Open Education 2017

In Louisiana, OERs have recently become a strategy used by the state legislature to address the rising cost of higher education. This process began with advocacy work led by LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, the statewide consortium, and directed at the Board of Regents, the governmental body charged with planning, coordinating, and budgeting public higher education in the state. The Regents provided funds to LOUIS that have allowed the consortium to build capacity and infrastructure needed to support the development of OERs in the state.



LOUIS used funds to launch scalable programs and easily adaptable solutions. Using a train-the-trainer model, they quickly built capacity at universities and colleges in the state. Then, they created a structure to provide funds and support for individual academic libraries to begin developing the OER culture locally. Local institutions were able to apply this model to the degree to which they had the capacity and interest to support it. The legislature-to-library-consortium-to-university model has allowed multiple stakeholders take ownership of an element of the project and apply leadership at their level while working towards a shared success in the state.

Humboldt State University has developed several strategies to transform courses and promote the adoption of affordable & OERs. Humboldt State University eLearning and Library strategies for California State University Course Transformation and CSU Affordable Learning Solutions are undergoing a design change that coincides with the opening of a new Center for Teaching & Learning. Disparate experiences, skills, and initiatives are coming together to form a holistic strategy in a collaborative faculty development center. Hear what works, what we have learned so far, and how this effort is designed to improve student success. As we open a new Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) these strategies are being integrated and the key participants co-located. How is the CTL related to our Scholars Lab, Digital Media Lab, and HSU Press? How are faculty development efforts being integrated and open pedagogical practices shared and modeled? The panelists each have a unique perspective on the strategies implemented. They will explain the shape and impact of services under rapid evolution to meet the needs to improve student success and curricular innovations. Examples shared include useful approaches to faculty development including; Consultations between faculty, librarians, and instructional designers, Faculty led luncheons, Open Access publishing, Workshops for individual faculty and whole departments both in-person and online, and HSU's Unconference. Also discussed is the integration of strategies to address the challenge of instructional material accessibility.

This presenter will share the process that Central Lakes College has used to overcome many of the barriers associated with OER adoption, course redesign, and the authoring of new OER materials through faculty participation in OER Learning Circles and faculty access to a D2L Brightspace support course room. The presenter will outline the process she used to create and facilitate collaborative interdisciplinary faculty Learning Circles. She will provide suggestions for creating a D2L Brightspace support course room structured with weekly journal activities, weekly work plan update activities, optional weekly discussion activities, a repository of OER websites, websites and materials dedicated to ADA compliance, and support links and templates for writing and aligning assessments with learning objectives. She will share examples of the simple templates that she has created to guide faculty through the review, course redesign, and authoring pathways.

In 2015 the Alberta Government provided funding for Open Educational Resource projects within the province in reaction to a growing global movement towards open and free educational materials to displace the publishing industry stranglehold on education. Our proposal was awarded funds in large part due to the fundamental collaborative component of the project which reached well beyond the borders of the University. In the world that is heading to more borders, more segregation, and more siloing, our project undertook to build relationships and break down the barriers that prevent large scale collaborative activities in the humanities.

During 18 months, our Spanish OER project engaged six universities, over 100 professors, graduate students, undergraduates, and members of the community to create, edit, and digitize a textbook for the 1st semester of Spanish at the post-secondary level.

The presentation will describe the logic behind the project, the scope of collaboration, and how it opened up the role of content expert, editor, professor, tutor, and student. We will discuss the rationale and successes of technological innovation and integration in the textbook and during the joint effort of creating resources. We examine these processes through the lens of collaborative creation, collaborative teaching, and collaborative learning, which are the essential elements of this project.

The Rebus Community is an effort to build a collaborative model for open textbook publishing. As of January, 2017 we are working on a dozen Open Textbook projects, with faculty and staff from more than 30 institutions. We'll talk about where we're at, what we've learned, where we're going and how to get involved.

At the Rebus Community, we are building a community-driven, open textbook publishing process, and a global community of collaborators on Open Textbook creation, supported, where appropriate, with technology.

The Rebus Community was founded in August 2016 to address the following problems:

1. there is no standardized, cost-effective way to publish Open Textbooks

2. institutions or academics wishing to publish Open Textbooks must figure out how to do it themselves

3. there is no central community of Open Textbook creators, to enable sharing of knowhow and processes

4. there is no standard (web-based or otherwise) format for Open Textbooks to enable the kind of remixing open licenses are meant to afford.

Seven months in, we are working with 31 faculty, 17 librarians, 22 other collaborators from 51 institutions working on 12 open textbook projects. This work is feeding into development and enhancement of software to address pain points in Open Textbooks publishing.

We'll talk about what we've learned so far as we've begun to build a collaborative ecosystem around the process of creating open textbooks, what's next and how to get involved in the Rebus Community.

Librarians and instructional designers (IDs) from a university in the U.S. will describe the partnership formed to promote no-cost textbook solutions (OER, library-sourced) in the face of a restrictive environment. The institution is divided in two tiers: the President's Office, which oversees non-academic functions such as Business Services, and the Provost's Office, which is responsible for teaching and learning. This creates an inherent tension concerning course materials and revenue, troubling the conception of education as a fundamentally shared practice. Our group aimed to promote change at the university level, while also collaborating to facilitate the efforts of faculty.

Typically, the group meets with faculty to discuss objectives, and open or library-sourced materials are located. Copyright permissions are reviewed by a librarian, and materials are created and integrated into the course by IDs. Simply put, the resources could not be created without the collaboration of librarians and IDs. Highlighted will be one scenario in which the group collaborated with a faculty member to adopt existing resources, overcome issues such as copyright and licensing, and create an open text in ePub format to replace the traditional text. This scenario prompted some challenges with regards to time and scalability; however, the end product proved valuable for both students and faculty. Students expressed gratitude with the faculty's effort of providing free materials. In turn, the product was shared with other instructors, ensuring further equitable access for students.

We will identify future directions and touch on areas of interest such as playing an active role in the campus bookstore contract negotiations, securing grant funding for OER opportunities, and participating in Faculty Senate. We hope that our efforts will result in institutional change and a stronger OER effort, and hope that this panel will help others identify action points in their own contexts.

The Open Educational Resources Universitas (OERu) is an international network of +30 tertiary institutions from six world regions that have created a parallel universe to improve higher education accessibility. Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) partnered with the OERu to help manifest its commitments to Quality, Relevance, and Reputation. The OERu-KPU open marriage is in its 4th year and has produced the WikiEducator-based, open online course: Introduction to Psychology. This presentation will explain the nature of this partnership with special reference to the role of faculty, administrators, and learning technologists. Interestingly, the same faculty who developed KPU's OERu course also created an OERu-Thompson Rivers University course on Research Methods. Is it time we acknowledge that openness promotes academic non-monogamy?

At the University of Arizona, we're frequently asked how the Libraries and campus-owned BookStores collaborate effectively on OER initiatives and other textbook cost-reduction projects. Cheryl Cuillier, the UA Libraries' OER Coordinator, and Cindy Hawk, Assistant Director of the UA BookStores, will share the secrets of our success, which can be replicated at other institutions. In this session, we'll cover data sharing, joint presentations to campus, our campus-wide OER Action Committee, how we've leveraged the Faculty Senate and Provost's involvement, how we notify students of free textbooks on the BookStores' website, and other strategies.

This session will allow discussion and collaboration between the different, but necessary individuals needed to develop OER courses. Join us to identify tasks, set goals for a current or yet-to-be-defined project, and get contact information for fellow collaborators. The presenters will model how to work together to develop effective learning opportunities around open education resources. Participants will take advantage of the collective knowledge in the room, work together, find common goals, and share our resources and ideas with each other.



At the end of this session you will receive:

1. Contact information of at least one person (bring your business cards)

2. Project that you can begin to develop or continue

3. Clearly defined short-term tasks for that project

4. Clearly defined long-term goals for that project

5. A cookie



Agenda:

1. Presenters will briefly share their networking and collaboration story (2-3 min).

2. Break into groups based on subject types to find development projects in common (5 min)

3. Each team will make a minimum of two specific tasks and a maximum of two goals for the project. (5-10 min)

4. Take-away message(s) and follow-up activities. (2-3 min)

Building on research showing cross-disciplinary pedagogy can increase creativity and success rates, the Fashion and World Language programs decided to create a dynamic learning environment to improve student success and bolster their programs' institutional profiles. Both programs received funding to create program OERs, but they also developed cross-disciplinary materials. The session presenters will share the results of this collaboration, how it came together, and what they learned that could be applied elsewhere. There will also be time for questions during this interactive session. Participants in this session will learn about the challenges and rewards of cross-disciplinary programs and how these types of interactions can improve student engagement. They will also gain a better understanding of the benefits of cross-disciplinary relationships and how these are tools to develop a comprehensive learning environment. Finally, participants will become familiar with the process of creating cross-disciplinary programs with OER materials that support specific learning objectives. The session leaders will share how they successfully created OERs that provided students with a real-world application of the communication skills and cultural understanding needed to navigate an industry with supply chains that stretch around the world. These concrete examples helped students more deeply relate to and engage with the material. In addition to student engagement, crafting these cross-disciplinary materials also fostered a more collaborative faculty environment. The presenters will share this story, the challenges they encountered in developing these materials in a program with high numbers of adjunct faculty, and some of the things they learned along the way that can be used to customize OER materials to suit participants' program needs. The final point of discussion will be the impact of OERs on student retention and success rates, and lessons participants can draw upon.

In developing open source textbooks and resources for college algebra and trigonometry courses, the greatest challenge has been making these materials available to students with disabilities. Salt Lake Community College has solved this problem through frequent ongoing meetings of a Math Accessibility Working Group, comprised of math faculty and disability resource experts. The presenters will share the plan developed through this group, along with its implementation. Several features, such as text reading and alt-tagging, will be demonstrated. Attendees are encouraged to ask questions. All textbooks and resources developed through this collaboration are available and will be shared with interested attendees.

At the University of Arizona, we're frequently asked how the Libraries and campus-owned BookStores collaborate effectively on OER initiatives and other textbook cost-reduction projects. Cheryl Cuillier, the UA Libraries' OER Coordinator, and Cindy Hawk, Assistant Director of the UA BookStores, will share the secrets of our success, which can be replicated at other institutions. In this session, we'll cover data sharing, joint presentations to campus, our campus-wide OER Action Committee, how we've leveraged the Faculty Senate and Provost's involvement, how we notify students of free textbooks on the BookStores' website, and other strategies.

This session will allow discussion and collaboration between the different, but necessary individuals needed to develop OER courses. Join us to identify tasks, set goals for a current or yet-to-be-defined project, and get contact information for fellow collaborators. The presenters will model how to work together to develop effective learning opportunities around open education resources. Participants will take advantage of the collective knowledge in the room, work together, find common goals, and share our resources and ideas with each other.



At the end of this session you will receive:

1. Contact information of at least one person (bring your business cards)

2. Project that you can begin to develop or continue

3. Clearly defined short-term tasks for that project

4. Clearly defined long-term goals for that project

5. A cookie



Agenda:

1. Presenters will briefly share their networking and collaboration story (2-3 min).

2. Break into groups based on subject types to find development projects in common (5 min)

3. Each team will make a minimum of two specific tasks and a maximum of two goals for the project. (5-10 min)

4. Take-away message(s) and follow-up activities. (2-3 min)

Building on research showing cross-disciplinary pedagogy can increase creativity and success rates, the Fashion and World Language programs decided to create a dynamic learning environment to improve student success and bolster their programs' institutional profiles. Both programs received funding to create program OERs, but they also developed cross-disciplinary materials. The session presenters will share the results of this collaboration, how it came together, and what they learned that could be applied elsewhere. There will also be time for questions during this interactive session. Participants in this session will learn about the challenges and rewards of cross-disciplinary programs and how these types of interactions can improve student engagement. They will also gain a better understanding of the benefits of cross-disciplinary relationships and how these are tools to develop a comprehensive learning environment. Finally, participants will become familiar with the process of creating cross-disciplinary programs with OER materials that support specific learning objectives. The session leaders will share how they successfully created OERs that provided students with a real-world application of the communication skills and cultural understanding needed to navigate an industry with supply chains that stretch around the world. These concrete examples helped students more deeply relate to and engage with the material. In addition to student engagement, crafting these cross-disciplinary materials also fostered a more collaborative faculty environment. The presenters will share this story, the challenges they encountered in developing these materials in a program with high numbers of adjunct faculty, and some of the things they learned along the way that can be used to customize OER materials to suit participants' program needs. The final point of discussion will be the impact of OERs on student retention and success rates, and lessons participants can draw upon.

In developing open source textbooks and resources for college algebra and trigonometry courses, the greatest challenge has been making these materials available to students with disabilities. Salt Lake Community College has solved this problem through frequent ongoing meetings of a Math Accessibility Working Group, comprised of math faculty and disability resource experts. The presenters will share the plan developed through this group, along with its implementation. Several features, such as text reading and alt-tagging, will be demonstrated. Attendees are encouraged to ask questions. All textbooks and resources developed through this collaboration are available and will be shared with interested attendees.

Open Education is somewhat “mythic" for many institutions, and our collaborative network has been helping to demystify challenges related to open education for a decade. As one of our central leaders at CCCOER points out, when your unicorn breaks a leg, you to need to grow some wings and become a pegasus. The CCCOER Community of Practice is a collaboration of institutions and OE Practitioners who support one another in learning about, planning for, and sustaining open education adoption to scale. Our goals are to inspire new leaders in open education while nurturing our longer-term members in their efforts to bring open education to the next level at their institutions. One major theme in our network is addressing challenges related to large-scale adoption of open education. During this panel new and long-term leaders in our organization will demonstrate how we work together to build capacity in addressing challenges to success in scaling open education projects.

Bring a favorite challenge to this session and see how the community can help you look at different ways to approach and successfully resolve.

The presenter will describe his process to create HIS 274 —– The Holocaust as an interactive course utilizing public domain documents. At PCC, the Instructional Designer serves as a project manager for a course development team that includes a digital librarian, a web developer, a media specialist, and a subject matter expert. The presenter will share how this team worked together to curate a collection of appropriate materials, drawing largely from public domain documents. He will also discuss how the team exploited various course management tools in an effort to offer students unique and interactive ways to engage with the content. The designer's use of the widget tool with java-scripting, the glossary tool, interactive timelines created with Articulate Storyline, and a Lightbox Gallery scrolling tool created with Fancybox (a JQuery tool) will be featured.

Open Educational Resources (OER) have the potential to benefit stakeholders and communities across higher education, from libraries and faculty support offices to students, instructors, and administrators. The most successful OER campaigns are built on collaboration amongst these stakeholders, but establishing strong partnerships is easier said than done.



In this panel, we will share practical strategies for identifying and enlisting campus stakeholders as OER allies, drawn from our experiences with successful OER collaborations at three different institutions. Session attendees will explore opportunities for connecting with a variety of stakeholders, learn how collaboration with those stakeholders can empower OER initiatives, and develop a plan for outreach to a new potential ally at their own institutions.



Our discussion will highlight potential partners for open education initiatives, including teaching and learning centers, student government, instructional designers, provosts' and presidents' offices, campus bookstores, IT, and more. For each potential partner, we'll explore how OER can intersect with the partner's mission and goals, describe the unique resources and expertise which that stakeholder can leverage in support of OER, and share an example from our collaborative initiatives. This stakeholder-focused overview will lead into an interactive opportunity for participants to analyze a stakeholder at their own individual institutions and identify approaches for recruiting them as a new OER ally.



Building collaborative OER or open education initiatives can be challenging, but stakeholders working together can reach higher and farther than any could alone. Through this panel, we seek to inspire and empower open education champions in many different contexts to enlist new allies, strengthen existing partnerships, and assemble successful collaborations.

Approximately 75% of California State University, Dominguez Hills' undergraduate students receive financial need grants or scholarship aid. Our campus was the first CSU to create an integrated Affordable Learning Solutions (AL$) program. Our active AL$ initiative has run for 7 years and includes approximately 400 faculty (about 50% of our full and part time teaching faculty) offering library, OER or bookstore alternatives. Our number of OER faculty champions is growing with participation in the COOL4Ed Faculty Showcase sharing, California's AB 798 College Textbook Affordability Act program, and the CSU Course Redesign with Technology grant initiative. Increasingly, additional faculty express their interest in OER print textbook replacements, but many of them need help in locating appropriate OER for their classes.

AL$ is administered by the Library in partnership with the Academic Technology Department, Bookstore, and Faculty Development Center. Collaboration among these units to adopt affordable resources for our students has been strong, combining with each branch's unique services, tools, information, and structure to implement a campus-wide effort. We will share how each unit partners and contributes to the adoption and use of OERs, how adopted OERs are made accessible through multiple points of access and LMS design, as well as instruction and professional development efforts, our challenges, and the new initiatives that we will use to expand the awareness and use of OERs on campus. We will discuss our joint roles in implementing California's SB 1359 (notifying students in the course schedule of courses using all free all-digital materials), as well as a project to make our OERs discoverable in our new 23-campus unified library services and discovery platform so that we not only share our OER resources beyond the individual classroom but also across our campuses.

This panel presentation spans a year in the life of one Alternative Textbook Grant (ATG) from the University of Oklahoma (OU) Libraries, showcasing the collaboration between the librarian who administers the grant program, a 2016 faculty grantee, a student participant in the grantee's OER project, and an emerging technologies librarian who provided technical and publishing support. Each panelist will bring a unique perspective and expertise to the discussion.

For the past four years the OU Libraries ATG has supported faculty who wish to reduce the cost of course materials by adopting, adapting, or creating openly licensed content. Jen Waller, Open Educational Resources and Scholarly Communication Coordinator, will first provide a background on the origin and structure of the ATG.

Guided by a commitment to equitable access, Dr. Julie Ward used her ATG to incorporate open pedagogy into her Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Culture course. Student groups created an openly licensed critical anthology of selected literary texts, the Antologia abierta de literatura hispana (AALH). Julie will share the motivations, challenges, and joys of this project.

Rachel Bornstein, a first-year student in the course, will provide her perspective on collaborating with her classmates to create the AALH. In addition to the desirability of OER and open access from a cost perspective, Rachel will present how working in the open shaped group dynamics and their final product.

One challenge of open publication is ensuring broad access. Cody Taylor, Emerging Technologies Librarian, will discuss his role in making AALH as openly available as possible. Cody's work allowed the AALH to be simultaneously published in formats suited for printing, web publications and ebook readers, staying true to the Five R's of openness.

The panelists' reflections of their year in the life will allow attendees to gain insight and empathy into the collaborative nature of openness.