Category Archives: Open Education

Open Educational Resources Directory for Courses at UVic

ePublishing Services, UVic Libraries is pleased to announce the release of our OER by Discipline Directory. This reference book, which will be updated as new resources are identified, lists a wide range of Open Educational Resources (OER) that may be adopted for courses at UVic. It acts as a referratory where the name of a resource, a link to where it can be accessed, its license, and then a short description of it are provided.

Our Directory is adapted from the BCcampus Open Education OER by Discipline Directory, which was edited by Lauri M. Aesoph and Josie Gray and uses a CC BY 4.0 license. We are grateful to the editors for all their hard work in putting this resource together, and for allowing others to share and adapt their material.

The OER by Discipline Directory project complements the Libraries’ advocacy efforts and aligns with its Strategic Directions. By identifying and using OER in their classrooms, UVic instructors can assign quality course materials while providing cost-free solutions for students. These savings improve students’ access to affordable, quality education, and are closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals #4.

Maximizing UVic Libraries eBooks for Students

eTextbooks for Students (Fall 2023)

We are continuing with UVic Libraries etextbooks for students project, started in fall 2021, to track the use of library licensed electronic books assigned in courses for the fall 2023 academic term. The project provides a list of electronic versions of course textbooks that are available to students through the Library and supports access and affordability efforts that are important to student success. This year, the list has moved to a new location.

This project complements the Libraries’ advocacy efforts and aligns with its Strategic Directions. With this project we have the opportunity to scan the university landscape to determine the extent to which the Libraries’ licensed resources are being used at all levels of course work. The Libraries’ expanded ebook collection allows instructors to assign quality course materials, while providing affordable solutions for students.

These savings improve students’ access to affordable, quality education and are closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals #4.

During the 2023 fall term, we believe instructors saved UVic students a total of $436,889.11 by identifying 183 titles used in 160 courses. Please check back here at the beginning of the spring 2024 semester for further savings.

CALL TO ACTION:

FACULTY: Let us know if you are using an open textbook or UVic Libraries licensed resources for your course this academic year!

STUDENTS: Let us know if you are accessing an open textbook or library licensed resources for your course!

Maximizing UVic Libraries eBooks for Students

eTextbooks for Students ( Summer 2023)

In our continuing effort to track the use of library licensed electronic books assigned in courses we identified 81 titles used in 40 courses during the summer semester. We searched the University Bookstore’s textbook catalog to identify titles adopted by instructors. In adopting the Libraries licensed resources for their courses, we believe instructors saved UVic students a total of $40, 944.75 and in doing so created high impact for students’ access and affordability to a quality education. The total savings for the 2022-23 academic year is $835,413.75. These savings improve students’ access to affordable, quality education and is closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals #4.

CALL TO ACTION:

FACULTY: Lets us know if you are using an open textbook or a UVic Libraries licensed resources for you course this academic year.

STUDENTS: Let us know if you are accessing an open textbook or library licensed resources for your course!

Maximizing UVic Libraries eBooks for Students

eTextbooks for Students (2022-2023)

We are continuing with UVic Libraries pilot project, started in fall 2021, to track the use of library licensed electronic books assigned in courses for the spring 2022-23 academic term. The eTextbooks project supports access and affordability efforts that are important to student success. The website lists the ebooks by title, Course number, term, and Instructors’ last name.

This project complements the Libraries’ advocacy efforts around open education resources (OER) and aligns with its Strategic Directions. Our OER initiative includes an annual offering of OER grants, cross-campus collaborations with Learning Teaching Support & Innovation, the Bookstore, and the Undergraduate Student Union (UVSS). The project gave us the opportunity to scan the university landscape to determine the extent to which the Libraries’ licensed resources were being used at all levels of course work. The Libraries’ expanded ebook collection allows instructors to assign quality course materials, while providing affordable solutions for students.

With the assistance of our Young Canada Works intern, Liam McParland, we identified 280 total titles used in 394 courses during the fall and spring terms. We searched the University Bookstore’s textbook catalog to identify titles adopted by instructors. In adopting the Libraries licensed resources for their courses, we believe instructors saved UVic students a total of $794,469 and in doing so created high impact for students’ access and affordability to a quality education. These savings improve students’ access to affordable, quality education and is closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals #4.

CALL TO ACTION:

FACULTY: Lets us know if you are using an open textbook or a UVic Libraries licensed resources for you course this academic year.

STUDENTS: Let us know if you are accessing an open textbook or library licensed resources for your course!

Mobilize Your Knowledge!: An Introduction to Creating Open Textbooks using Pressbooks

Presenter: Liam McParland (University of Victoria)

Are you a UVic faculty member who is interested in creating/adapting and disseminating accessible educational resources? This workshop will introduce you to Pressbooks – an open source, online authoring and publishing platform.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:

- Create and build an e-text
Create accessible headings, tables, and footnotes
Insert accessible media into your material

When: Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm (Pacific Time – US & Canada)

This is an online event. Event URL will be sent via registration email.

UVic Open Education Resource Grant – CFP

The University of Victoria provides grants for the purpose of the adoption, adaptation or development of Open Educational Resources (OERs), with the aim of replacing existing textbooks or other types of educational resources that can be prohibitively expensive. Ideally, the completed OERs will be useable not just at UVic, but other post-secondary institutions.

Open Educational Resource (OER) Grants are offered as a partnership between UVic Libraries (Libraries) and the Division of Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation (LTSI), with invaluable support from the 2020 BCcampus OE Sustainability Grant, as well as the Division of Student Affairs, the University of Victoria Students’ Society (UVSS) and University Systems.

About the Grant

Grant Deadline: January 31, 2023

OTESSA Conference – Call for Proposals

The Open/Technology in Education, Society, & Scholarship Association (OTESSA) has announced our Call for Proposals/Papers:

Where: Both online and in-person (hosted by York University in Toronto). You get to pick your preference for how you wish to participate!

When: Between May 27-June 2, 2023 (modes of dates to be announced)

SUBMIT: OTESSA Conference Website

DEADLINE: Proposals are due November 15, 2022

We welcome you to read our latest blog post announcing our Call for Proposals/Papers and our co-chairs and local coordinator.

#OTESSA23 Call for Proposals Flyer [PDF] – Please post and distribute

We look forward to seeing you there, online or in person!

Sincerely,

The OTESSA Conference Organizing Team
conference@otessa.org

OER events at UVic

Let’s Talk About Teaching 2022 | August 30- September 1, 2022

Hosted by the Division of Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation (LTSI), this year’s Let’s Talk about Teaching event focuses on connecting and building relationships.

There are four sessions on OER.

Our Journeys Developing Open Education Resources for Math Courses

Presenters: Trefor Bazett, Jane Butterfield, and Chris Eagle, Mathematics & Statistics

Summary: We are the recipients of three Open Education Resource (OER) LTSI grants in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics to work on three projects, two of which are online textbooks and one a review package. In this talk we will share our objectives for these projects and what our journeys have been thus far, bumps in the road included! We will share some of the cool elements made possible by technology such as having interactive websites for the projects with embedded problems, videos, and animations. Read more

Tuesday, August 30th

10:15am – 10:45am

Location: Online

Create Materials with Students: Making Questions

Presenter: Lijun Zhang, Economics

Summary: This session introduces one assignment to:

1) encourage and facilitate active learning by students and

2) create more questions and build up a test bank, accumulating and updating an ORE resource sustainably.

One challenge of using OER is the lack of good facilitating resources. As instructors, we want the materials to be update-to-date and interesting to students. At the same time, flipping a classroom and inducing active learning has been proven effective if done appropriately. Read more

Tuesday, August 30th

12:30am – 1:00pm

Location: Online

Day 2

Open Education Resources (OER) in Action: A Panel Discussion

Location: HHD 128

Presenters: Inba Kehoe, Head Copyright & Scholarly Communications, Gayle Palas and Jeff Baxter, Technology Integrated Learning (LTSI)

Panelists: Chris Eagle, Mathematics and Statistics, Loren Gaudet, Academic and Technical Writing Program, Michael Paskevicius, Curriculum & Instruction, Inba Kehoe, Head Copyright & Scholarly Communications

Summary: Are you curious to learn more about OER and how other educators are incorporating them into their practice? Join us for a robust conversation with current practitioners and subject matter experts on getting started with OER, keeping momentum, pedagogical considerations, and accessibility and inclusion. We will discuss what makes OER unique, the associated benefits for instructors and students, and share resources to support you in your OER journey.

Wednesday, August 31st

10:45am – 12:00pm

About Loren Gaudet

About Chris Eagle

About Inba Kehoe

About Michael Paskevicius

Day 3

The Anti-Racism and Decolonial Potential of Open-Source Writing Textbooks

Presenters: Sara Humphreys, Academic and Technical Writing Program

Summary: I had the good fortune to lead a team that built an LTSI-funded, open source textbook for The Academic and Technical Writing Program titled Why Write?: A Guide for Students in Canada. What makes this OER special is not just that it’s specifically designed for first-year composition courses in Canada; it explicitly takes into account anti-racist pedagogy, needs of Indigenous students, and Canadian perspectives while building upon the latest research and developments in the field of Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies. Read more

Thursday, September 1st

2:45pm – 3:30pm

Location: HHD 110