by Zach Miller
Quick Summary
Staff from MnPALS, the University of St. Thomas, and Minitex are collaborating to address the need for Open Educational Resources (OER) and Affordable Content in Minnesota. To set a foundation for their work, they are conducting a survey of efforts already underway in Minnesota. They request that you complete their survey by Friday, August 26.
Text courtesy of Janice Kragness, University of St.Thomas; Randi Madisen, Minnesota State; and Ann Kaste, Minitex
Open Education, Open Educational Resources, and Affordable Content initiatives are happening all around us. You may be heavily involved in these efforts yourself, or you may just be hearing about them for the first time. Minitex and MnPALS have taken note of the need for support and assistance to libraries in this emerging field. MnPALS has hired an OER and Affordable Content librarian, and Minitex is currently formulating an action plan for OER and Affordable Content. Library staff around the state are taking similar steps on their own campuses and have shared their interest in participating in a community of librarians working in this space.
We are aware that exciting efforts are already underway across the state to develop OER, support open education, and increase curriculum affordability for students in K12 as well as higher education. As we considered the role of the library in these initiatives, we became curious about the role libraries are playing in these efforts, and what knowledge and skills library staff might need to maximize their impact.
Please fill out this brief survey to share the state of OER/Affordable Content initiatives in your environment. We will use your feedback to help us understand the OER landscape and to plan our efforts accordingly. Our goal is to connect the dots between the many OER efforts already happening in Minnesota, and to empower everyone to learn and grow together in a coordinated enterprise. Please complete the survey by the end of the day Friday, August 26. Let us know if you have any questions or comments, and stay tuned for a follow up with plans for next steps!
We will anonymize and share the results of the survey in a presentation at MLA on October 27-28 entitled ‘OER in Minnesota: The Path to No Cost Instructional Materials Leads through Libraries’.
Warm regards,
Janice, Randi, and Ann
