The 17-institution Connecticut State Colleges & Universities System (CSCU) formed a systemwide open educational resources (OER) Council in 2017 that was primarily focused on the adoption of no-cost or low-cost (NOLO) course materials as a means to provide equitable access to learning materials.
Our CSCU consortium of library directors partnered with the OER Council to construct a websit...
In the following Practitioner Perspective, Andrew McKinney, OER coordinator at the City University of New York (CUNY), and Amanda Coolidge, director of Open Education at BCcampus in British Columbia, Canada, share the development of an adaptable matrix to help faculty include OER (Open Educational Resources) in their tenure and promotion portfolios.
A critical part of sustaining OER in higher...
In the following Q&A, NEBHE’s Fellow for Open Education Lindsey Gumb talks with Hannah Davidson, accessibility specialist at Plymouth State University and member of NEBHE’s OER (Open Educational Resources) Advisory Board, about redefining accessibility in Open Education.
Gumb: You’ve spoken about reconsidering the definition of “access” in Open Education. Can you elaborate on ...
In the following Q&A, NEBHE’s Fellow for Open Education Lindsey Gumb takes the pulse of Open Education in Rhode Island with two key leaders in the field: Dragan Gill, who is a Rhode Island College reference librarian and co-chair of the Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative, and Daniela Fairchild, who is director of the Rhode Island Office of Innovation.
In September 2016, Rhode I...
The shift to online learning has challenged instructors to create courses that are as engaging online as they are in person. As many faculty prepare for online learning again this fall, open educational resources (OER) can be part of the solution to help students stay safe and be successful.
OER are free and openly licensed online teaching and learning materials that support instructors and stu...
The rising cost of college textbooks has been well-documented over the past few years. Reports indicate that textbook prices have risen by over 800%—three times the inflation rate over the past 50 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A study from the Florida Virtual Campus documented the academic impact that textbook costs had on student success. The study detailed that 47...
Residential college and university campuses across New England abruptly closed their doors last month during the COVID-19 outbreak, and while some schools were in session and students were asked to vacate, many others were on spring break and students were asked not to return. In both situations, students found themselves at home or in new environments where they waited to see how their education ...
The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and its sister regional higher education compact organizations—the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) as well as the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET)—are exploring the development of a national network to support sc...
In just over a year, Massachusetts public colleges and universities have galvanized a statewide movement to adopt more comprehensive use of Open Educational Resources (OER). How did state and campus leaders achieve such momentum?
By way of background, OER includes teaching, learning and research materials in any medium—digital or otherwise—that reside in the public domain or have been relea...
Colleges finding Open Educational Resources offer solution to cost problem ...
It was the first day of class at Northern Essex Community College (NECC) and a student in professor Mike Cross’s “Introduction to Organic & Biochemistry” class asked, “So, what about the textbook?” Another student responded, “Didn’t you read the syllabus? There isn’t a textbook. It’s free. It’...