Open Education Week: Making education more affordable and accessible
From March 2-6, 2020, McMaster University Library is celebrating Open Education Week, a global event to raise awareness about how Open Educational Resources (OER) can help make education more affordable and accessible to learners world-wide.
OER include teaching, learning and research resources such as textbooks, assignments, modules and syllabi that are freely accessible, openly licensed and can be used, shared or modified by anyone.
Read: How to become an E-textbook rockstar
Read: New guide making it easier to find free, high quality open textbooks
In support of Open Education Week, McMaster University Library in partnership with the MacPherson Institute have organized the following events:
OPEN EDUCATION WEEK EVENTS AND DISPLAYS:
*To follow the discussion and to see online events offered worldwide, follow #OEWeek on Twitter or Facebook.
Ontario Wikipedia Edit-a-thon: March 2, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm Mills Library, Connections Room, L113
Contrary to some beliefs, Wikipedia is quite a reliable source of information (see the myth busting section in this slide deck) and guess who can make it even better? McMaster students, faculty and staff! Join us on March 2nd as we combine (virtually) with other colleges and universities in Ontario for a Wikipedia-Edit-a-thon.
The overarching goal of this event is to help reduce the gender gap on Wikipedia by focusing edits on women, such as the 2020 Women of Influence awards. We’ll also explore how editing Wikipedia can be easily (and openly) structured as a teaching and learning activity or assessment. It will be an engaging learning experience for all of us. Drop by either (or both!) of the following spaces. Refreshments will be provided.
In-Person: Mills Library, Connections Room, L113, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm Drop in to learn more about editing Wikipedia (as an assignment or just out of interest). Please bring your own computer.
Virtual: Webinar from 12:00 noon– 1:00 pm. Learn more and join via this link (if not attending in-person).
(Em)Powering up with Pressbooks: March 2, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm | Mills Library, MacPherson Institute Classroom, 5th floor
Curious to learn strategies for the discovery and use of open resources others have created? Could your students benefit from more interactivity in their course resources? Take current, course resources from flat to fabulous! In the first half, we’ll showcase Pressbooks, Ontario’s easy-to-use online book and document formatting system for adapting and creating open educational resources that are accessible on all platforms: in print and digital, including all smartphones, tablets, e-reader devices, and computers. Explore the features that amp up engagement, empower you as an educator, and save students costs on course materials. Stay and play in Pressbooks for the second half of the session. Refreshments will be provided.
Registration is required. Please bring your own computer.
Facilitator: Peggy French, Curriculum Development Consultant, Centre for Teaching & Learning, Mohawk College of Applied Arts & Technology
Open up to Open Pedagogy: March 5, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm | Mills Library, Wong e-Classroom, L107, or join virtually
Open Pedagogy is a learner-driven practice that involves students as active creators and contributors of knowledge through the use of renewable assignments. The products of open pedagogy practice are openly-licensed and impact the community beyond the classroom. Join us for this drop-in workshop as we help demystify what open pedagogy is and highlight real life examples that you might consider using in your teaching and learning experiences. These include creation and adaptation of OER, collaborative syllabus design, timeline creation and web annotation through the use of Hypothes.is.
Facilitator: Joanne Kehoe, Associate Director, Educational Technologies, MacPherson Institute
Displays of OER Resources at McMaster | The lobbies of Mills and Thode Libraries
Explore the wide range of OER available to support teaching and learning. Displays include a number of high-quality open textbooks generously donated to the Library by eCampusOntario, a not-for-profit educational organization funded through the Government of Ontario. To see the full collection of 350 open textbooks available from eCampusOntario, search or browse the Open Textbook Library.
For questions about OER or open textbooks, please email Joanne Kehoe or Olga Perkovic, the co-chairs of McMaster’s OER Committee.
