It’s Open Education Week 2023: Attend lunch & learn sessions or apply for a grant (or both)

Academics, Faculty & Staff, Training

Mar 6, 2023

March 6-10 is International Open Education Week 2023, and a variety of programs and events are available to those who want to learn more about Open Educational Resources and how they can be used to promote equity, affordability, and student success in higher education.

According to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that are free of cost and other access barriers, and carry legal permission for open use. Generally, this permission is granted by use of an open license, allowing anyone to freely use, adapt, and share the resource.

Attend virtual Lunch & Learn programs Mar. 6-8

Affordable Learning Kentucky is offering several virtual “lunch and learn” programs that may be of interest. To register for any of these sessions, visit this web page.

OER 101 – March 6, noon to 1 p.m.

Librarians Ben Rawlins (University of Kentucky) and Kelly Smith (Eastern Kentucky University) will walk you through a broad overview of the impact of OER by addressing questions including:

What are OER? Why should colleges and universities support the adoption of OER?
Are they as good as traditional course materials?
Do they make a difference for student success and retention?
What kind of support do faculty need in order to adopt OER?
How can OER help advance DEI initiatives on campus?

OER-Enabled Pedagogies – Faculty Panel – March 7, noon to 1 p.m.

Open Educational Resources (OER), by virtue of their “open-ness,” give faculty more flexibility and freedom to customize, localize, and engage with the materials with their students. Learn how faculty are updating their classes to take advantage of the unique opportunities afforded by OER.

Panelists include:

Andrea Brooks, Northern Kentucky U. (Library & Information Science)
Katie Williams, University of Pikeville (Human Resources)
Hope Bennin, Big Sandy Community and Technical College (Communication)
Dr. Joshua Farrington, Bluegrass Community and Technical College (History)
Dr. Deanna McGaughey-Summers, Kentucky State U. (Literature, Languages, and Philosophy)
Dr. Erin Stevenson, Eastern Kentucky U. (Social Work)

How OER Foster Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion – March 8, noon to 1 p.m.

Research suggests that Open Educational Resources (OER) and open pedagogy strategies correlate with increased student success, especially for students from historically underserved populations and lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Librarians Lidiya Grote (U. of Louisville) and Kelly Smith (Eastern Kentucky U.) will present an overview of research on the effects of OER adoption and OER-enabled pedagogy on students from historically underserved communities and discuss how educators can design their courses with OER using a DEI lens.

Apply for OhioLink grant to add OER to a course

Friday, March 10, is the deadline to apply for a grant from OhioLINK (Ohio Library and Information Network) to redesign a course using Open Educational Resources (OER).

For application details, visit https://www.ohiolink.edu/content/affordablelearning/course_redesign_grants.

Up to 30 faculty members statewide will be selected to receive a $650 stipend and personalized assistance in redesigning a course and incorporating OER to make the course more accessible and affordable for students.

Faculty members selected for the grant will participate in an online course, “Introduction to Open Educational Resources,” from April 10 to May 5, 2023. The course has four modules, and each should take 1 or 2 hours to complete.
Grant participants also must prepare a report by June 2, 2023, on their plans to implement use of at least one openly-licensed, library-licensed, or low-cost resource in their course.