February 2021 Newsletter

My name is Josh Franco and I am serving as the college’s Open Educational Resources Liaison (OERL) this academic year.

One of my responsibilities is to share monthly communications from the ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI) with faculty, staff, students, and administrators. Check out the announcements below.

ASCCC OERI Wants You

The ASCCC OERI is still seeking faculty for various roles. While faculty with OER experience are preferred, we are prepared to support faculty who are new to OER and interested in playing a leadership role.

The OERI is currently seeking faculty to review OER in a number of disciplines and Discipline Leads for Spring 2021. If you are interested in any of these opportunities - or in OER work more generally - please submit an application. If your discipline is one that we are not currently focusing on, your application lets us know not only that you are interested, but that faculty in your discipline are interested.

Additional information about the Discipline Lead role is available on the application page

OER for Your Consideration – Gatsby, Witchcraft, and More

Each month the OERI plans to highlight OER for your consideration. As we're at the beginning of a calendar year, it's the perfect time to call your attention to those items that recently entered the public domain. Even before we had Creative Commons, copyrighted resources became "open" after a period of time. On January 1, 2021, resources from 1925 entered the public domain. This includes books, films, and musical compositions. The Great Gatsby joins a long list of well-known works that have long been in the public domain, including Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter. Project Gutenberg is a great resource to find literary works in the public domain.

In December, the OERI hosted a webinar for anthropology faculty that featured authors showcasing their OER. In addition to sharing available OER for all of the required courses in an anthropology ADT, a recently developed text and Canvas shell was shared for “Beliefs: An Open Invitation to the Anthropology of Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion”, developed by Amanda Zunner-Keating for Los Angeles Valley College. Looking for OER for anthropology? Visit the ASCCC OERI Resource Page for Anthropology.

Although it is still undergoing review, it’s not too soon to have a look at one of the products from this last RFP, ASCCC OERI Statistics for Social Justice. Described by the development team as a “Workbook for introductory statistics class containing activities and exercises with a social-justice focus”, this Canvas resource integrates social justice concepts into a commonly used OpenStax text.

Editing, Curating, Re-Mixing, Printing, and Moving OER to Canvas Using LibreTexts

The ASCCC OERI is pleased to offer the following webinars that serve as an introduction to the use of LibreTexts. Basic knowledge of OER is presumed.

I Found an OER Textbook—What Now? Editing, Curating, Re-Mixing, Printing, and Moving OER to Canvas Using LibreTexts

Finding a useable OER for your course is the first step in moving to OER and freeing yourself from the constraints of a commercial text. Adopting an OER is the ultimate in academic freedom, allowing you to customize that OER to meet your needs. Join this webinar for an overview on the use of LibreTexts, an OER platform that facilitates OER editing, re-mixing, and printing. Learn how easy it is to not only perfect an OER, but to move it into Canvas.

OERI Weekly Webinars – February 2021

Starting February 5, 2021, OERI Weekly Webinars are scheduled for Fridays at 10:30 am. 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 at oeri@asccc.org at least 10 business days in advance.

OERI Webinars are intended for a diverse audience. We hope you will all join us! Please share with your colleagues.

Friday, February 5, 10:30am – 11:30 am

ASCCC OERI Update

Join us for an overview of recently completed OER, the latest on our OERI-facilitated projects, and OERI’s plans for 2021. Learn about a proposed intersegmental California OER conference, our latest findings related to the implementation of a no-cost logo, and our vision for our next Request for Proposals.

Friday, February 12, No Webinar

Happy Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day

Friday, February 19, 10:30am – 11:30 am

OER and Philosophy

Which OER are available for philosophy courses and in use at California community colleges and other colleges/universities? In this presentation, you will learn about the available resources and share your philosophy OER feedback and needs.

Friday, February 26, 10:30am – 11:30 am

Open Forum

Questions? Ideas? Join us in this Open Forum where you direct the conversation.