Open Education Week Coming to USask
During the week of March 7 the University of Saskatchewan will be offering several sessions related to open textbooks and other open educational resources (OER), along with a session on the Tri-Agency open access publishing requirements as part of International Open Education Week.
“Open Education Week is a global event that seeks to raise awareness of free and open sharing in education and the benefits they bring to teachers and learners. Coordinated by the Open Education Consortium, the event showcases projects, resources, and ideas from around the world that demonstrate open education in practice. The open education movement seeks to reduce barriers, increase access and drive improvements in education through open sharing and digital formats. Open education includes free and open access to platforms, tools and resources in education, including learning materials, course materials, videos, assessment tools, research, study groups, and textbooks, all available for free use and modification under an open license.” (Open Education Week website)
The integration of open textbooks has grown considerably in the past couple of years at the U of S, with at least seven open textbooks now being used in courses, effecting more than 900 students. Sessions related to this will include one providing introductory information, another on what supports (financial, pedagogical, and technical) exist at the U of S for those interested integrating open textbooks or other OER, and one on the role librarians, instructional designers, and others on campus who support those interested in using, adapting, or creating open materials.
A session will be offered aimed at students on how to find and use open resources, as well as opening up their own work. Faculty may also find this a useful session to hear about ideas for creating “non-disposable” assignments.
A session will also be offered on the Tri-Agency policy that now requires those receiving funding from any of those three agencies – SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR – to publish a version of their articles in either open access journals or institutional repositories.
Registration is now open for all of these sessions. You can find a complete schedule and register through the Open Education Week page on the Open USask website.
