At a time when we all feel that so many of the things that we used to take for granted are “closed off”, or at least temporarily on hold, it is more important than ever to find ways to open ourselves to new and positive things. Did you know that next week is Open Education (OE) Week? Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices encompass a range of tools and approaches for teaching and learning that have steadily gained traction over the past decade or so, but, given the massive changes brought on by the pandemic they are now even more critical to our work as educators . OER benefit students greatly due to the removal of cost barriers and ease of access. For faculty, OER offer ease of distribution as well as the opportunity to modify or add content to a resource based on context and unique expertise.
Want to learn more about OER and open pedagogy? Here are some primers that you might find helpful:
- The OER Starter Kit
- BC Campus Faculty OER Toolkit
- The Open Pedagogy Notebook
- The Open Faculty Patchbook
Looking to catch some of the excellent sessions planned across the globe in recognition of OE Week? Here are some of our top picks:
- McMaster University – Webinar Series – Open Educational Practices for Equity and Inclusion – March 1st, March 2nd, March 4th, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
- University of Alberta – Open Education Symposium – March 1st to 5th (various times)
- University of Windsor – Office of Open Learning – Confronting Chegg With Open Pedagogy – March 3rd at 3 pm
- University of Northern Colorado – Open Pedagogy, Social Justice, and the Practical Path to Commons-Oriented Learning – March 4th at 1 pm (11 am Mountain Time)
- MIT – MIT OpenCourseWare: Origins, Pathways, and Possibilities– March 3rd at 10 am
Want to know more? Feel free to stop into our “Ask us anything about Open Education” drop-in next Thursday, March 4th at 2 pm. We’ll have lots of resources and ideas on hand to share and look forward to fielding all or your burning questions!
Register here for the drop-in: “Ask us anything about Open Education” Registration
Image credit Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash
