We are catching up – here is my Open Education News and Stuff from November 15.

Hi everyone!

I promised a few more specific reflections on the Open Ed conference in October, so in this email I wanted to say a few words about the opening plenary for the conference, which was a panel discussion with “current students and recent graduates examined student leadership in higher education and how it intersects with open education.”  While the students on the panel were all from American institutions, I think it’s fair to say that many of the challenges they discussed would be relevant here in Canada. 

Students on the panel discussed the impact Open Education can have on reducing inequities through eliminated traditional textbook (and associated homework system) costs, providing open research and data for science students, providing more accessible content (as well as creating opportunities for diverse voices to be integrated into the open content), and giving students more agency in their education by engaging them in non-disposable assignments, etc.

What I found most interesting was the discussion of continuity of institutions engaging with student leaders around Open Education, since typically those students are only associated with an institution for a few years.  And with regards to engaging, what can this look like given that students are busy trying to get an education, and often don’t have time to get involved (not to mention that not all students want to get involved with advocacy of any kind at their institutions – they just want to get their credentials and move on). 

But most of all what I heard was a reminder that students are adults who are more than capable of taking ownership of their education if we let them, advocating for what is right (from cost savings to the climate crisis), and spreading the word about how Open Education can support themselves and their institutions – we just need to ask them, engage with them, and find ways to fairly and safely bring them on board in ways that work for them.

View the entire panel discussion on YouTube.

Around Camosun

If you are interested in open resources around Indigenization, BCcampus has produced several open Pulling Together guides. 

I am still looking to find out who is using open textbooks and OER in their teaching at Camosun.  If you are using an open textbook in your course(s), or you know someone else who is, and I have not already had a chat with you, please send me an email because I would really love to talk to you more about your experience! 

 Have questions?  Looking for an Open Textbook for your course(s), or OERs to take your course/program to ZTC (zero textbook cost)?  Want to talk about a potential Open Education project (or are your students interested in talking or hearing about OpenEd)?  Contact Emily Schudel and/or Gwenda Bryan! 

Share the joy – CETL (Emily) is available to come talk to your department/program about Open Ed – just shoot me an email to let me know if your department/program is interested in hearing more!

Around BC

Check out SFU’s new commitment to open education | SFU Library

And also have a look at this Open Curriculum mapping tool developed by BCcampus: Curriculum Map: A Tool for Mapping, Analysis and Planning – BCcampus

Call for proposals Open Education talks 2023  (University of Calgary)

“We are excited to announce the second annual offering of The Open Education Talks first offered in 2022 as The Open Pedagogy Talks, a series of lightning talks focusing on open education in postsecondary institutions. These 15-minute talks will be about facets of open education, including open pedagogy and learning, utilizing open educational resources, and integrating open strategies in higher education.  The purpose of these talks is to create an accessible, virtual space to engage in conversations about open education. We encourage talks that are student-led or otherwise showcase the important role of student-educator collaborations in open education, and welcome proposals from educators, students, administrators, librarians, instructional designers, and all other roles related to the design, delivery, and evaluation of open education in postsecondary institutions.  For these talks, we share our understanding of open education, which is from the UNESCO Cape Town Declaration:  “…open education is not limited to just open educational resources. It also draws upon open technologies that facilitate collaborative, flexible learning and the open sharing of teaching practices that empower educators to benefit from the best ideas of their colleagues” (UNESCO Cape Town Declaration, 2018).

Interested speakers are invited to submit a proposal for a 15-minute talk that falls under the umbrella of the following topics:

  *   Exploring Open Education:: These talks focus on the facets of open education, why it has been impactful in higher education, and examples in higher education.

  *   Open Learning Design: These talks focus on integrating open learning principles into current and future program and course designs.

  *   Creating Open Educational Resources: These talks focus on creating, identifying, using, and sharing open educational resources in higher education.

  *   Open Scholarship and Research Practices: These talks focus on how educators and learners integrate open research into their courses and scholarship of teaching and learning practices.

Talks Schedule: Every Wednesday in March, 2023 at 12:30 PM MST”

I think that is all for today!

Emily