Paying too much for textbooks? Open Educational Resources have a future through collaboration

Paying too much for textbooks? This workshop introduces the basics of Open Educational Resources (OER) such as renewable assignments and open textbooks and their place in the open ecosystem. Given the challenges and significant benefits of integrating OER into course content, such as saving students money, this is an opportunity to ask questions, including about the implications of OER for affordability, accessibility, and social justice, and participate in growing the availability and relevance of OER at Concordia.

You will learn how to search for and discover OER relevant to your courses and disciplines. In an open document, we will collaboratively search OER repositories for materials that can be added to Concordia’s OER By Discipline Resource Guide. Through collaborative small group discussions and guided practice, you can contribute a tangible benefit for yourself and your fellow students, and leave equipped to advocate more effectively for OER in your classrooms.

This is a 60 minute workshop, with the option to stay and chat for an extra 30 minutes

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the basics of OER
• Search OER repositories for discipline-specific OER
• Co-adapt Concordia’s OER By Discipline Resource Guide

Presenter: Rachel Harris is a librarian, researcher, and educator. As the Scholarly Publishing Librarian at Concordia University, Dr. Harris envisions a future for education and scholarship that is increasingly more accessible and equitable. She is currently leading the Library’s Open Educational Resource service and is collaborating on ORCID, Spectrum, open access, and copyright projects.