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Attend a July 10 workshop to learn more about using the Open Textbook Library or join a faculty learning community.

By Emily Ragan, Ph.D.

July 1, 2020

Over the past year, more than 100 Metropolitan State University of Denver faculty members have learned about open educational resources through Open Textbook Review workshops, OER faculty learning communities and OER adoption grants. Congratulations to our summer OER-adoption grant awardees, who will be added to the webpage soon!

OER are resilient resources – students and faculty can use and retain them for free and keep using them in the future. A British Columbia Campus handout summarizes the benefits of OER during COVID-19. The larger OER movement is facilitated by faculty members sharing work using  creative commons licenses that easily show end users what permissions they have for the material.

MSU Denver faculty members this summer and this past spring have found OER helpful during the transition to online teaching. Rachel Hawley, instructor in English, said, “The text itself was very helpful, and given that we had to have the class online, it was great for that.”

If you are interested in learning more, join the July 10 MSU Denver Open Textbook Review workshop from 1-2:30 p.m. via Teams to learn more about using the Open Textbook Library. Register here by the end of the day July 8. Faculty members who are selected to attend the workshop and write a review of an open textbook will receive a $200 stipend (first-time attendees only). Also, since faculty members will attend Canvas training starting Monday, consider how you can implement OER into your courses as you integrate your courses into Canvas.

There will also be a fall OER faculty learning community, also held via Teams, to offer faculty members support in adopting or adapting OER in ways that aid their course learning. This FLC will be inspired by the OER Learning Circles run by Karen Pikula, Ph.D., in Minnesota. Sessions will be held on seven Thursdays from 2-3:30 p.m., with some work required between sessions. Click here for more information and to sign up for the FLC, which includes a $500 stipend upon successful completion.

Reach out to Emily Ragan, Ph.D., associate professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, at eragan@msudenver.edu with any questions.