2024 CT OER Summit

Friday, March 8 2024

8:30 am - 3:00 pm 

Location: Connecticut Room in Memorial Hall, Central Connecticut State University, 1615 Stanley St, New Britain, CT 06050

Agenda

8:30-9:00 - Registration & Light Breakfast

9:00-9:30 - Welcome

9:30-10:30 - Keynote: "Transforming Teaching and Learning through Open Educational Resources"

• Presenter: Dr. Andrea Lanoux, Professor of Slavic Studies at Connecticut College

• Summary: Initially conceived as a cost-savings measure for students and a way to make textbooks more accessible, open educational resources have changed the way students, faculty and staff colleagues engage in the co-creation of public knowledge. Focusing on examples from her own teaching and that of other colleagues at Connecticut College, Professor Andrea Lanoux will explore the transformative potential of OER in higher education.

10:30-10:45 - Break

10:45-11:45 - Lightning Rounds

• "Editing in the Open" by Mary Isbell (Associate Professor of English, University of New Haven): Editing in the Open is an interdisciplinary project designed to bring edition-building into undergraduate courses in the liberal arts. This brief tour of an open edition of The Confessions of Nat Turner will demonstrate how students engage enthusiastically when invited to contextualize historic texts for future students.

• "The Who What Where and Why of Hosting an OER Summit" by Amy Beth (Director of Library Services, Southern Connecticut State University) and Hayley Battaglia (Electronic Resources Librarian, Southern Connecticut State University): Two regional colleagues have served in the formation and continuation of an annual broad scale Open OER educational summit. Come learn about considerations for crafting an offering of your own at your institution or building-in participation from your institution for the regional Northeast Regional OER Summit. Beyond the logistics of the offering, we will address the “what comes of the content” considerations.

• "Building a New OER Course Ground Up" by David Maslin (Adjunct Instructor of Economics, Connecticut State Community College Middlesex and Central Connecticut State University): ECON 2050 Money & Banking uses an OER text and other open-source materials. The course has been well-received by students and faculty and is now offered as both an ECON and BFIN course in Spring and Fall semesters.

• "Go Open CT: Connecticut's OER Repository" by Doug Casey (Executive Director, Connecticut Commission for Education Technology): Get a snapshot of the State’s free and open OER portal, GoOpenCT.org. The session will cover the many ways that using the site can help advance your work and connect you with peers across the state and country.

11:45-1:00 - Lunch

• Each table during the lunch session will be designated with a particular OER-related topic. Just sit at the table that piques your interests and enjoy the informal conversation!

1:00-2:00 - Updates from the CT OER Coordinating Council

• Presenter: Patrick Carr, Chair of the CT OER Coordinating Council and Program Manager for Library Consortium Operations in the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities System

• Summary: This session will discuss the activities of the CT OER Coordinating Council and its impacts. Areas of focus will include the council's 2024 OER Grant Program, work to develop a model policy for OER, and results of a recent survey of colleges and universities in Connecticut.

2:00-3:00 - OER Explorations

• Participants are invited to conclude the summit through this informal and unstructured networking opportunity. The session offers the chance to learn more about the 2024 Grant Program, connect with colleagues with similar interests, and plant the seeds for future OER collaborations.