The concept
of open educational resources (OER) is simple—materials are made available for
all to reuse and possibly adapt, often at no fee—but putting the concept into
action for college courses is a bit more complicated. How can schools
efficiently get these materials to students?
OER Cram Session, hosted by NACS on Nov. 18-20, will offer a three-day schedule of live
webinars and audio conferences featuring case studies, solutions, and ideas for
effective management and distribution of open resources. Any professional in higher education
can take part in any or all of these free events, although registration is
required for each webinar in order to provide log-in details.
Several
webinars focus on how campus stores are helping to facilitate the use of open
resources at their institutions. Although many resources can be accessed online
for free, faculty may request assistance in collating links for students or
downloading materials into the school’s system. To accommodate students who
prefer to study from hardcopies, stores have also been able to provide
inexpensive print versions of OER materials.
In addition
to the live events, a variety of free resources on OER—background information,
links to repositories and programs, and articles—are also available from the
Cram Session.
NACS
members will also be able access recordings of the live events later on The Hub, NACS’ online connected community.