[Open-education] OER Digest - May 30, 2019

Thu May 30 22:56:05 UTC 2019

>From Mo Nyamweya, SPARC | Volume 82 | May 30, 2019

THE OER DIGEST

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

POLICY UPDATES: Many state legislatures are wrapping up for the year, so
there’s lots of action to report. The governor of Minnesota signed bill HF
2544
<https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?f=HF2544&y=2019&ssn=0&b=house>
into law, asking instructors to identify, review, and approve OER for use
in their courses, and colleges to offer the opportunity to earn a zero-cost
degree. Nebraska’s LB 675
<https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=37469>, a
bill requiring the Education Technology Center to evaluate digital
education courses and OER, was sent to the governor for signature, as was
Texas bill HB 3652
<https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB3652>,
calling for the development of an OER repository. Louisiana course
designation bill SB 117
<http://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=236063&sbi=y> passed the Senate
and is now waiting in the House. Meanwhile, the New York Senate sent S 3661
<https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?term=2019&bn=A05914> promoting inclusive
access to the Assembly.

NEW OER RESEARCH: CUNY Lehman College recently published research on
student textbook purchasing
<https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1259&context=le_pubs>.
In surveying students about their textbook purchasing habits, researcher
Stacy Katz found that approximately 20 percent of students spend more than
two hours purchasing textbooks, taking them away from other obligations
they may have. By assigning OER or other free resources, faculty can save
students time as well as money. NCSU Libraries also recently published OER
research focusing on the practices and needs of psychology instructors
considering adopting OER in psychology courses. The paper
<http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2019/TheOpenTextbookToolkit.pdf>
identifies a set of themes for support in OER psychology courses along with
guidance for applying these results in other fields.

REGIONAL SUMMITS: May has been a busy month for regional OER conferences.
Last week, the Northeast OER Summit
<https://neoer.umasscreate.net/conferences/2019-conference/> brought
together about 200 participants from across the region, featuring a keynote
by Rajiv Jhangiani and Robin DeRosa. Maryland held a statewide summit
<https://www.usmd.edu/cai/MOST2019StateSummit> earlier this week, and
Colorado’s
OER Conference <http://masterplan.highered.colorado.gov/oer-conference/> is
tomorrow. Stay tuned or catch up on each event by following their Twitter
streams: #NEOERsummit2019
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEOERSummit2019?src=hash>, #OpenEdCO
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/OpenEdCO?src=hash>, and #MDOERSummit
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/MDOERSummit?src=hash>.

OPEN CONNECTIONS

Conferences, jobs, and other OER-related opportunities

JOB OPPORTUNITY: University of Oklahoma is hiring an Open Education
Librarian. Click here <https://libraries.ou.edu/content/jobs-ou-libraries>
for more information about the position, including how to apply.

JOB OPPORTUNITY: California State University Dominguez Hills is hiring an
Open Education Librarian. The position is open until filled - click here
<https://mlis.umd.edu/open-education-librarian-at-california-state-university-dominguez-hills-ca/>
for more information about the position, including how to apply.

REGISTER NOW: Virtual College of Texas is hosting the Open Education Texas
convening August 7-8 in Austin, Texas. Register <http://www.60x30tx.com/oer>
by June 7 for the early bird discount!

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

STORIES FROM THE FIELD

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

FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Penn State Harrisburg is leading OER innovation in
geology. Now, PSH geology students are using digital rock kits and an open
textbook in place of traditional rock packages and textbooks, allowing
professors greater pedagogical freedom and saving students money. “Having
that innovative technology as we move forward becomes more crucial because
the students expect it. In online classes, it's a nice way to enwrap their
attention,” said Jennifer Sliko, assistant teaching professor of earth and
geosciences at the Harrisburg campus. Read more >>
<https://news.psu.edu/story/572499/2019/05/01/academics/harrisburg-leads-open-educational-resources-innovation-geology>

FROM VIRGINIA: Students from all 23 member colleges in the Virginia
Community College System now have access to digital courseware at no cost,
thanks to an agreement with Lumen Learning. The VCCS system has been
working with Lumen to lower the cost of their course materials for the past
five years and in 2018, more than 30,000 students from the system used
Lumen-supported OER materials in more than 30 academic subjects. "The use
of open educational resources remains a priority for the VCCS to improve
college affordability and student success, and our partnership with Lumen
supports this priority," said Sheri Prupis, director of teaching and
learning technologies for the Virginia Community College System. Read more
>>
<https://campustechnology.com/articles/2019/05/16/virginia-community-colleges-providing-digital-courseware-systemwide-at-no-cost-to-students.aspx?m=1>

HOT OFF THE PRESS

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

The Maryland Open Source Textbook (M.O.S.T.) Commons
<https://most.oercommons.org/> just launched this month. This new digital
library of OER can be used to discover, collaborate, and create with
educators to improve curricula and features innovative search features and
curated collections of resources, making it even easier for faculty to find
the right resource(s) for their course.

WEIGH IN

Interesting Discussions and Strategic Reads to Repost or Share

Great to Share >>

People Are Finally Fighting Back Against the College Textbook Industry
‘Scam’
<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pajze9/people-are-finally-fighting-back-against-the-college-textbook-industrys-scam>
| VICE

The local and national fight for affordable textbooks
<http://www.dailyuw.com/news/article_330ff540-777f-11e9-aa0a-fb1280b9bf77.html>
| The Daily of the University of Washington

Colleges Are Striking Bulk Deals With Textbook Publishers. Critics Say
There are Many Downsides
<https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-05-23-colleges-are-striking-bulk-deals-with-textbook-publishers-critics-say-there-are-many-downsides>
| EdSurge

Interesting to Consider >>

Looking Back on This Year’s Classroom Experiments
<https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/05/22/professors-reflect-technology-experiments-enhance-student>
| Inside Higher Ed

The Business of Fettering OER
<http://billymeinke.com/2019/05/28/fettering-oer/> | Billy Meinke

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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