Webinar: Open Education for Librarians
Join us, April 29, 1pm Eastern for a free virtual webinar with Quill West and Colleen Sanders, “Open Education for Librarians”
Description:
It’s no secret that the current commercial textbook system (e.g. inclusive access, online courseware, and textbook purchasing/rental) in higher education does not support student retention or success. Libraries offer learner-centric alternatives such as OER and licensed eBooks. However, faculty support for transitioning courses may not yet be sustainable or scalable. This webinar suggests libraries can help institutions improve textbook selection, which is historically a solitary choice or departmental precedent, to be more systematic and student-centric. Join us in this webinar to discuss how we are currently at an impasse in terms of textbook selection and use, how that impasse negatively impacts student resilience, and how librarians can help disrupt the system as advocates for our learners.
By attending this session, participants will be able to:
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Conceptualize the U.S. textbook impasse in higher education
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Examine the impacts of the traditional textbook model on student learning and resilience
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Identify opportunities and strategies for libraries to influence their institutions toward viable solutions
About the Presenters
Quill West has been an open education leader and advocate throughout her career and currently serves as Open Education Project Manager at Pierce College, in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. As a librarian seeking to forward open education work, Quill has helped many institutions launch and sustain open education initiatives. She headed the Library as Open Education Leader project, which invited and trained librarians in Washington to become advocates for OER in their own institutions. She collaborates with colleagues to create, adopt, adapt, and support open education projects, particularly where students shape the materials as they learn.
Colleen Sanders is a librarian, faculty developer, instructional designer, and open education practitioner with an evergreen curiosity for how openness transforms learning to be more relevant and authentic. She currently supports faculty in academic and technical fields to combine access with inclusive pedagogy. Her work advocating for strong OER policy amidst bookstore outsourcing and analysis of commercial textbook affordability programs earned her an OER Champion award in 2019 from Open Oregon Educational Resources, where she’s an OER Development Consultant on the Targeted Pathways Open Curriculum project. She hopes to empower librarians to leverage open practices to create more equitable and critical information practices.