Open Educational Resources – Mason Publishing Group

Open Educational Resources Workshop—October 18, 2017

October 6, 2017March 6, 2018 by Mason Publishing Group

Workshop on Open Educational Materials, October 18, 2017
Discovering and Developing Open Educational Resources for Your Courses

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm, Fenwick Library, Room 1009.

Open Educational Resources (OERs) include materials for teaching, learning, and research that may be freely used and repurposed by others, because they reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license (such as Creative Commons) that permits their use and reuse. The high costs of textbooks have led universities including Mason to advance OER adoption to reduce the cost of instruction for students, improve teaching and learning outcomes, and enable better opportunities for students through open access to quality educational resources.

Mason 4-VA, in collaboration with Mason Publishing in the University Libraries and the Office of Digital Learning in the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning, has announced a call for proposals to encourage the use of OERs in innovative course redesign.

Competitive grants will be awarded ranging from $1000-$5000, depending on the nature of the work and the level of team collaboration. Larger amounts will be considered for projects that develop original materials. Courses targeted for the pilot include those with high enrollment numbers, are required courses for majors, count in the Mason Core, or carry high textbook costs. As part of this pilot project, Mason Publishing is assisting instructors in developing open textbooks and other open access materials.

RFP Open Educational Resources 2017

Attendees will learn from teams who have successfully incorporated OERs in online and face-to-face classrooms. Participants will also learn about opportunities to develop textbooks and other materials with Mason Publishing, and how to identify and quality open textbooks as a replacement to higher cost textbooks.

Open and Affordable Educational Resources (OER)

June 22, 2017July 17, 2019 by Mason Publishing Group

At Mason, we want to make your courses accessible to all students. One way to do that is to reduce the costs of the textbooks and other educational materials you use—and University Libraries can help. We offer support for reducing the cost of textbooks and for making library-licensed e-content available to your students. We’re also ready to help you discover, use or even develop and publish your own open educational resources.

So there are several ways to make educational resources affordable for your students:

Choose a standard textbook, put a physical copy on reserve, then let your students know how to access it.
Choose a textbook or articles where the library already offers free digital access. Place the item on ‘e-reserve‘ and then link to the item on your Blackboard site or include a link in your syllabus.
Choose an existing Open Educational Resource (see Finding OERs below).
Work with us to develop and publish an OER for your course(s). Contact Aaron McCollough at amccollo at gmu.edu to get started.

What are Open Educational Resources?

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are freely-accessible teaching, educational, and research materials that either exist in the public domain or are available to users via an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing. These resources include complete online courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, assessment tools, and software. They provide people worldwide with access to quality education and the opportunity to share, use, and reuse knowledge.

Finding OERs

Mason’s Open Educational Resource Metafinder

In conjunction with Deep Web Technologies, University Libraries has developed a search engine that simultaneously queries a number of open educational resource sites. In addition to well-known OER repositories like OpenStax or Merlot II, our Metafinder also searches HathiTrust, DPLA, Internet Archive and other sites where valuable open educational materials may be found.

We’re still adding search targets but today our OER Metafinder searches sixteen sites in real time, returning the top 250 or so hits from each site–in seconds! Additional matches continue to trickle in as you begin examining your results.

Advanced Search

About the Mason OER Metafinder

RFP for Open Educational Resources at Mason

The high costs of textbooks have led universities including Mason to advance OER adoption to reduce the cost of instruction for students, improve teaching and learning outcomes, and enable better opportunities for students through open access to quality educational resources.

RFP Open Educational Resources 2017-18

Additional Resources

Explore the links below for additional information on this OERs:

Course Content and Textbooks

Open Courses and MOOCs

Grants and Advocacy

K-12 Resources

Articles and Research on OERs

web2rights Creative Commons License Compatibility Wizard.

OER Part 1: Course Content and Textbooks

June 21, 2017September 1, 2017 by Mason Publishing Group

The following Open Educational Resources (OER) collections include course content and textbooks you may use, re-purpose, and distribute for your teaching and learning needs. Learn more about high-quality open courses, educational resources, and OER advocacy by checking out the rest of the series below:

Part 2: Open Courses and MOOCs | Part 3: Grants and Advocacy | Part 4: K-12 Resources | Part 5: Articles and Research

Return to OER overview

OER Part 2: Open Courses and MOOCs

May 22, 2017September 1, 2017 by Mason Publishing Group

The following Open Educational Resources (OER) collections include open courses and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) that you can take to supplement your curriculum or simply explore new subjects. Learn more about high-quality open educational resources and OER advocacy by checking out the rest of the series below:

Part 1: Course Content and Textbooks | Part 3: Grants and Advocacy | Part 4: K-12 Resources | Part 5: Articles and Research

Return to OER overview

OER Part 4: K-12 Resources

April 24, 2017September 1, 2017 by Mason Publishing Group

While most of the energy around Open Educational Resources is in higher education, affordable and open educational resources are important to K-12 educators as well.

Part 1: Course Content and Textbooks | Part 2: Open Courses and MOOCs | Part 3: Grants and Advocacy | Part 5: Articles and Research

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Curriki (http://www.curriki.org/)

Curriki is a nonprofit global community that offers free K-12 learning resources for teachers, students, and parents. The resources on Curriki cover a wide range of subjects in the arts and sciences. Curriki offers over 55,000 Open Educational Resources and its 400,000 members represent nearly 200 countries.

Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/)

Not-for-profit Khan Academy is an organization dedicated to providing a “free world-class education for anyone anywhere.” Content includes interactive challenges, assessments, and video in an array of topics for kindergartners through adult learners. Create an account to practice standardized tests and keep statistics on assignments and coursework you’ve completed, noting your progress as you learn.

Lumen Learning (http://lumenlearning.com/)

Lumen is dedicated to facilitating broad, successful adoption of OER at higher education and K-12 institutions. Lumen provides training and support for faculty members to teach open courses and also publishes open courses in over 30 high-demand subjects. Lumen’s catalog of open courseware includes courses in mathematics, general education, business, and science and technology.

Student Senate Support for the Open Textbook Initiative at George Mason University

December 13, 2016June 22, 2017 by Mason Publishing Group

The University Libraries is excited to report that the Student Government Senate has issued a resolution in support of open textbook adoption at Mason. This resolution encourages faculty to consider replacing expensive textbooks with open access materials and is a huge step on the path toward making college more affordable to Mason students.

What is an open textbook? It is a freely available digital book to which the author(s) has assigned a license permitting others, such as instructors, to use and adapt the content to suit their specific course learning objectives. That is, instructors can download, modify, remix, and share the item at no cost to themselves, their students, or their colleagues.

What do open textbooks offer students? Course material that is relevant, up to date, and varied in format, as well as accessible to all students as soon as a course begins. Concerns about the cost of pursuing a particular degree are diminished when textbook costs become immaterial. Not least of all, money that would have been spent on textbooks becomes available to help pay for rent, food, transportation, or even another course,.

What do open textbooks offer faculty? Some powerful incentives are:

the option to tailor course material selections to fit personal pedagogy,
the opportunity to work collaboratively with other disciplinary experts to select or create content that may be used and modified by colleagues around the globe, and
the ability to support students in a way that is deeply meaningful and purposeful, both inside and outside of the classroom.

The University Libraries invites your queries, discussion, and concerns about open textbooks. We are available to help you find these textbooks and other openly licensed materials to work with and integrate into your course(s). We are also experts in subscription content that may be appropriate for your course needs.

Please contact John Warren in the Mason Publishing Group about the open textbook initiative when curiosity overcomes you or you need assistance with existing open projects. As the expert in research materials specific to your discipline (both open and proprietary), your Subject Librarian is also available for consultation and assistance.

OER Part 5: Articles and Research

June 1, 2016September 1, 2017 by Mason Publishing Group

The following Open Educational Resources (OER) collection includes scholarly articles and other research on the benefits, uses, development, and adaptation of OER. Given the rapid growth of the OER movement, both in terms of the academic credibility and attention of policy makers it has gained, it is important for us to monitor the OER landscape as it continues to evolve. To learn more about open educational resources in higher education and how you can get involved in the OER movement, check out the rest of the series:

Part 1: Course Content and Textbooks | Part 2: Open Courses and MOOCs | Part 3: Grants and Advocacy | Part 4: K-12 Resources

Return to OER overview

Faculty Support to Explore Open Ed Resources

March 3, 2016June 22, 2017 by Mason Publishing Group

How can you, as an educator, have increased control over your teaching materials, be more creative in the classroom, AND lower student costs? Use existing open educational resources (OER) or create your own materials!

Mason 4-VA, in collaboration with the University Libraries and Mason Online, invites you to submit a proposal for innovative redesign of a course that integrates digital (and accessible) materials. That is, you supplant expensive textbooks either with digital works that you create, or with existing digital content that is in the public domain, licensed Creative Commons, or available in databases to which the University Libraries subscribes. To that end, you are reducing the cost of instruction to students and improving learning outcomes.

Courses of particular interest are those that:

have high enrollment,
are required for majors,
count in the Mason Core, or
carry high textbook costs.

This initiative is a Mason 4-VA pilot project. Any Mason full-time instructional faculty who teach high demand, heavily populated courses are eligible to apply, as are adjunct faculty who are part of a team proposal.

Depending on the nature of the proposed project and the level of team collaboration, you may receive a competitive grant ranging from $1,500 to $5,000. Funds will be distributed in Summer 2016.

The library is ready to support your use of OER content or answer your questions related to copyright and the Creative Commons licensing of your own materials. Mason Publishing Group, a department of the University Libraries, is available to aid faculty in developing OER textbooks or workbooks as a part of this pilot project. Let us know how we may help you! Contact your subject librarian or John Warren (jwarre13@gmu.edu), Head, Mason Publishing.

For more information and cover sheet, see: Course Redesign: Using Open Educational Resources

Proposals due: March 18, 2016 EXTENDED to March 21, 2016!

Award notification: April 4, 2016

Submit your proposal electronically to:

Linda Sheridan,

Deputy Coordinator, Mason 4-VA

lsherid1@gmu.edu

International Open Access Week (October 19-25, 2015)

October 6, 2015January 15, 2018 by Mason Publishing Group

It’s that time of year again – International Open Access Week, October 19-25, 2015, is almost upon us! This will be Mason’s 7th year of celebrating Open Access Week, which began as a student-led national day of action in 2007. See below for our exciting line-up of workshops, presentations, and activities and join us at any or all of these events!

MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015

MARS “Deposit-a-thon”

Jeri Wieringa and Claudia Holland (Mason Publishing Group)

Do you have scholarly items that you would like to upload to MARS but just haven’t had the time to start the process? To kick off International Open Access Week (October 19-25), Mason Publishing Group is hosting a MARS “deposit-a-thon” to help you get your scholarship into our institutional repository.

On Monday, October 19, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, we will be in the Fenwick 2nd Floor Conference Room, ready to guide you through the process of setting up an account (if you don’t have one) and uploading content to MARS. Drop by with your CV and, if possible, a laptop, to get advice on your publishers, identify which versions of your published articles you can upload, and start entering those items into MARS. Start International OA Week by releasing your scholarship beyond the paywall!

We will have cookies but BYOD.

Monday, October 19, 1 to 3 p.m., Fenwick Library, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Fairfax Campus

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2015

Tips and Tricks for Sharing Your Research

Wendy Mann (Data Services) and Jeri Wieringa (Mason Publishing Group)

Is your grant funder or publisher requiring that you openly share your data and/or research findings? Are you interested in making versions of your scholarship and data available online with no pay barrier, but are not sure how? Join us on Tuesday, October 20, for “Tips and Tricks for Sharing Your Research.” Presenters will provide an overview of the services offered by the George Mason University Libraries to support researchers in preparing and openly distributing their scholarship.

Topics discussed will include: an overview of the repository services, how you can get your research (manuscripts, data, etc.) into our repository, and guidance on best practices for sharing research. There will be time for Q&A and discussion.

Tuesday, October 20, 3 to 4 p.m., Johnson Center, Gateway Library Instruction Room, Fairfax Campus

Info Table

Come pick up some free swag and ask one of our librarians about Open Access to research and open educational resources! The info tables will also feature materials about ORCID (orcid.org), a free service that provides researchers with a unique identifier to distinguish their research activities from those of others with similar names.

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, 4 to 7:30 p.m., Founders Hall Lobby, Arlington Campus

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, Gateway Library and Fenwick Library, Fairfax Campus

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, Mercer Library, Prince William Campus

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015

Workshop: How to Make Your Published Articles Open Access

Stephen Robertson (RRCHNM/History & Art History), Jeri Wieringa (Digital Publishing Production Lead, Mason Publishing Group, University Libraries), and Claudia Holland (Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office, Mason Publishing Group, University Libraries)

Regardless of what journals you publish in, you can make your articles freely available online in Mason’s institutional repository, MARS. Making publications open access in this way can raise the visibility of your research, and allow it to be shared with audiences without access to university libraries able to afford to subscribe to the journals in which you publish. In this workshop Claudia Holland (Scholarly Communications and Copyright Office, Mason Publishing Group, University Libraries) and Jeri Wieringa (Digital Publishing Production Lead, Mason Publishing Group, University Libraries) and Stephen Robertson (RRCHNM/History & Art History) will take you through the process of making your publications open access, addressing:

What versions of your articles you can make open access
When you can make your articles open access
How you deposit your open access articles in MARS, GMU’s institutional repository
What you can do with open access articles in MARS

Wednesday, October 21, 12 to 1 p.m., Johnson Center Conference Room A, Fairfax Campus

Info Table

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, 4 to 7:30 p.m., Founders Hall Lobby, Arlington Campus

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, Gateway Library and Fenwick Library, Fairfax Campus

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, Mercer Library, Prince William Campus

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015

The Open Media (R)Evolution

George Mason University Forensics Team

Online access to media has revolutionized how consumers experience music, television, film, and games. Free or low cost distribution and production models allow us to expand our appreciation for new genres and create exciting new material to share.

Join us on October 22 when student members of the nationally ranked GMU Forensics Team discuss how open media models have changed our role as consumers and as creators of new content. How have they sparked collaboration among established and new partnerships? What does the entertainment industry gain from making their material ‘free’? What are the barriers to this explosion in digital content?

Share your opinions and questions during this free discussion! Light refreshments will be served.

Featured speakers are Samuel Abney, communication major; Natalia Castro, integrative studies; AK Komanduri, government and international politics major; and Nathan Leys, government and international politics major.

Thursday, October 22, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Alan and Sally Merten Hall, Room 1202, Fairfax Campus

Info Table

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, 4 to 7:30 p.m., Founders Hall Lobby, Arlington Campus

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, Gateway Library and Fenwick Library, Fairfax Campus

Tuesday, October 20 – Thursday, October 22, Mercer Library, Prince William Campus

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015

Create a Dynamic Classroom Experience Using Open Educational Resources: a workshop for curious educators

Jane Rosecrans, Karyn Pallay, and Josh Watson (J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College) and Claudia Holland (George Mason University Libraries)

Online access to free learning materials has allowed educators, like you, more freedom and creativity than ever to tailor their courses. You have the freedom to reuse all types of media, to modify content to suit your pedagogy and your students’ learning styles, and to create completely new material. Furthermore, you have the opportunity to reduce textbook costs for your students!

But how do you know when content on the web can be modified and reused? Can you rely on the purported quality of, for example, open textbooks? What can you do to share materials you create with a broader audience and still get credit for the time and effort you put into them? Why consider using anything but the traditional textbook you have selected for a course? You might already be using open resources in your courses. Are you making this cost-savings known to potential enrollees?

The Virginia Community College System is a nationally recognized leader in using and building open educational resources. Join this experienced team of faculty in an interactive two-hour workshop to explore answers to these questions and learn more about the following topics:

Why OER?
Defining OER Terms and Concepts
Finding and Evaluating OER and free course materials
Building an OER Course
Understanding Creative Commons Licenses and Applying them to your own course materials
Evaluating the Quality and Effectiveness of OER materials in your course
OER and Student Success and Retention

The University Libraries wants to hear how your use of open resources can be supported. Please register for this workshop today and save your place! There are only 35 seats available.

Friday, October 23, 1 to 3 p.m., Johnson Center, Gateway Library Instruction Room, Fairfax Campus

OER Part 3: Grants, Advocacy, and Guidelines

October 23, 2014September 1, 2017 by Mason Publishing Group

Learn more about how you can support the adoption and development of high-quality open courses and educational resources by checking out the following resources on grants, OER advocacy, and other OER guidelines. The rest of our series on Open Educational Resources (OER) features collections of open courses, textbooks, and course content that you may use, re-purpose, and distribute for your teaching and learning needs.

Part 1: Course Content and Textbooks | Part 2: Open Courses and MOOCs | Part 4: K-12 Resources | Part 5: Articles and Research

Return to OER overview