Author: webdev

Assessing the Impact of OER with C. EDWARD WATSON

C. Edward Watson was interviewed in a Teaching in Higher Ed podcast about his research when he was at the University of Georgia where he conducted a study about OER and equity.

Quote around the 19-20 minute mark:
“We found that course grades improved at greater rates for nonwhite students and Pell eligible students. In other words, those that we thought that a free textbook would help. Those folks really saw a difference. We also saw significant decreases in DFW rates, a greater rates for nonwhite and Pell eligible students. In fact, looking just at those subgroups, we saw DFW rates drop by a third. So, it really is sort of the notion that that OERs are doing more to make the classroom more equitable, more fair. “

"Maybe this is more than just about saving students money -- maybe this is a new kind of equity issue that we;re thinking about." C. Edward Watson

Assessing the Impact of Open Educational Resources

Inside Higher Ed 11/01/2017 — OER: Bigger Than Affordability

Thoughtful reflections on the diminishing federal and state support of higher ed which leads to private interests taking hold on campuses ($$$), increases in costs for students ($$$), and how faculty are now engaging in many ways to help students get that education AND still have a bed to sleep in and food to eat. OER and other open practices is a gateway to this new reality where faculty are key change agents. ~Kathy

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OER: Bigger Than Affordability

Open education resources can catalyze a much-needed national conversation about what we mean by “public” higher education, Robin DeRosa writes.

By Robin DeRosa

November 1, 2017

. . .

I began considering the larger role of open in a social justice agenda targeted at public higher education in the United States, where I live and teach. First, I looked to Sara Goldrick-Rab’s research on how the hidden costs of attending college make college graduation an unattainable goal for such a large portion of our nation’s population. If 50 to 80 percent of the total sticker price of college is coming from nontuition costs, as she demonstrates, we need to confront the complete set of material conditions that constrain students.

Not only can OER drive down the real cost of college, but thinking about textbook costs can propel faculty, in particular, to think about how course and program design can be adapted to make access — more broadly writ — a priority. Is food insecurity on the radar of your chemistry department? If OER is appealing because they can help make knowledge more accessible, then we must care about the myriad issues — from child care to transportation — that prevent our potential students from even coming to our classrooms in the first place.

. . .

Read the entire entry at https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2017/11/01/oer-catalyst-national-conversation-about-public-higher-education

Open: so much more than saving money

From the Digital Pedagogy Lab written by two intensely open engaged writers, Rajiv Jhangiani and Robin DeRosa.

Logo for the blog Digital Pedagogy Lab

When faculty use OER, we aren’t just saving a student money on textbooks: we are directly impacting that student’s ability to enroll in, persist through, and successfully complete a course. In other words, we are directly impacting that student’s ability to attend, succeed in, and graduate from college. When we talk about OER, we bring two things into focus: that access is critically important to conversations about academic success, and that faculty and other instructional staff can play a critical role in the process of making learning accessible.

Read the entire post at Open Pedagogy and Social Justice

Need more reason to go affordable? Read about the Undergrad Survey @ UMass

UMass Amherst Libraries Releases Results of Open Education Survey

  • Seven faculty were awarded grants of $1,000 to $2,500 in the spring of 2016
  • Four hundred fifty eight students from courses in Physics, Kinesiology, Astronomy, French, German, and Human Development

In addition to the cost benefit, other students said the OER materials made their class experience more enjoyable

  • “The readings that were presented catered more to a student attempting to understand the material in a way that is more learning-friendly.”
  • “I was able to better understand the content we were learning, because the best reading possible was selected [by the professor] to explain a concept, as opposed to just following a textbook where some content may be explained more clearly than others.”

See the original press release at Results of Open Education Initiative survey announced

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Open Education: International Perspectives in Higher Education

Blessinger, P., & Bliss, T. J. (Eds.). (2016). Open Education: International Perspectives in Higher Education. Open Book Publishers.

Cover of book Open Education International Perspectives in Higher Education
CC-BY collection of research articles on many aspects of open pedagogy
“The importance of openness in education is only now beginning to be appreciated, and I hope this volume can increase the pace of its spread. This volume contains stories of people and institutions around the world acting in accordance with the value of openness, and relates the amazing results that come from those actions. I hope it will inspire you. I hope that as you read these stories you will feel an inward stirring of gratitude for what you have received from those giants who went before us, and that out of the rich soil of that gratitude will grow a commitment to share – a commitment to openness.”  —  David Wiley

A 2016 collection of articles on open pedagogical topics by leading scholars worldwide. All licensed CC-BY.

Foreword
David Wiley
Preface
Patrick Blessinger and TJ Bliss

1. Introduction to Open Education: Towards a Human Rights Theory
Patrick Blessinger and TJ Bliss

2. Emancipation through Open Education: Rhetoric or Reality?
Andy Lane

3. Technology Strategies for Open Educational Resource Dissemination
Phil Barker and Lorna M. Campbell

4. Identifying Categories of Open Educational Resource Users
Martin Weller, Beatriz de los Arcos, Rob Farrow, Rebecca Pitt and Patrick McAndrew

5. Situated Learning in Open Communities: The TED Open Translation Project
Lidia Cámara de la Fuente and Anna Comas-Quinn

6. Educational Policy and Open Educational Practice in Australian Higher Education
Adrian Stagg and Carina Bossu

7. The Identified Informal Learner: Recognizing Assessed Learning in the Open
Patrina Law

8. Transformation of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education towards Open Learning Arenas: A Question of Quality
Ebba Ossiannilsson, Zehra Altinay, and Fahriye Altinay

9. Three Approaches to Open Textbook Development
Rajiv S. Jhangiani, Arthur G. Green, and John D. Belshaw

10. What Does It Mean to Open Education? Perspectives on Using Open Educational Resources at a US Public University
Linda Vanasupa, Amy Wiley, Lizabeth Schlemer, Dana Ospina, Peter Schwartz, Deborah Wilhelm, Catherine Waitinas and Kellie Hall

11. Expanding Access to Science Field-Based Research Techniques for Students at a Distance through Open Educational Resources
Audeliz Matias, Kevin Woo, and Nathan Whitley-Grassi

12. A Practitioner’s Guide to Open Educational Resources: A Case Study
Howard Miller

13. Open Assessment Resources for Deeper Learning
David Gibson, Dirk Ifenthaler, and Davor Orlic

14. Promoting Open Science and Research in Higher Education: A Finnish Perspective
Ilkka Väänänen and Kati Peltonen

15. Credentials for Open Learning: Scalability and Validity
Mika Hoffman and Ruth Olmsted

16. Open Education Practice at the University of Southern Queensland
Ken Udas, Helen Partridge and Adrian Stagg

Open Textbook Publishing | AAUP

Who is best suited to control textbooks: the faculty or the publishers? There are ways to make sure it is the faculty.

Source: Open Textbook Publishing | AAUP

Joe Moxley writes: Rather than working as employees on by-the-piece rates for global companies like Pearson, faculty members can assume the role of publishers. . . . We need to realize our power as authors and publishers. Working collaboratively, we can create dynamic teaching and learning environments.

Featured Post : What is Open? Affordability, OER, and Open Pedagogy – Teaching and Learning Innovations at CI

Swiss Army knife showing the many possibilities of Open
CC-BY-SA 3.0 Open Source Business Foundation

Aligning with openCI efforts, we recently attended the openEd conference in Richmond, Virginia to gain a deeper understanding about the advances and innovative practices being made ar…

Source: What is Open? Affordability, OER, and Open Pedagogy – Teaching and Learning Innovations at CI

The Intersections Between Open Access, Open Educational Resources, & Author Rights : Open Access Week 2016

Open Access Week

A Celebration of Open Access Week

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

12:00 – 3:30pm

Homer Babbidge Library, Class of 1947 Conference Room

Remote streaming will be available through UConn WebEx @ https://goo.gl/vuNKmJ

 

12-1:15pm
Empowering Authors through Publication Agreements
Maximize control, impact and discoverability of your scholarly output.
Open Access Flavors
What are the different types of open access and why do they matter?
OA? OER? What’s the Difference?
Two different movements with a lot in common. How do they support each other?
1:30- 3:15pm
ORCID IDs
This digital identifier distinguishes you from every other researcher. Learn about the ID and how to use it.
Entering the Creative Commons
What are open licenses and how do they add value to scholarly and creative work?
Managing Your Scholarly ID Online
Make your scholarly author identity visible and available for citation.
UConn’s Research Data Repository
Learn how UConn can help make your data publicly available.

 

 

View and download the flyer for this event.

Streaming during the Event

Join the event remotely in WebEx for the presentation.  Attendees aren’t required to register. Attendee login:

https://goo.gl/vuNKmJ

– or –

https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/uconn-cmr/onstage/g.php?MTID=ef4778b87dc3a13f33f6c8651703ae9d6

On joining the meeting, you will be asked to enter your name and email. If you haven’t used WebEx before, you will need to download the small Cisco.exe file. More instructions can be found at https://help.webex.com/docs/DOC-5441. Attendees will be muted upon joining the event. Attendees will need to “Connect to audio” via their computer or phone. A survey will appear for attendees after the event.


Open Access Week 2016 Links

Open @ UConn  http://open.uconn.edu/

Open Access

SPARC Open: http://sparcopen.org/
Directory of Open Access Journals: https://doaj.org/
SHERPA/RoMEO: http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/index.php

Open Data:

Contact us: researchdata@uconn.eduUConn Library Research Data Archive: http://lib.uconn.edu/services/research-data/archiving/
Registry of Research Data Repositories: http://service.re3data.org/search

Open Authors: