Open Education Week is March 1 through 5

Welcome to NOVA’s Open Education Week, 2021 program. Open Educational Resources (OER) allow faculty to adopt, adapt and create free, openly accessible, culturally-relevant content for courses in all disciplines. OER not only saves students money, but they ensure all students have equal access to valuable teaching and learning materials.

NOVA has been an OER pioneer since 2013 when we launched our first series of digital open courses in the first online OER degree pathway in the nation. The innovative approach taken by NOVA to create and share OER courses has been replicated by many institutions, and NOVA’s pioneering work with OER was recognized with a WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award in 2014.

This year, we have put together an engaging virtual program consisting of presentations from faculty, librarians and instructional designers. Below is the NOVA Open Ed Week 2021 Event Schedule and links:

Monday, March 1, On Demand
Seven Years of Textbook Affordability at NOVA
A look back at OER projects at NOVA, presented by former NOVA librarians Helen McManus and Heather Blicher

Tuesday, March 2, 12 p.m.
Cross Institutional Collaboration for OER Development in Early Childhood
Christine Schull (NOVA) and Kimberly Austin (SWCC) will present and share their experience attaining external funding and collaborating to develop OER materials for Early Childhood Education.

Tuesday, March 2, 4 p.m.
An OER Odyssey: Journey to Create an OER Lab Manual
Gillian Backus (NOVA) Sail with us on this odyssey to create an OER lab manual. We will discuss the Why and How of OER, focusing on the pros and cons. We will share lessons learned from developing OER for the past six months.

Wednesday, March 3, 12 p.m.
Using Open to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Virtual Learning
Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Pedagogical Practices (OPP) provide a means to support diversity and increase equity and inclusion. In this presentation, Kim Grewe (NOVA) will discuss what equity and inclusion looks like in virtual courses. OER and OPP will be defined and then several case studies and examples will be shared. Participants will leave the session with several open resources they can use right now to embrace diversity and increase inclusion and equity in their online course spaces. Participants will also be invited to share how they are using open to celebrate diversity and increase equity and inclusion in their own teaching and learning practices.

Thursday, March 4, 2:30 p.m.
YOER Support System: How to get involved in Open without writing a book
Olivia Reinauer, librarian at Tidewater Community College, will be speaking about the importance of OER and her experience in helping faculty search and discover open content. Sarah Fennessey, Sales Executive at Pressbooks, will demonstrate how to use the Pressbooks Directory for search and discovery. She will also be speaking more broadly about the Pressbooks platform and how it can be used to create and adapt content.

Friday, March 5, 11 a.m.
Getting Started with Open Educational Resources
Would you like to incorporate open educational resources (OER) into your course, but aren’t sure where to start? In this workshop, Abbey Elder, Iowa State University and author of the OER Starter Kit https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/oerstarterkit, will guide you through the processes of finding, modifying, and creating OER. Participants will leave the workshop with a set of practical tools and strategies for approaching their OER journey, as well as a better understanding of the support available for instructors in Virginia. Sponsored by the State Council for Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) Open Virginia Advisory Committee (OVAC). Registration required.