features
stories, updates, and opportunities for collaboration, as well as groups
and discussion forums for members to share best practices and troubleshoot
challenges.

UNESCO: Last month, UNESCO member state representatives moved their 2019
UNESCO OER Recommendation
<https://unesco.ijs.si/project/unesco-recommendation-on-open-educational-resources/>
toward a full vote at the next general conference in November. The
recommendation advocates for global investment in five areas supporting
OER: capacity building, developing supportive policy, ensure inclusive and
equitable access to quality OER, sustainability models for OER, and
international cooperation.

LUMEN + SUNY: The State University of New York and Lumen Learning announced
<https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/06/13/new-partnership-between-suny-and-lumen-aims-take-open>
a multiyear partnership around college affordability and student success
through the use of OER. The partnership will focus on building out Luman’s
catalog of courses and developing supplemental materials for open books.
Also part of the deal, SUNY will cover the access fee for all students to
participate in Lumen’s platform.

DOWN SOUTH: The Alabama Commission on Higher Education voted to
<https://www.alreporter.com/2019/06/10/commission-on-higher-education-focuses-on-making-college-more-affordable-at-recent-meeting/>
increase funding for the state’s need-based financial aid program,
prioritizing lower textbook costs for students. They aim to conduct
workshops focused on educating faculty members on the use of OER and expect
their OER grant to reach 18,000 students with savings over $2 million this
year.

NEW AUTHOR: Hello! I’m Bilan Jama, and I’m a new team member at Creative
Commons USA. My job will primarily focus on supporting OER policy and CC
license adoption in K-12 communities, including supporting the #GoOpen
network. I am a former teacher who is passionate about all students having
access to equitable resources. You can find me @blnjama
<https://mobile.twitter.com/blnjama>.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

REGISTER: Virtual College of Texas is hosting the Open Education Texas
convening August 7-8 in Austin, Texas. Register <http://www.60x30tx.com/oer>
here.

REGISTER: Registration <https://openedconference.org/2019/> has opened up
for #OpenEd19, taking place October 30 - November 1 in Phoenix, AZ.

SAVE THE DATE: Save the date for the #GoOpen National Convening: Leading
with Pedagogy taking place November 7-8, 2019 in Washington, DC. Contact
info at goopen.us for additional information.

SUBMIT: U.S. PIRG is working to build a list of inclusive access programs,
so that the community can better track, analyze, and respond to these
proposed deals between publishers and colleges. Add your institution to the
tracker here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbdwRBUSJtyuPWBH59abwotheT_c2DOjqsO2jtf6cQN1NR2A/viewform>
.

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Quick snapshots of those making change on the ground level, and those
impacted

FROM IOWA: “The University of Iowa Libraries has awarded 15 grants for Open
Educational Resource (OER) projects for the 2019-2020 academic year.
OpenHawks is a campus-wide grant program that funds faculty efforts to
replace current textbooks with OERs for enhanced student success.” The
recipients include Ted Neal, who will be working with his education
students to write a new textbook Earth and Space Science. Read More >
<https://now.uiowa.edu/2019/06/faculty-members-win-ui-libraries-openhawks-grants>

FROM COLORADO: “During the Morning Charge, Congressman Joe Neguse also
pledged his continued support of OER. Earlier this year, he introduced the
Affordable College Textbook Act in an effort to expand the use of free,
open access textbooks on college campuses. “I view this room, and all the
folks who are gathered here today, as our team, as Colorado’s team!” he
said, just before encouraging everyone listening to reach out to him and
other policymakers with more ideas. “You would be surprised at how likely
it is that your idea may very well end up in a piece of legislation.” Read
More >
<https://www.cccs.edu/cccs-news/open-educational-resources-initiative-gains-momentum-in-colorado/>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Each edition, we’ll highlight an interesting, new, openly-licensed resource

We’ve previously featured the open textbook “Blueprint for Success in
College & Career”, but it now has an interesting new chapter
<https://press.rebus.community/blueprint2/chapter/48-cultural-competency/>
on Cultural Competency, contributed by the Stanford University EPIC
(Education Partnership for Internationalizing Curriculum) Global Studies
Fellowship. The chapter discusses practical ways to value differences in
culture and appreciate identity throughout the learning process.

WEIGH IN

Interesting Discussions and Strategic Reads to Repost or Share

Great to Share >>

OER Testimonials and Resources
<https://portal.ct.gov/DAS/CTEdTech/Commission-for-Educational-Technology/Initiatives/Open-Education-Resources>
| Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology

Interesting to Consider >>

Follett Launches New Course Materials Program
<https://finance.yahoo.com/news/follett-launches-campus-model-groundbreaking-131000693.html>
| Yahoo! Finance

Impact: a new tool from the Ontario Open Library
<https://openlibrary.ecampusontario.ca/impact/> | eCampus Ontario

Libraries Announce 2019 Open Education Initiative Grant Recipients
<https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/libraries-announce-2019-open-education>
| UMass Amherst

With partnership, Morgan State is bringing open content platform to campus
<https://technical.ly/baltimore/2019/06/13/panopen-partnership-morgan-state-university-open-educational-resources/>
| Morgan State

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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