LibraryOER Event

Using and Developing Impactful and Affordable Learning Material in the Digital Age

A Workshop on the Open Education Resources (OER) Movement

 

WHAT: A workshop to promote, plan, use and develop open, searchable, indexed and collaborative online pools of teaching/learning materials. The workshop will be led by Nicole Allen, Director of Open Education at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).  Additional presenters include Kevin Corcoran, Executive Director of the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC) and faculty from CT universities and colleges.
WHEN:

Wednesday, October 7, 2015, 10:30 to 4:00 p.m. (lunch included)

10:15-10:30 Coffee
10:30-11:30 Nicole Allen Presentation
11:30-11:55 Kevin Corcoran, Update on CT Legislation
11:55-12:30 What Has Worked in CT - Sharing by CT Faculty of Their Experiences with OER
12:45-1:45 LUNCH
2:00-3:00 Building the Commons - Breakout sessions of stakeholders (such as faculty, librarians, educational technologists, etc.) to engage with questions on OER
3:00-4:00 Strength in Numbers: Defining Next Steps - Gathering of large group to report on breakout sessions and discussion of possible next steps

 
WHERE:

DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Fairfield University – Fairfield, Connecticut.

Parking is available in the parking lot in front of the Quick Center.  Directions to the Quick Center parking are here: http://quickcenter.fairfield.edu/about/directions/.  The Library is the next building on the right of the Quick Center, if you are facing the Quick Center.
WHO: Open to faculty, librarians, administrators, education technology specialists, information technology specialists, teaching center staff and students.
WHY:

As the rising price of textbooks keep burdening families’ budgets, and as decisions by commercial publishing houses increasingly depend on the expected profitability of new titles, different constituencies in the higher education sector are fighting back with innovative solutions that take advantage of the collaborative and sharing possibilities opened by digital technologies.

This past July, the state of Connecticut formalized a commitment to lowering textbook costs for higher education students, with the passage of the Open Education Resources (OER) bill. Introduced by the House of Representatives, and supported by CTDLC, this bill became law on July 2, 2015 when it was signed by Governor Malloy and unanimously passed by both the House (144-0) and Senate (36-0).

The new bill includes provisions for the creation of a state-wide task force to build awareness about, and promote the development of OER in higher education institutions in Connecticut. The bill also opens opportunities for coalitions and collaborations on the subject among interested organizations and individuals, as well as for grant making.

Open Educational Resources have the potential to benefit students by lowering the costs of course materials, allow faculty to increase their publishing rate through flexible and alternative editing models, enrich university libraries’ online open repositories and collection of open content, enhance distance education activities, foster collaborations among instructors teaching sections of the same course, increase public access to useful educational resources, and promote visibility of great teachers and pedagogies in higher education institutions.
HOW:

Register by September 28, 2015.
Registration is $25 for external participants and free for Fairfield University faculty and staff.
REGISTRATION IS LIMITED.

Register
CONTACT:  For questions or inquiries about the event, please contact Jacalyn Kremer, Head of Library Academic Partnerships & Assessment (jkremer@fairfield.edu), or Curtis Ferree, Collection Development Librarian for Non-Licensed Resources (cferree@fairfield.edu), at the DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Fairfield University.

 

Sponsored by Fairfield University’s DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Center for Academic Excellence, Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions, Humanities Institute, Writing Center, and the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Communication, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Mathematics, and Modern Languages and Literatures.