To receive the latest news and updates from M.O.S.T., join the M.O.S.T. Basecamp.  The M.O.S.T. Basecamp will also connect you with other colleagues in the state adopting and scaling OER and provide you with a place to share resources and best practices.  To join, click here: https://3.basecamp.com/3233682/join/MQrvqxBnAFMp.

Learn more about what the USM is doing as it relates to Open Educational Resources here.

See what was discussed at the Advancing Postsecondary Student Success Through OER: A Statewide Symposium on Open Educational Resources on November 8th here.

Questions about OER or other USM Center for Academic Innovation initiatives? Contact sherri.braxton@umbc.edu.

• collaborating between faculty and instructional designers
• achieving quality assurance, leveraging resources, building buy-in, and engaging faculty and academic leaders
• addressing accessibility, usability, or Universal Design for Learning
• showcasing course design showcases
• discussing alternative teaching strategies such as competency-based education and gamification
• using tools such as learner analytics, digital badging, and open educational resources in support of student success

Due to high demand, we have increased capacity for the Maryland OER Summit and have re-opened registration.  This day-long summit will bring together faculty, instructional designers, librarians, and administrators from across Maryland’s higher education institutions to explore the promise of using open educational resources (OER) to replace costly textbooks with affordable, high-quality learning materials while giving instructors the opportunity to repurpose content to meet their students’ needs.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMIT.

Advancing Postsecondary Student Success Through OER

A Statewide Summit on Open Educational Resources in Higher Education

Date:

Friday, December 8, 2017

Location:

College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center

3501 University Boulevard East

Hyattsville, MD 20783

The Summit is open to all 2- and 4-year Maryland higher education institutions and welcomes attendees at all levels of OER experience. Join OER leaders to explore freely available open source materials; learn about the impact on student cost-savings, access, and success; participate in interactive workshops to gain new tools for curating, developing, and licensing OER; discuss accessibility and quality issues; and develop strategies to support your institution’s efforts to scale up the use of OER.  Institutions are encouraged to bring teams of 4 – 5 members, including faculty, instructional designers, librarians, and administrators, to collaborate in the interactive discussions and workshops.  

Co-sponsored by the University System of Maryland’s William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, MarylandOnline, and University of Maryland University College (UMUC), the Summit will feature a keynote address by Cable Green, Director of Open Education at Creative Commons, and David Wiley, Co-founder & Chief Academic Officer at Lumen Learning, on the changing landscape of OER.

• Workshop Session (35 minutes)-Presenter(s) provide a brief overview of the instructional technology and offer information based on best practices and use. Participants are provided with at least three take aways implementing use of the technology.
• Power Session (70 minutes)-Presenter(s) provide a more in-depth overview of the instructional technology and offer information based on best practices and use. In Power Sessions, participants are given the opportunity to explore the technology through "hands-on" activities.

• This Quality Matters session will look at eight steps you can take toward making your digital content accessible for all users. High-level topics will be discussed, as well as nuts and bolts ideas such as heading levels, alt text, descriptive links, captioning/transcripts, and specific examples. Your takeaways will be both a greater awareness of accessibility issues and a number of practical resources. Requires a free QM membership via UMBC.

• We’ve all experienced webinars that put us to sleep; or where we listen with half an ear while working on something else. What can fend off these webinar woes? Let’s explore strategies for generating interest, catching the eye with appealing visuals, and engaging the brain with interactivity. 

• As educators, we know we must embrace emerging technologies and pedagogies in our designs for online, open and flexible teaching and learning. What are these and how are they being applied? In this webinar, we will look at 10 disruptive technologies and innovative approaches educators around the world are taking in applying them.  From a shoestring budget to high end applications, see these tools in action, while exploring how they are rapidly reshaping the landscape of distance education in the digital age.

• With the United States Distance Learning Association celebrating 30 years, it seems fitting to be reflective as we also speculate on the future.  Join USDLA as we take a look back at distance communication & collaboration while reviewing the current state of affairs with some predictions on what is to come.

• There are many interactive distance learning tools for reading and writing because text editors have long been a mainstay of internet communication.  This is not the case for mathematical equations. Until now, remote assessment for algebra has been limited to multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank responses that give teachers little insight into their students’ thought processes. New tools empower teachers to dynamically create, present and manipulate equations before their remote students’ eyes.  This technology promises to arm students with advanced procedural fluency for algebraic problem solving while saving teachers hours of time.  Analytics from automated problem grading give teachers much richer feedback that form the basis for better differentiated teaching.  This session will describe and demonstrate this exciting new development in distance learning for algebra.

• To ensure the long-term success of an eLearning program (blended, hybrid, fully online), colleges and universities need an eLearning strategic plan for growing online programs sustainably and at scale. An institution must consider and develop its goals, vision, organization, governance, policies and procedures, as well as accessibility planning around eLearning. When these areas are not at the core of the eLearning programming, the institution risks any competitive advantage in the eLearning space. Institutions often jump into developing courses and marketing programs when the campus is not organized efficiently, and the overall program has not been operationalized. Skipping strategic planning can cost the institution unexpected expenses and personnel resources. This webinar will address the components of an eLearning strategic plan and how it is critical to the success of the eLearning program.

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• collaborating between faculty and instructional designers
• achieving quality assurance, leveraging resources, building buy-in, and engaging faculty and academic leaders
• addressing accessibility, usability, or Universal Design for Learning
• showcasing course design showcases
• discussing alternative teaching strategies such as competency-based education and gamification
• using tools such as learner analytics, digital badging, and open educational resources in support of student success