Beginning May 19, Niagara College faculty will have the opportunity to learn more about the benefits of adopting Open Educational Resources (OER’s) in the classroom through ‘Open Text Tuesday’ sessions. Hosted by NC Libraries and Learning Commons, the one-hour online sessions will run every Tuesday from May 19 to July 28 on Blackboard Collaborate.
An alternative to traditional textbooks, OER’s are free, open-source, digital teaching and learning materials. They are considered part of the public domain or, part of the Creative Commons, meaning they can be distributed without normal copyright restraints.
“OER offer NC faculty the opportunity to customize their teaching material to be exactly what they would like, while at the same time improving their students’ access to learning resources by eliminating the financial burden of purchasing textbooks,” said Jaclyn Chambers Page, library facilitator info literacy at NC Libraries and Learning Commons in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
As NC faculty navigate the transition to online learning, ‘Open Text Tuesday’ sessions will offer instructors the chance to explore different options for course materials. Through the sessions, NC Libraries and Learning Commons staff will help faculty get started by demonstrating how to locate relevant library resources and different OER options for their program areas. Each weekly session will have a different presenter – the library liaison(s) for that program and the information literacy library facilitator from the NC campus that is relevant to the featured school of study.
Below are the first two weeks of sessions being offered:
Open Text Tuesday: Featuring School of Business and Management
Tuesday, May 19, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Register here.
Open Text Tuesday: Featuring School of Academic, Liberal, and Access Studies
Tuesday, May 26, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Register here.
For a complete list of sessions by school of study and to register, visit: nclibraries.libcal.com/calendar/oer
Questions about ‘Open Text Tuesdays’? Contact NC Libraries and Learning Commons via email at [email protected] or through the ncLibraries’ website chat, available weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
What’s in a name?
‘Open Text Tuesday’ refers to the idea that the session is about open resources and library sources that are alternatives to traditional paid-for textbooks – and, the sessions are held on Tuesdays, of course.
Related stories:
ncLibraries to host Open Education Week panel for faculty on March 4
Faculty and librarians team up to adapt NC’s first free, open-source, digital textbook
