By Ethan Senack, Student PIRGs | Volume 4.5 - November 20, 2015
THE OER DIGEST
Your tip sheet for U.S. OER updates, opportunities, and
reminders
UPDATE FROM CALIFORNIA: After a few weeks of turmoil
surrounding a Cal State professor who forewent an expensive
textbook he was supposed to assign in favor of more affordable
(and some openly-licensed) materials, the College upheld its
disciplinary reprimand. The faculty board reviewing the case
stated that Professor Bourget violated the university's rules,
but also recognized that his department did not have sufficient
procedures to allow discussion around changing material. The
case resurfaced discussions about academic freedom, and how it
applies to individual faculty, departments, and institutions.
- READ MORE: An interesting
analysis from the Orange County Register about their
local colleges' policies around course material adoption.
NOTE ON THE TEXTBOOK BILL: The House version of
Senator Durbin's bill to create a federal grant program that
provides professional development, training, and resources for
faculty interested in OER picked up two new cosponsors this
month: Rep. Alcee Hasting (FL) and Beto O'Rourke (TX).
IN K-12: The Council of Chief State School Officers
(CCSSO) announced the launch of their new OER Portal, in
partnership with iNACOL. The portal " provides background and
understanding of OER implementation at state and district
levels, as well as a more detailed look at how OER can impact
classroom practices." See it for yourself
here>
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Last month, the Open Textbook
Network - a project launched by OER advocates at the University
of Minnesota - announced that their network of institutions and
campus partners have saved students an estimated $1.5 million in
textbook costs. Considering they only launched last year, it's
quite a feat.
CONFERENCE SEASON: But when isn't it, honestly. Lots of
folks will be heading to Vancouver next week for OpenEd 15, an
annual conference for educators, advocates, and many others. The
three-day conference will feature tracks on OER and
Accessibility, the Impact of OER on Student Success, OER
Adoption Models, Sustainability in OER, and much more. Others
are in Belgium for OpenCon.
It's Thursday, October 15th. Ethan Senack here. I, myself,
will be at OpenEd next week - look forward to seeing many of you
there! Don't forget to send tips, updates, opportunities, and
feedback to @HigherEdPIRG or
ese...@pirg.org with the
subject "OER DIGEST".
STORIES FROM THE FIELD:
A brief snapshot of those making change on the ground level,
and those most impacted
FROM VIRGINIA: "In late October, Swem [Library] posted a
survey about textbook prices. Featured on the front of the College
of William and Mary’s library on a large whiteboard, the survey
results included 56 students who noted that high prices of textbooks
caused them not to buy the required textbook, and 16 students who
said they earned a poor grade as a result.
“We had quite a few students say that they didn’t purchase a
textbook for a class because it was too expensive, and they
thought their grade suffered because of that,” Arts Librarian and
Interim Digital Scholarship Librarian Kathleen DeLaurenti said. “I
don’t want to see that happening. If there’s something we can do,
I want to be there to do that.”
Read more about their visit with Creative Commons.
FROM OREGON:
“We work with faculty—whether they teach online or whether they
teach on campus—to try to help them to find no-cost course materials
for their students,” said Dianna Fisher, director of Open Oregon
State. “If they can’t find an open textbook that meets their needs,
then we will work with them to either take an existing textbook and
modify it to meet their needs, or if that’s not an option, we will
work with them to create a textbook that does meet their needs, and
then offer that for free to the students here at OSU and students,
really, in all other places."
Read
more about their program>
Have a story you'd like featured? Email it to ese...@pirg.org.
SYLLABUS
Readers Will Shape the Future | The Bookseller
(an interesting take on the publishing industry)
http://www.thebookseller.com/insight/readers-will-shape-future-316074
Harvard Law School launches “Free the Law” project | Harvard
Law Today
(on digitizing US case law and providing free access)
http://today.law.harvard.edu/harvard-law-school-launches-free-the-law-project-with-ravel-law-to-digitize-us-case-law-provide-free-access/
This important conversation between Phil Hill and Mike Caulfield:
(discussing the merits of textbook price data vs student
spending data)
--
Ethan Senack
Higher Education Advocate
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
www.uspirg.org
@HigherEdPIRG
(202) 546-9707 x321