CUNY IT Conference panel features OER creators

We occupied a slot at the 12th annual CUNY IT Conference on Friday, and the room was packed. That indicates that there’s significant interest and curiosity about OERs here at CUNY. Steve Ovadia, associate professor/web services librarian at LaGuardia Community College, got the ball rolling by presenting his “OER about OERs,” a great introduction and model for the uninitiated as well as those already hip to OERs (the slides are here). He was followed by two art history faculty, Michelle Millar Fisher of the Graduate Center/Parsons/Baruch and Karen Shelby from Baruch who shared their robust  Art History Teaching Resources project which has been been gaining force (and grant dollars) since 2011. (They have shared their presentation here.) Undoubtedly, other faculty around CUNY have been creating such free online resources for their own teaching, and perhaps like Karen and Michelle, not initially realizing that they’re creating OERs. If you fall into this category, join the Open Education Resources group on the Commons and let us know!

Introduction to Open Education Resources: A 20-minute Course

Steve Ovadia, Web Services Librarian at LaGuardia Community College, created this resource that shows what an OER can look like while also providing an excellent introduction to Open Education Resources. The five module course covers topics such as finding and evaluating OER, using OER in the classroom, and creating your own OER. Introduction to Open Education Resources: A 20-minute Course was created using Canvas.

Open Textbook Library at UMN

There are an overwhelming amount of open textbooks and other OER available for professors to use as-is or remix to fit the needs of their specific course. Happily, the University of Minnesota has created the Open Textbook Library, a searchable collection that include extensive reviews that help faculty determine which is the best book for their class. Want to help? Contact UMN to become a reviewer yourself.