Faculty Spotlight: Open Source and Open Minded
< 1 minute read Meet Charlotte Wickham. OSU Ecampus instructor by day, advocate for open source course materials… also by day. Students love her. See why.
Oregon State Open Educational Resources Unit
OER at Work: A volume of original research on judicial politics
4 minute read Rorie Solberg, an associate professor in OSU’s School of Public Policy, worked with colleagues Jennifer Segal Diascro and Eric Waltenburg to develop a freely available resource that introduces students to the political science research process. Solberg recently discussed the development process, how students are using it and more.
OER at Work: Business instructor enhances course’s real-world experience with open textbook
3 minute read In the first part of our OER at Work story series, business instructor John Morris shares his insights about the decision to incorporate open educational resources in his course, the development process and more. He was inspired, in part, by the shock he received when he began paying for his child’s college textbooks.
Faculty Spotlight: Building a network for student success
< 1 minute read James Howard is an award-winning Oregon State Ecampus campus partner. He is part of a network of folks working to help students both on- and off-campus.
Meet Oregon State’s open educational resources team
4 minute read Making high-quality education affordable and accessible for students is a critical priority at Oregon State. That’s the mission that has driven OSU’s Open Educational Resources Unit for many years, and it’s one we’re committed to more than ever. In order to help faculty and the OSU community better understand why OER are so critical for student success, the OER Unit’s leadership team answered a series of questions.
Regional conference on affordability for online students coming to Oregon State
3 minute read Oregon State University is hosting a regional conference in February 2020 with a focus on improving student success and affordability for online learners. The event brings the Online Learning Consortium to OSU’s Corvallis campus for a one-day event in the Memorial Union. Scheduled for Feb. 7, OLC Collaborate – Oregon will draw faculty, administrators and online learning professionals together to address the opportunities and challenges facing the future of affordability in higher education.
Open-source module helps alleviate financial burden on VetMed students
< 1 minute read Sarah Nemanic, an associate professor of diagnostic imaging in the College of Veterinary Medicine, recently led the creation of a self-study computer module for students, veterinarians and faculty to learn, review and be tested on normal veterinary radiographic anatomy. Not only is it a must-have resource for all VetMed students, but it’s also a free one. Nemanic worked with Open Oregon State to develop an open-source module that is freely accessible to learners all over the world.
Microbiology instructor solves a costly problem for students, increases access to learning
< 1 minute read Linda Bruslind estimated that less than half of the students in her General Microbiology course were buying and using the required publisher’s textbook. To put it another way, the majority of her MB 302 students did not have access to vital learning resource in large part because it was cost prohibitive. (A new copy of the latest publisher’s edition runs nearly $250.) She decided to fix the problem.
At the forefront of innovation
< 1 minute read The annual Oregon State University Division of Extended Campus Awards recognize faculty partners who have gone above and beyond to improve the learning environment and outcomes for distance students.
The future of education is wide open
5 minute read K.C. Walsh, a senior instructor of physics at Oregon State University, long ago realized how burdensome the financial situation is for students. In sports terms, the textbook publishing companies are winning, and it’s a blowout. Financially, the students continually come up short. That’s why Walsh decided to change the game by embracing the open educational resource (OER) movement and giving his students access to no-cost and low-cost course materials.
