[Open-education] OER Digest - June 27th, 2019

Thu Jun 27 20:39:43 UTC 2019

>From Kaitlyn Vitez and Nick Sengstaken (USPIRG) | Volume 84 | June 27th,
2019

With updates from Ariela McCaffrey

THE OER DIGEST

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

SUPPORTING LGBTQ+ STUDENTS: In celebration of Pride Month and the 50th
anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, we’re highlighting  “Leveraging Open
Educational Resources for Queer Students
<https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/leveraging-open-educational-resources-queer-students/>”
by Sabia Prescott of the think tank New America. The series of blog posts
outlines how OER can be the method in which LGBTQ+ curricula becomes
recognized and easily distributed. According to Prescott, OER makes it
possible for educators to “easily find the resources they need, tailor them
to their students, and find guidance on how to use them.” She continues
that “It’s especially critical that queer-inclusive content be updated
frequently as our understanding of queer identities changes, and OER would
allow teachers to do just that.”

STATE UPDATES: As state legislative sessions wrap up, many of the bills
we’ve been tracking are being signed into law. In Florida, a bill was signed
into law <http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/00190> that would
create a training program for university trustees to ensure the costs of
university fees, textbooks, and instructional materials are minimized
whenever possible. A new law
<http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2096&GAID=15&DocTypeID=SB&LegID=120180&SessionID=108&GA=101&SpecSess=0>
in Illinois amends an older law which prohibited publishers or other
retailers from selling K-12 textbooks unless certain requirements were met,
particularly for special education. A bill was signed
<https://capitol.texas.gov/Search/DocViewer.aspx?ID=86RHB003911B&QueryText=%22student%22&DocType=B>in
Texas that would require K-12 school districts to provide printed
alternatives for students who could not reliably access online materials at
home. A bill
<https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&which_year=2019&bill_num=7424>
creating the Connecticut OER Coordinating Council awaits signature.

ACKNOWLEDGING A PROBLEM: This month, digital content company and former
open publisher FlatWorld released its second annual Textbook Affordability
Study
<https://downloads.flatworldknowledge.com/reports/flatworld_textbook_affordability_2019-06.pdf>.
The publication, which polled 786 faculty members at both two and four-year
institutions across the country, found that 90% of faculty reported that
textbook affordability is a problem at their institution but just 40% said
that their school possessed a program aiming to reduce these costs. The
study also detailed faculty distaste for two practices by publishers to
push their products: 64% called inclusive access deals “totally” or
generally” unacceptable, and more than half were unhappy with adoption
incentives like department kickbacks or funding of student programs.

ATTRIBUTION DISPUTE: Open Up Resources and Illustrative Mathematics have
resolved a disagreement
<https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/open-educational-resource-companies-end-fight-attribution/>regarding
attribution of OUR’s middle school math curriculum. Illustrative
Mathematics and their partners have agreed to revise their attribution, and
both parties say they are satisfied with the deal.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

OPPORTUNITY: Columbia Gorge Community College is searching for a Director
of Library and Learning Commons. The full-time position, includes several
responsibilities, including but not limited to the oversight of Open
Educational Resources development. Read More >
<https://agency.governmentjobs.com/cgcc/default.cfm?action=viewJob&jobID=2485007&hit_count=yes&headerFooter=1&promo=0&transfer=0&WDDXJobSearchParams=%3CwddxPacket%20version%3D%271%2E0%27%3E%3Cheader%2F%3E%3Cdata%3E%3Cstruct%3E%3Cvar%20name%3D%27TRANSFER%27%3E%3Cstring%3E0%3C%2Fstring%3E%3C%2Fvar%3E%3Cvar%20name%3D%27CATEGORYID%27%3E%3Cstring%3E%3C%2Fstring%3E%3C%2Fvar%3E%3Cvar%20name%3D%27FIND_KEYWORD%27%3E%3Cstring%3E%3C%2Fstring%3E%3C%2Fvar%3E%3Cvar%20name%3D%27PROMOTIONALJOBS%27%3E%3Cstring%3E0%3C%2Fstring%3E%3C%2Fvar%3E%3C%2Fstruct%3E%3C%2Fdata%3E%3C%2FwddxPacket%3E>

RSVP NOW: On August 15th at 2pm EST/ 6pm UTC, Rebus Foundation is hosting
an online discussion entitled “Adapting OER for your Unique Context.” ” RSVP
Here >
<https://www.rebus.community/t/office-hours-adapting-oer-for-your-unique-context-15-august-2019-2pm-est-6pm-utc/1517>

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM OHIO: Students at the University of Cincinnati Clermont College are
saving a tremendous amount of money every semester due to the adoption of
open-source textbooks. According to Dean Jeff Bauer, a professor of
business, “All students have the book on the first day of class, it saves
them a lot of money, and the information can be accessed anywhere, anytime,
without carrying around a heavy textbook.” Beyond that, he continues saying
that “My teaching hasn’t changed; grades haven’t changed. The only thing
that has changed is the amount of money students are spending on
textbooks.” Read More >
<https://www.clermontsun.com/2019/06/21/open-source-textbooks-offer-free-alternative-for-uc-clermont-students/>

FROM MINNESOTA: According to Minnesota University Bookstores Director Ross
Rosati, buyback totals are down 70 percent from what they were five years
ago with them falling from $430,000 in the 2018 fiscal year to just
$174,000 as of June 2019. While the Bookstore claimed to pay 40-50 percent
of the new retail price, students reported being offered as low as 2
percent of the original price. Read More >
<https://www.mndaily.com/article/2019/06/n-textbooks-linger-with-students-as-they-look-to-sell>

FROM CONNECTICUT: Connecticut College has awarded ten grants for open
educational resource projects for the 2019-2020 academic year. Nine OER
grant recipients will adopt, adapt and implement open materials in their
courses. One OER creation grant was awarded to Professor Derek Turner in
the philosophy department, who is writing “Form and Content: An
Introduction to Formal Logic.” Read More >
<https://teachtechconncoll.wordpress.com/>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

Dr. Dan Allosso, an assistant professor of history at Bemidji State
University, recently published an open textbook entitled “American
Environmental History
<https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/american-environmental-history>”
as part of the Minnesota State OER Learning Circle. The new OER includes
ancillary recorded lectures and 15 chapters detailing “how the environment
of the Americas influenced the actions of people here and how people
affected their environments, from prehistory to the present.” In the
future, Allosso is planning to publish three additional textbooks about
U.S. history, world history, and the history of high technology. Read More >
<https://www.bemidjistate.edu/news/2019/06/14/dr-dan-allosso-publishes-american-environmental-history-open-education-resources-textbook/>

WEIGH IN

Interesting Discussions and Strategic Reads to Repost or Share

Great to Share >>

It’s time we tear up our economics textbooks and start over
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-time-we-tear-up-our-economics-textbooks-and-start-over/2019/06/23/54794ab8-9432-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html?utm_term=.4cc7854582fa>
| The Washington Post

Interesting to Consider >>

Can a Health-Insurance Model Bring ‘Equitable Access’ to the Textbook
Market?
<https://www.chronicle.com/article/Can-a-Health-Insurance-Model/246513> |
The Chronicle of Higher Education

Open Educational Resources: A Crash Course
<https://vreps.wordpress.com/2019/06/18/open-educational-resources-a-crash-course/>
| VREPS

How software is making textbooks obsolete
<https://www.besttechie.com/how-software-is-making-textbooks-obsolete/> |
BestTechie

KPU faculty describe their experiences with using open textbooks
<https://media.kpu.ca/media/KPU+faculty+describe+their+experiences+with+using+open+textbooks/0_a95unvfu>
| Kwantlen Polytechnic University

The undefined figure: Instructional designers in the open educational
resource (OER) movement in higher education
<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-019-09940-0> l Education
and Informational Technologies

A closer look at open educational resources
<https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/open-educational-resources/> l Cult of
Pedagogy

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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