Campus Faculty to Speak About Open Educational Resources

via openeducationweek.org

Open Education Week is set for March 2-6 this year. The University Libraries and our partners across campus are celebrating with several campus events focused on Open Educational Resources (OER) March 3 and 5 in Mullins Library Room 104. 

The Global Campus and the Teaching Innovation & Pedagogical Support Center (TIPS) will co-sponsor the second annual Faculty OER Mingle Thursday, March 5. TIPS is a partnership between the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center, IT Services and the Global Campus. Morning and afternoon sessions are available, and attendance may be counted toward the Teaching and Faculty Support Center's (TFSC) New or Not-So-New Faculty Commendation. 

Session I is set for 9:30-11 a.m. in Mullins Library Room 104. Mary Thompson Price of the Global Campus will present on Adapting an OER - Medical Terminology, and Whitney Payne of the School of Social Work will present on Adapting an OER and Implementing it in the Classroom - Social Work. 

Session II is set for 2:30-4 p.m. in Mullins Library Room 104. Jim Gigantino of the Department of History will present on Adopting an OER and Implementing it in the Classroom - U.S. History, and Mary Thompson Price will again present on Adapting an OER - Medical Terminology. 

Following the speakers, the event will conclude with a casual OER Petting Zoo and Mingle. Registration using the links above is recommended but only required of those seeking TFSC commendation points. Refreshments will be served. 

The week's events also include a graduate student panel from 1-2:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, in Mullins Library Room 104, co-sponsored by the the Graduate-Professional Student Congress Academic and Teaching Committee and the Global Campus. Registration is required, and refreshments will be served. All graduate students are invited to come learn about OER and meet members of the University of Arkansas' OER Team. Marie Totten, a graduate assistant in the department of History, will share her experiences as an instructor who has taught using an OER. Shameer Abdeen, a physics teaching assistant, will share from a TA perspective. Undergraduate students will speak on the benefits of OER, and a Q&A session will follow. There will be an OER Petting Zoo, where attendees can explore print copies of open textbooks. 

"The Graduate and Professional Student Congress is committed to helping equip graduate instructors with as many educational and pedagogical tools as possible," said Anthony Holdier, chair of the Academic and Teaching Committee. "The OER team in Mullins offers a wealth of helpful resources for promoting accessible and affordable course materials. We look forward to future collaborations that can further support the needs of Razorback graduate and professional students!"

To learn more about these events or the Course Materials Conversion Program, email oer@uark.edu. The OER Course Materials Conversion Program began providing funding to faculty in 2017. Since then, over 2,500 students have benefited from the reduced cost of course materials.