Open Educational Resources Task Force Meeting: May 15, 2018

Conference Call

Members present: Annette Alvarado (Loyola University Chicago), Anne Chernaik, interim co-chair (College of Lake County), Chris Diaz (Northwestern University), Kathy Ladell, interim co-chair (Northern Illinois University), Sue Shultz (DePaul University), Janet Swatscheno (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Linda Zellmer (Western Illinois University),

Members absent: Elizabeth Nelson (McHenry County College), Anne Shelley, chair (Illinois State University)

Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Lorna Engels

Decisions

  • Annette agreed to take minutes.
  • The Task Force preferred that, if possible, CARLI staff keep the Bib IDs consistent for the titles within the Open Textbook Library when the records are updated.
  • The Task Force will hold an Open Conference Call on the topic of OER/OTN Training from 1-2 pm on October 16.

Announcements

  • Member Announcements:
    • Sue: DePaul launched a survey, over 900 responses from students within the first three days. Faculty responses to the survey are 40 within the first week. Students want to talk about the cost of textbooks. Survey will be available until June 8th.  It was sent out via a master e-mail list.
    • Annette: Masters Social Work Trabajo Social Updates
    • Anne: There was an editorial in the last edition for the year of the student newspaper that was written by an English instructor who was upset with changes in the library and that they believe that libraries are killing the textbook. Other news, Instructional Designers want to work with us to bring about OER efforts with this team and representatives from other groups.
    • She has had outreach from Illinois Community Colleges Online (ILCCO).
    • Linda: Senator Durbin visited WIU.  They had one faculty member and 3 students and myself. I have some statistics on spring course savings 50-80,000. Chair of the faculty was also present, and had a conversation about considering having a group on textbook affordability.
    • She spoke to an assistance provost, who teaches psychology, and was able to recommended a psychology textbook.
    • For grants to create OER, if faculty are interested and want to apply, they need to keep checking grants.gov.  She has this link on her WIU LibGuide about funding. Keep an eye out on grant proposals.
    • Choice will now have OER Reviews and have a template for their evaluation. She will share with the task force.
  • CARLI Updates:
    • Augustana College, a CARLI member has stipends to pay for faculty OTL reviews this fiscal year. They will be giving OER/OTN Workshops this Friday, and faculty will have until June 15 to write reviews. . They have momentum and interest on campus and wants to keep going.
    • Chicago State University is planning on giving a workshop.
    • Newsletter Items: CARLI Newsletter items are due May 21st. If anybody wants to add anything on the newsletter.

Discussion

  • OTN Workshops
    • Sue and Kathy feel that sitting through the workshop again was very useful, and felt more comfortable with the topic.
    • Kathy said some of her colleagues had difficulty with streaming when there was group conversation and questions.
    • Elizabeth and Lorna overall said it was good.
    • Survey Results for the OTN Workshops are now available. There was some disappointment about the number of responses, out of 134 only 33 responded. But, in general, the group was pleased with the positive comments.
  • Open Textbook Library MARC Records
    • The Open Textbook Library does not update the file, instead an entirely new file is available for the collection when titles are updated. It is easiest for CARLI staff to remove the all the MARC records from I-Share and replace all with new records, but this method will create new Bib IDs for each title.
      • Issue with course reserves
      • Persistent Link lost
      • Favorites List Lost
  • Future Planning
    • What’s next?
      • A librarian from the Olive-Harvey College, a City Colleges of Chicago, is interested in training as she was not able to attend an April workshop. Kathy volunteered to contact her about a session and Sue also would love to help. CSU would like to have assistance to give a workshop as well.
      • What’s the next step to support CARLI members?
        • Anne suggested that 6 weeks out from the workshops follow-up survey with the OTN Workshop attendees to see if they had an opportunity to do anything. What would be helpful? (Follow up by CARLI)
      • Open Conference Call
        • The task force discussed having an open conference call for any CARLI members to ask questions about OER/OTN.  The group thought it a good idea and determined that holding during a scheduled meeting time would make it easiest for task force members to attend.  The task force decided to hold this open conference call on October 16.
      • Additional Training
      • Possible other venues:
        • ILA: Contact Tracy Ruppman, Loyola University Chicago, about any available sessions.
        • Forward Focus: this conference is online and in person.
      • Statewide Funding
      • There is a website through SPARC that is tracking OER legislation. State policy tracker. Linda asked if the task force has a group page.  Yes, there is one.  Linda will send an email with the information so that it may be added to the OER website.
      • Thinking ahead: Open Access Week and Open Education Week

Tasks Assigned

  • Newsletter: Sue and Annette will write articles for the May newsletter. The deadline for articles in May 21.

Next Meeting

Next Task Force Call: Tuesday, June 19th at 1 p.m.