Early this year, the Association of College and Research Libraries compiled their top 5 articles about open educational resources (OER). The topics of these five posts focus on how libraries can participate in the integration of OER at their school from simply supporting the integration of these resources to becoming more vocal about their availability to actively engaging in OER adoption and authoring. Each of these topics are relevant to today’s librarians as they work toward ensuring they offer beneficial resources to students as well as faculty to make content accessible. According to an article posted on EdSurge, more colleges are setting up support systems to encourage OER adoption, using the campus library as the pitch center for OER. At the University of Texas at Arlington, a full-time Open Education Librarian is employed on staff. A recent project she did to bring OER to the forefront was create a series of videos promoting professors who replaced commercial textbooks in their courses with OER. These videos also addressed common pain points associated with traditional textbooks and how OER can help remedy those issues. Marilyn Billings, the Scholarly Communication & Special Initiatives Librarian at University of Massachusetts Amherst, spearheads the Open Education Initiative (OEI), a faculty incentive program that encourages the use of OER to support student learning along with the creation of new teaching materials and the use of library subscription materials. The library has a dedicated space on their website for OER and accepts grant proposals which require an anticipated OER implementation date. The importance of the role of the librarian in establishing OERs into curriculum was evaluated in a study done by the Centre for Academic Practice & Learning Enhancement (CAPLE) and Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards (CETIS), at the University of Strathclyde. This study looked primarily at higher education OER projects worldwide. The main objectives, according to the study, for these projects were:    Implement repository or content management/publishing system for OER release    Release existing institutional content as OER    Raise awareness of OER and encourage its use Findings showed that in three out of four project teams, at least one librarian participated, and from those teams, the library was either leading or a partner of the initiative 50 percent of the time. The expertise librarians are able to offer related to content-focused OER initiatives can greatly benefit teams working to create new curriculum or content management processes as their relate to OER. Advocating effectively for faculty to incorporate OER has many benefits for students and educators, but it can also lead to additional responsibilities for librarians when their workload is already full. In the paper, Librarians and OER: Cultivating a Community of Practice to Be More Effective Advocates, librarians in British Columbia, Canada came together as a community (BCOER Librarians) to focus on education and professional development that would help libraries facilitate the use and decampment of OER. Through a monthly, virtual meeting, the librarians in this group share ways to support the use of quality OER by collaborating on ideas, tools and strategies. To date, according to their website, there are 40 institutions participating in OER and students have saved over seven million dollars. In an article from the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), it’s recommended that librarians integrate open practices and cultivate leaders who can share their knowledge about OER policies and practices. An example of how this works can be seen at Granite State College in New Hampshire where a new Library Media Specialist certification program enables faculty and advisors to integrate open education practice and OER creation and improvement into course creation workflows. Additionally, OER courseware is being utilized for the certificate course itself. Regardless of the educational model being used in conjunction with open content, it’s important to note, says Stephen Downes in Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources, that the nature of the content must be taken into consideration. Content needs to have longevity, and to do so should be flexible and adaptable to local needs. It also needs to be modifiable and adaptable based on licensing models. Think of content in a local context, how it pertains to your school and to the course it will be used for, and whether it requires changes in order to be relevant and appropriate. With so much discussion going on around OER and effectively utilizing it for academic purposes, there’s no shortage of content around these five key topic areas. The common thread, however, when thinking about how you, as a librarian, can bring OER into the curriculum at your school is collaboration. Connect with your local faculty to gain support, but also see what other schools are doing and how their strategies are working for them. This blog was originally posted on the Intellus Learning website on Monday, April 9, 2018. ... View more

At $14.99 per student, Intellus Open Courses offer educators the ability to deliver flexible, affordable course materials to students Macmillan Learning announced the upcoming release of Intellus Open Courses, which feature open educational resources (OER) expertly curated by Macmillan Learning subject matter experts and Macmillan Learning’s editorial team, using the Intellus Learning platform. Each course includes a rich package of instructor supplements and on-demand support. Intellus Open Courses make it easy for faculty to find, adopt, and use the highest quality OER resources and deliver a customizable, affordable course to students. Intellus Open Courses enhance open textbooks by sourcing high-quality openly licensed content from a variety of sources and coupling content with editorially-driven pedagogy. "Each Intellus Open Course contains content from open eBooks, under the Creative Commons Attribution license, and instructor resources like PowerPoint slides and test bank questions, as well as other open assets including YouTube videos, optional institutional library content, primary source documents, and more. Our subject matter experts use the power of the Intellus Learning platform to locate the best open content available from the leading OER content providers and package them into a turnkey courses for use by instructors," stated Renee Altier, Vice President of Institutional Strategy. In addition to the expertly curated OER content, Intellus Open Courses include a suite of support services, including learning management system integration, on-demand training and implementation support, instructor supplements, and customization tools. Instructors can access Intellus Learning to customize, reuse, remix, and redistribute their open course content. Licensing data is available for each content item so instructors know which open resources can be modified as well. Instructors can also leverage Intellus Learning's cornerstone engagement analytics at any time to optimize courses to meet learning objectives. “I adopted the Intellus Open Course for my American Government course because I was impressed with the additional assets and capabilities they've built, which make it more than simply an open textbook. With the added features and analytics that the Intellus platform provides, we will not only decrease the cost of course resources for our students, but also positively impact learning without starting completely from scratch,” said Jessica Scarffe, Associate Professor at Allan Hancock College. Sixteen Intellus Open Courses will be launching this spring in general education courses, such as American government, sociology, economics, pre-algebra, psychology, and chemistry, with the first courses going live for review and testing at the beginning of February 2018. Intellus Open Courses support fees are $14.99 per student, per course, and provide ongoing services for instructors and students that include LMS integration, customization tools and services, technical support, and course maintenance. Institutions can license Intellus Open Course and the Intellus Learning platform for students. Alternatively, students can pay course support fees directly through the Macmillan Learning student store. Additionally, recognizing the spirit of open education, students will be able to access and retain all OER material included in Intellus Open Courses on our website. Charles Linsmeier, Vice President, Editorial, at Macmillan Learning noted, “Importantly, adopters of Intellus Open Courses are not limited to a publisher-provided curriculum. Instead, adopters of Intellus Open Courses are encouraged to make these courses their own by taking advantage of the easy-to-use, search and discovery tools for free and open content that Intellus Learning provides.” Intellus Open Courses are part of Macmillan Learning’s commitment to deliver high-quality content at an affordable price for students. Intellus Learning empowers faculty to deliver affordable course solutions with the support and ease of implementation that faculty have come to expect from Macmillan. Read the full press release here. ... View more

The road to Open can be winding. We’d like to help. Intellus Learning is proud to announce the launch of our On the Open Road webinar series! Our goal when creating our spring webinar lineup was to create a forum focused on exploring big ideas and issues in the realm of OER, as well as sharing best practices for the use and adoption of open educational resources. Hear from top thought leaders in the OER community covering topics from best practices for implementing OER initiatives, to finding funding sources, to using open educational resources and pedagogy to improve student outcomes. A perfect fit for instructors, administrators, librarians, instructional designers, and CTL staff – you can view the full list of our upcoming webinars below. Check back for additions throughout the coming months here. 2/23, 2PM ET Implementing OER: It Takes A Village from Jonathan Lashley, Senior Instructional Technologist at Boise State University Calls to adopt and support open educational resources (OER) are on the rise across higher education. Because of the interdisciplinary and often abstract considerations that accompany an institutional embrace of OER, early expectation setting is important for everyone involved. In this first webinar in our On the Open Road series, participants will learn about some of the early planning and ongoing practices that have led to successful university initiatives in OER. [ REGISTER ] 3/5, 2PM ET Funding Your OER Initiative from TJ Bliss, Director of Development and Strategy at Wiki Education Open Educational Resources are, by definition, free to learners. Still, running an effective OER initiative to get these free resources into the hands of students in a meaningful and pedagogically sound way takes time, energy, and money. In this webinar, TJ Bliss will explore the various ways colleges and universities are financing their successful OER initiatives, including methods for internal funding and an exploration of the external funding landscape. [ REGISTER ] 3/7, 2PM ET Going OER: Eliminate Boundaries in Teaching and Learning from Vera Kennedy, Faculty at West Hills College Lemoore and Lecturer at California State University, Fresno Faculty are continuously searching for textbooks and materials that fit course requirements and their teaching style. Before the availability of open educational resources (OER), faculty were restricted to commercial publications designed for broad audiences with general theories and concepts across a wide array of topics. Though these resources offer relevant information and supplemental materials, they do not always meet the needs and interests of faculty and students. Adopting and creating free, openly licensed resources (OER) offers faculty the freedom to reuse and remix materials that complement their teaching style and approach based on their discipline training, expertise, and knowledge of their students. In this webinar, faculty will learn about free open educational resources, benefits of going OER, and ideas on their use and application. [ REGISTER ] 3/9, 2PM ET Supporting OER: Calling All Instructional Designers and Technologists from Jonathan Lashley, Senior Instructional Technologist at Boise State University As the open educational resources (OER) movement matures, questions continue to emerge about how to best support and sustain the use of OER at scale. Instructors and librarians maintain valuable partnerships for managing OER adoption but may need additional assistance when it comes to ensuring ongoing use and (re)development of resources. Instructional designers and technologists, in particular, have the skills, resources, and experience necessary to shepherd sustainable simple OER adoptions into long-term learning innovations. In this webinar in our On the Open Road series, participants will learn how those who support the design, implementation, and technology of teaching and learning on campuses might further expand the potential of OER in higher education. [ REGISTER ] 4/13, 2PM ET Valuing OER: From Student Affordability to Meaningful Learning Opportunities from Jonathan Lashley, Senior Instructional Technologist at Boise State University Many instructors have embraced Open Educational Resources (OER) as a way to take charge in addressing the rising expenses that their students bear en route to a college degree. Framing the value of OER around textbook cost, however, is only recognizing one of the qualities that make OER such a valuable innovation. In this webinar in our On the Open Road series, participants will learn how OER may sponsor new pedagogical strategies, dynamic learning environments, and improved student outcomes. [ REGISTER ] View all upcoming webinars and register here. This blog was originally published on the Intellus Learning website. ... View more