<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">FYI.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><b><font face="monospace, monospace">Hilton Gibson</font></b></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace;font-size:12.8000001907349px">Stellenbosch University Library</span><br></div><div><font face="monospace, monospace"><font color="#0000ee"><u><a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2992-208X" target="_blank">http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2992-208X</a></u></font><br></font></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Ethan Senack</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:esenack@pirg.org">esenack@pirg.org</a>></span><br>Date: 17 March 2016 at 20:41<br>Subject: [Open-education] [The OER Digest] State Goes Open, White House too<br>To: <a href="mailto:oerdigest@gmail.com">oerdigest@gmail.com</a><br><br><br>
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
By Ethan Senack, Student PIRGs | Volume 9 | March 17th, 2016<br>
<div>
<div> <i>With the help of Nicole
Allen, Doug Levin, Cable Green, and Nicole Finkbeiner</i><br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>THE OER DIGEST</b><br>
</div>
<div align="center">Your tip sheet for U.S. OER updates,
opportunities, and reminders<br>
</div>
<b><br>
<br>
STATE GOES OPEN:</b> As part of Open Education Week, the U.S.
State Department posted a <a href="https://blogs.state.gov/stories/2016/03/11/celebrating-open-education-week-open-educational-resources" target="_blank">blog</a>
on OER by Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan, a high ranking
official. The post includes a clear affirmation that “open” is
more than just “free,” discusses the steps that the
administration has taken to support OER, and what's coming up
next.<br>
<ul>
<li>GREAT QUOTE: "Making more resources available is only the
beginning."</li>
<li>TO RETWEET: <a href="https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/708435436897759233" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/708435436897759233</a><br>
</li>
</ul>
<br>
<b>SOURCING SOFTWARE:</b> White House Chief Information Office
Tony Scott published a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/03/09/leveraging-american-ingenuity-through-reusable-and-open-source-software" target="_blank">blog</a>
last week on open source software, announcing a Federal Source
Code Policy that they're opening for public comment. As part of
the Second Open Government Partnership National Action Plan, the
WH policy would "require new software developed specifically for
or by the Federal Government to be made available for sharing
and re-use across Federal agencies." <br>
<ul>
<li>SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: <a href="https://sourcecode.cio.gov/" target="_blank">https://sourcecode.cio.gov/</a><br>
</li>
</ul>
<br>
<b><b>TO BE CLEAR: </b></b>From Doug Levin at EdTech
Strategies, "Many of us have observed that recent media coverage
of the U.S. Department of Education's GoOpen initiative has
included some unfortunate inaccuracies in characterizing what it
means for a resource to be 'open' as opposed to being free or
digital." In response, a group of organizations have developed a
basic fact sheet/FAQ on OER for K-12 educators. The FAQ
(licensed CC BY) can be re-distributed to help clarify OER for
educators, policymakers, members of the media, and other
stakeholders. <a href="http://form.openeducationweek.org/resource/oer-for-k12-educators-faq/" target="_blank">See
it here.</a><br>
<b><br>
CUSTOM STAX:</b> OpenStax, the open textbook publisher,
announced a partnership with NACSCORP and Dover Publications to
allow faculty members to customize OpenStax books. The platform
will show faculty the print cost of the book in real-time as
they add or remove pages and make additional changes. Students
will then be able to purchase print versions of the book their
their campus store. <a href="http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/555439.html" target="_blank">Read
the press release.</a> And, if that weren't enough, OpenStax
also just released a new Calculus textbook and a host of
supplementary materials.<b><br>
<br>
SHARING IS CARING:</b> The American Federation of Teachers
just relauched their lesson plan and teaching material sharing
site <a href="https://sharemylesson.com/" target="_blank">sharemylesson.com</a>.
The site has more than 900,000 registered users, and all
submissions are either licensed as
CC BY-NC-SA or
CC BY-NC-ND. Originally launched by AFT and TES Global back in
2012, the site just got a big, shiny, new update. <br>
<br>
<b>SPEAKING OF:</b> TES Global, the UK-based education company
recently released <a href="http://www.tesglobal.com/teachertech2" target="_blank">a report</a>
saying that 3 in 4 faculty report using OER more than textbooks
in their classrooms. Without seeing the questions or the
methodology, it's tough to interpret the extent to which 'open'
was differentiated with 'free and online,' but in any case, the
report shows significant growth of technology use in the
classroom. <br>
<b><br>
IOL:</b> The Open Policy Network's newest class of fellows in
the Institute for Open Leadership are meeting in South Africa
right now. For severe scenic jealousy, check out some of the
photos with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/iol2" target="_blank">#IOL2.</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"> *** Want your colleagues or friends to get
the Digest? Send them this link: <a href="http://bit.ly/get-the-oer-digest" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://bit.ly/get-the-oer-digest" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/get-the-oer-digest</a><b>
***</b><br>
</div>
<b><br>
<br>
It's Thursday, March 17th</b>. It's officially March Madness,
and as a UConn alum, I'm contractually obligated to mention that
we've won 2 Men's and 3 Women's tournaments in the past 5 years.
Tweet me any bracket tips @HigherEdPIRG. Don't forget to send
tips, updates, opportunities, and feedback to <a href="mailto:esenack@pirg.org" target="_blank"></a><a href="mailto:esenack@pirg.org" target="_blank">esenack@pirg.org</a>. <br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>OPEN CONNECTIONS</b><br>
</div>
<div align="center"> Conference, job, and other OER-related
opportunities<br>
<br>
<div align="left"><b>CALL FOR PROPOSALS: BCCAMPUS</b> is
hosting The Festival of Learning in the Vancouver area this
coming June, and is looking for workshop proposals on open
education and other edtech subjects. Proposals are due March
21st. <a href="https://festival.bccampus.ca/call-for-proposals/" target="_blank">See
the call></a><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<b>CALL FOR PROPOSALS: iNACOL</b> is hosting their Blended and
Online Learning Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, this October.
Proposals are due March 23rd. <a href="http://www.inacol.org/symposium/program-presenters/presentation-opportunities/" target="_blank">See
the call></a><br>
<br>
<b>FELLOWSHIP:</b><b> CCSSO</b> is looking for an OER Fellow to
conduct research, identify resources, and write original content
for CCSSO’s OER Portal website. <a href="https://www.dcjobs.com/j/16775080" target="_blank">See the job
description></a><br>
<br>
<b>JOBS: CREATIVE COMMONS</b> is looking to fill three
positions; Director of Engineering, Communications Manager, and
Development Manager. <a href="https://blog.creativecommons.org/2016/03/08/new-job-opportunities-at-creative-commons/" target="_blank">See
the job descriptions></a><br>
<br>
Have an opportunity you want featured? Email it to <a href="mailto:esenack@pirg.org" target="_blank"></a><a href="mailto:esenack@pirg.org" target="_blank">esenack@pirg.org</a>.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>STORIES FROM THE FIELD</b>:<br>
</div>
<div align="center">Brief snapshots from the ground level<br>
</div>
<br>
<b>VIDEO BREAK:</b> Affordable Learning Georgia is out with a
new video, called <i>I Am Affordable Learning Georgia</i>. The
2-minute video features interviews with grantees about their
work with OER. Here's a great quote: "They do contribute to
building a greater sense of community between students and each
other, as well as students and the professor, by showing
students that professors actually care about them." <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv2XwneeAaw" target="_blank">Watch the
video></a><br>
<br>
<b>FROM ACROSS THE POND:</b> From the <a href="http://openscot.net/higher-education/university-of-edinburgh-approves-new-oer-policy/" target="_blank">Open
Scotland</a> blog - "As part of its ongoing commitment to open
education, the University of Edinburgh has recently approved a
new <strong>Open Educational Resources Policy</strong>, that
encourages staff and students to use, create and publish OERs to
enhance the quality of the student experience. The University is
committed to supporting open and sustainable learning and
teaching practices by encouraging engagement with OER within the
curriculum, and supporting the development of digital literacies
for both staff and students in their use of OERs. <a href="http://open.ed.ac.uk/about/" target="_blank">Read the Policy></a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>SYLLABUS:</b><br>
</div>
<div align="center">Interesting Reads on Education and Open<br>
<b><br>
</b><b> </b></div>
<b> </b>
<b>Who Owns Digital Learning Resources Funded by Taxpayers?</b>
| Hal Plotkin<br>
<a href="https://medium.com/@hplotkin/who-owns-digital-learning-resources-funded-by-taxpayers-543160cbf1f4#.71aiz0r6t" target="_blank">https://medium.com/@hplotkin/who-owns-digital-learning-resources-funded-by-taxpayers-543160cbf1f4#.71aiz0r6t</a><br>
<br>
<b>How to Go Textbook Free (the UMUC story) </b>| Campus
Technology<br>
<a href="https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2016/03/09/Textbook-Free.aspx?Page=1" target="_blank">https://campustechnology.com/Articles/2016/03/09/Textbook-Free.aspx?Page=1</a><br>
<br>
<b>The Textbook Challenge: Two Sides of the Debate</b> | The
Pierce Pioneer<br>
<a href="http://piercepioneernews.com/10113/campus/the-textbook-challenge-two-sides-of-a-debate/" target="_blank">http://piercepioneernews.com/10113/campus/the-textbook-challenge-two-sides-of-a-debate/</a><br>
<br>
<b>Print is NOT dead</b> | The Fullerton College Hornet<br>
<a href="http://hornet.fullcoll.edu/print-is-not-dead/" target="_blank">http://hornet.fullcoll.edu/print-is-not-dead/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div align="center">Find archived volumes at
<a href="http://studentpirgs.org/sp/oer-digest" target="_blank">http://studentpirgs.org/sp/oer-digest</a>.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
</font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<br>
<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Ethan Senack
Higher Education Advocate
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
<a href="http://www.uspirg.org" target="_blank">www.uspirg.org</a>
@HigherEdPIRG
(202) 546-9707 x321</pre>
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