May 2021 Newsletter

Greetings!

As the Open Educational Resources Liaison, it is my role to share communications from the ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI) with you.

Please read on to learn about upcoming events that are open to all and an opportunity for faculty to play a role in increasing OER consideration and adoption by others in their discipline.

If I can assist you in your considering OER - or answer any OER - related questions, please let me know.

Cal OER – Now Accepting Proposals

The 2021 Cal OER Conference will be held virtually on August 4 - 6. The Cal OER website is now live, the keynote speakers for the conference have been secured, and presentation proposals will be accepted until June 4, 5:00pm. Registration information is coming soon.

Cal OER Conference will focus on OER efforts and impact, broadly defined, across the state of California and especially across the state’s three public higher education systems, the California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California. Individuals submitting proposals will be asked to identify which of the following tracks is most aligned with their proposal:

Students in OER
Advocating for OER
Sustaining OER
Exploring OER
OER Impact and Efficacy
Open Pedagogy

More information on each of the themes may be found under Proposals on the Cal OER website.

OER and Counseling, May 14, 2021

The ASCCC OERI is pleased to announce its first OER event designed exclusively for counselors. The Blueprint for Counseling Success Conference will provide an introduction to OER, showcase the Blueprint for Success OER text series and other OER for counseling, and provide an opportunity for counselors to share OER specific to their discipline. The Blueprint for Counseling Success Conference Preliminary Program is now available.

The Blueprint for Counseling Success Conference will be held virtually on Friday, May 14^th from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. This conference is free, but space is limited so don’t delay. Register for Blueprint for Counseling Success.

LibreFest, May 25, 2021

LibreTexts is a powerful platform for all things OER, allowing for the easy adoption (and printing) of an existing OER text, the remixing of existing OER, and the developing you own OER. Learn more about LibreTexts at the upcoming LibreFest, a free virtual event on May 25. The primary goal of LibreFest is to introduce potential users to LibreTexts and offer some hands-on experience with creating and/or adapting OER using the platform's powerful editing and remixing tools. Register for LibreFest.

OER for Your Consideration

Last month the OERI hosted sixteen discipline webinars and we have still more of these webinars scheduled in May. Faculty who were not able to attend the webinar for their discipline can access an archive on the OERI website or review the discipline’s curated collection. Are you using OER – or looking for OER – in a discipline that we are not yet working with? Please let us know – we are in the process of identifying disciplines – and discipline leads – for Fall 2021.

OERI Weekly Webinars – May 2021

OERI Weekly Webinars are usually scheduled for Fridays at 10:30 am. This month, we have two additional discipline webinars as we continue to showcase OER for a wide array of disciplines – hopefully in time to inform text selections for the summer and fall terms. 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.

OERI Webinars are intended for a diverse audience. We hope you will all join us! Please share this information with your colleagues so that they may join us as well.

Discipline Webinars – Each of our Discipline Webinars is intended to provide an overview of the available OER in the discipline, focusing on text-equivalents, when available. Hosted by OERI Discipline Leads, each webinar is also intended to provide a forum for discipline faculty to share their needs and wants for instructional resources.

OER and Child Development/Early Childhood Education

Friday, May 7, 9:15 am – 10:15 am

Friday, May 7, 10:30 am - 11:30 am
LibGuides, Discovery Tools, and Websites: How to Make OER Discoverable

How do you help find and locate OER? In this webinar, we will look at three different ways to search and find OER: through a LibGuide, through a library catalog, and through a designated campus OER website. You'll come away with different examples and inspiration for improving search and discoverability on your own campus.

OER and Biology

Friday, May 14, 10:30am - 11:30 am

Friday, May 14, 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
OER for English and Literature

In the April OER and English webinar, many OER resources for English were introduced, but there was not sufficient time for questions and discussion. This webinar will provide an opportunity for further discussion of English OER and literature materials. The OER and English archive is available for viewing and the OER and English resources page has been updated.

OER and Geography/Physical Sciences

Friday, May 21, 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Friday, May 28, 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Open Forum

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