December 2022 Newsletter

Greetings! As the Open Educational Resources Coordinator and ASCCC OERI Liaison for our campus, it is my responsibility to share communications from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI) with you.

Please read on to learn about upcoming events that are open to all.

If I can assist you in your considering OER or answer any OER related questions, please email me at josue.franco@gcccd.edu or self-schedule an Open Education Resources Consultation (ipolisci.com) with me.

ASCCC OERI Request for Proposals (RFP) V (2023-2024)

The OERI is anticipating that it will receive formal approval to initiate RFP V at its upcoming Advisory Committee meeting on December 8. You can learn more about the RFP process by reviewing the draft ASCCC OERI Request for Proposals V - Anticipated Timeline and Events page (tinyurl.com/OERI-Events) and the draft ASCCC OERI Request for Proposals V – Overview. Please find our currently scheduled RFP V Office Hours and Informational Webinars below.

RFP V Office Hours

RFP V Office Hours provide an opportunity for you to ask your questions related to the RFP and discuss your ideas with the OERI.

RFP V Informational Webinars

Tuesday, December 20, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

ASCCC RFP V – An Overview

What principles guide the OERI’s RFP process? This webinar will provide an overview of the OERI’s approach to funding resource development, with an emphasis on how the application process and the on-going support for project teams have changed since RFP I. Join us to learn more about the RFP process and how we strive to ensure your project is successful.

Thursday, January 12, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

What does it mean to be an OERI Request for Proposals (RFP) Lead?

The OERI’s RFP process requires the formation of a collaborative team to develop OER. This team of faculty is led by an RFP Lead and supported by an OERI Project Facilitator. After identifying your team, developing your proposal, and obtaining funding, how do you manage the RFP Lead responsibilities? Join us to learn about the OERI’s expectations of RFP Leads. and to receive answers to all your questions.

Friday, January 13, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Developing a Comprehensive - and Realistic – Request for Proposals (RFP) Action Plan
The “Action Plan” is an important part of your proposal. What does a comprehensive plan look like – and how do you ensure that your plan is realistic? What is the OERI looking for in the Action Plan when reviewing proposals? Join us for an in-depth consideration of the Action Plan, with an emphasis on the importance of deadlines and deliverables as a critical component of a successful proposal and project. Questions are welcomed and encouraged.

Friday January 20, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Defining Deliverables in the Request for Proposals (RFP) Process
What is meant by a “deliverable” in the OERI’s Request for Proposal? And why is it important to define your deliverables? This session will explain the role of deliverables in the OER development process. Effective deliverable examples will be shared as well as some deliverable “don’ts”. Please bring your questions and comments for an engaging discussion.

Tuesday, January 24, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Integrating the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) Framework into your Response to the OERI’s Request for Proposals (RFP)
The OERI’s RFP V requires you to “explain how IDEA principles and/or culturally responsive pedagogy will be integrated into your work” and states that “specific examples should be provided”. What does all that really mean? Join us to explore how to meet these expectations. Questions are welcomed and encouraged.

Register for Integrating the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism (IDEA) Framework into your Response to the OERI’s Request for Proposals (RFP)

Discipline Communications – Don’t Miss Out

The OERI – and ASCCC – use discipline list-servs to share information specific to a given discipline. These one-way disciplines will never overwhelm your inbox and being on your discipline’s list ensures you don’t miss out on any discipline-specific opportunities or events.

Sign up for an ASCCC list-serv – or list-servs today. Please consider signing up for the ASCCC OER Initiative if this message has been forwarded to you.

OER and Homework Systems – LibreTexts and My Open Math

Friday, December 9, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

LibreTexts ADAPT Workshop

Throughout this free virtual workshop, we will demonstrate how instructors can use ADAPT to augment existing and newly constructed OER textbooks with summative exercises and embed them in Canvas and LibreTexts textbooks. Discussions will cover how the ADAPT homework system empowers faculty to build and use existing questions in multiple modalities: (1) formative vs. summative, (2) auto-graded vs. open-ended grading, and (3) embedded in Canvas or textbooks. Participants will learn how to build auto-graded questions based on four technologies - H5P, WebWork, IMathAS, and native (QTI) - that can be used interchangeably to allow for maximal impact. We will introduce the LibreStudio platform for construction, storage and distribution of H5P assessments. Participants will be encouraged to join LibreStudio to create and share H5P assessments, review the H5P of other authors, and build a community within Studio.

This workshop is in addition to the four in-person workshops co-sponsored by the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges (ASCCC) OERI and funded by the California Education Learning Lab (CELL) we recently announced. While the CELL grant ensures ADAPT will be free for all educators in the State of California for the next 4 years, ADAPT is open and available to open education advocates and practitioners across the country.
Register for LibreTexts ADAPT Workshop

Friday, January 20, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

MyOpenMath: Writing Questions, Adapting Exercises, and Other Features

Join us for an interactive session on how to write questions and exercises for MyOpenMath (MOM), an openly licensed homework system. Please bring sample math questions that you would like to incorporate into MOM and we will work on them together. We will also demonstrate how to take previously developed MOM exercises and adjust them to fit your needs. Bring your questions, comments, and ideas to share with your colleagues.

Upcoming OERI Discipline Lead Events

The OERI Discipline Leads regularly host conversations and webinars to share resources, identify needs, and build community. These events are intended for discipline faculty and those who have an interest in the discipline as supporters or advocates. A “conversation” is an informal discussion of a specific topic and will not be recorded. Webinars will be recorded and archived.

The ASCCC OERI will provide automated captioning for all webinars. If you would like to request live human closed-captioning for any of our offerings, please contact us by e-mail at least 10 business days in advance.

In addition to Discipline Lead Events, we are hosting several Discipline Events for disciplines that presently do not have a lead. These events will be used to assess discipline interest and, potentially, determine if a Discipline Lead should be recruited.

Learn more about the Discipline Lead role and how to apply to work with the OERI.

Discipline Events

Monday, December 5, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Discipline Lead Conversation: Overcoming Barriers to Utilizing Open Educational Resources (OER) in the Biological Sciences

Join your colleagues to discuss the status of OER in the biological sciences and identify barriers to and support for using OER materials. To begin, the host will share their own OER journey, and how they approached issues with OER adoption and creation. Next, we will engage in discussion so that OER veterans can share their success stories and those new to OER can describe their needs to ensure OER success. Finally, participants will be encouraged to network and establish connections and collaborations.

Wednesday, December 6, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Discipline Lead Conversation: Open Educational Resources (OER) for Interpersonal Communication

In the summer of 2022, a team of Communication Studies faculty collaborated to develop an interpersonal text specifically for students in the California Community Colleges. Please join us to explore this new text and discuss next steps.

Tuesday, December 6, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Discipline Webinar: American Sign Language (ASL) and Open Educational Resources (OER) - Survey Findings and Needs Assessment

ASL faculty and other interested parties are invited to learn about the findings obtained from a survey conducted in spring of 2022 to assess the interest in and availability of OER for the ASL discipline. Join us to learn – and to share your OER interest and experience. An ASL interpreter will be present.

Friday, December 9, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Discipline Lead Conversation: Open Educational Resources (OER) and Psychology - Where we are and where we are headed

Join us to consider data from a survey regarding OER use by psychology faculty and explore the new additions to the psychology curated OER collection. Following this information-sharing, we will discuss the remaining needs of the discipline and how OER can make the use of open pedagogy possible.

Monday, December 12, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Discipline Webinar: Addiction Studies (ADS) and Open Educational Resources (OER)

What do ADS faculty need – and are there ADS faculty interested in using OER? Are OER available for addiction studies? Faculty who teach addiction studies courses, such as C-ID ADS 110X Introduction to Addiction Studies, ADS 120X Basic Counseling Skills, and ADS 150X Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery, as well as other courses that are required in programs that prepare students to work in the addiction field are invited to join this webinar to discuss what resources are available and what resources are needed. If you are currently using an OER or other free resources to teach an ADS course, we want to hear from you.

Wednesday, December 14, 1:00 pm - 2:00 am

Discipline Lead Webinar: Integrating MyOpenMath in Science, Technology, and Engineering Courses

MyOpenMath is not just for math. This openly licensed homework system can used for other STEM disciplines. How can MyOpenMath be used in the courses you teach? Join us to learn more about MyOpenMath and to discuss STEM-specific needs that can be addressed with MyOpenMath.

Friday, December 16, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Discipline Lead Conversation: Finding and Sharing Open Educational Resources (OER) for Physics

Join your physics colleagues to share the various OER available for the discipline and discuss how they might be integrated into our courses. All questions and comments are welcome.