Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Register here (all are welcome): https://bit.ly/39Wd707
Funding by provincial governments to encourage the development or use of open education resources (OER) in post-secondary education has been far from consistent across Canada, ranging from long-standing programs of annual funding for OER production and promotion to limited short-term project funding or in a few cases, no contributions at all. Yet it is clear that the investments made to date – not only by provincial governments but also by individual institutions or consortia – have produced important results, demonstrated by increased adoption of OER textbooks and reduction in student expenses. (For more background, see CARL Open Education Working Group’s 2020 Environmental Scan of Open Education Service and Support in Canada.)
So how can we strengthen OER adoption further, better ensuring that all post-secondary students have opportunities to benefit from regionally relevant OER, and that faculty and instructors who wish to incorporate open education in their teaching have the supports and incentives to allow them to do so?
Panelists will discuss strategies and opportunities for advancing Canada’s national OER capacity, whether through funding, training, infrastructure, or advocacy. SPARC’s experience with obtaining funding commitments at the federal level and with a variety of state-level policy strategies in the US will also be presented to help inform the discussion.
This webinar will be recorded, and will be offered with simultaneous interpretation in order to accommodate francophone and anglophone presenters and attendees.
CARL wishes to acknowledge the support of SPARC in planning and delivering this webinar.
Moderator:
Bibi Wasiimah Joomun, Executive Director, New Brunswick Student Alliance
Panelists:
Hailey Babb, Open Education Project Manager, SPARC
Cynthia Holt, Executive Director, Council of Atlantic University Libraries
Gabrielle Lamontagne, Coordinator, Collaborative Projects and Indigenization, BC Campus
Kalin McCluskey, Executive Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
Michael McNally, Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta
Lucie Vincent-LeBlanc, Executive Director, Consortium national en développement de ressources pédagogiques en français au collégial
