Getting closer to real time – here is my Open Education News and Stuff from January 25.

Good day everyone!

As January slowly creeps on its way to spring, what is on my mind today is finding time.  For me right now, finding time to prioritize all the things I need (or want) to prioritize, and I know you are all in the same boat! 

Lately the work I am finding time for related to open education is more college-wide (although I am working with some individual faculty members who are either on SD now or preparing for SD in the spring on exciting open projects I hope to share with you in the future).  For example, I am thinking about how open education supports our new strategic plan (hint: it really does, on all points!), thinking about how we can advocate for open education to leadership and support faculty to do the important work of finding, assessing, adopting, adapting, creating open educational resources, and thinking about how we (CETL, the Library, etc.) can help you! 

Around Camosun

Open Education Week

Speaking of prioritizing and advocating, I wanted to let you all know that Open Education Week is March 6-10 this year, and Camosun is, for the first time, going to celebrate.  More information will be coming out over the next few weeks in this email chain, as well as in CamNews and the CETL Bulletin, but for now, here is a small glimpse of what we will be doing.

• Running Open Education tables at both Lansdowne (on March 6) and Interurban (on March 7) where we will share information, have people available to answer questions, and showcase some of the open education work already being done at the college
• Displaying of open textbooks (print and electronic) at both campus libraries so you can see what you and your fellow faculty members are using in their classes
• Launching a new Open Education LibGuide
• Taking over the regular Teaching and Learning Community of Practice with an Open Education Conversation Café on Thursday, March 9
• Giving out prizes at the various locations throughout the week!

Workshops in May/June

Looking for some Open Education-related workshops for May/June SD (or just some workshops you can take around your busy schedules)?  Here is a list of workshops we will be offering.  Full schedules and descriptions will be coming out in March, but if you have any questions, just let me know!

Indigenous knowledge and Open Education

I have shared here in the past links to BCcampus’s open Pulling Together guides and their overall Indigenization project, but there are many other resources related to Indigenous knowledge and open education. 

From including Indigenous voices in open educational resources, as in this collection of Indigenous Voices texts in which indigenous voices are prominent, to the work Local Contexts has done making licensing and labeling practices more responsive to local-decision making and Indigenous frameworks for both governance and the sharing of artifacts, resources, and stories. 

And here are a few resources you might be interested in exploring.  If you know of more, let me know!

• Community First:  Open Practices and Indigenous Knowledge
• Healing and Reconciliation through Education (open textbook)
• Reconciliation through Education MOOC at UBC
• Knowing Home: Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science (open textbook)
• Traditional Knowledge and Open Access

Around the World

OER 2023 – Open Education Conference (alt.ac.uk) will be happening April 4-6 in Inverness, Scotland, and also hybrid.  This is the conference for Open Education research, practice and policy organised by ALT, the Association for Learning Technology, in partnership with UHI, the University of the Highlands and Islands.

OpenEd2023 will be November 7-9 and will once more be virtual.  It is, without a doubt, the best conference I’ve ever attended, in person, virtual, or any format!

Finally

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!

Thanks for tuning in.  Have a wonderful day and week!

Emily