OE-Arkansas is an annual statewide gathering of librarians, faculty, and administrators interested in learning about open education and pursuing open educational initiatives for their respective institutions. The 2022 meeting is being hosted by the SouthArk Library at South Arkansas Community College, and will take place virtually on Friday, March 11, 2022 at the conclusion of National Open Education Week. OE-Arkansas will be held virtually via Zoom. All sessions will be recorded, and will include time for Q&A at the conclusion of each presentation. Individual session links will be sent out to registered participants on or before close-of-business on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Registration is FREE, but limited to 200 participants, and the registration deadline is Friday, March 4, 2022.
This year, OE-Arkansas includes presentations from open education leaders in Arkansas and across the country. Participants at all points in their OER journey will have the opportunity to learn about the advantages and challenges of open education and open pedagogy, the value and compelling potential impact of OER, how open education initiatives can be constructed and pursued at both the two-year and four-year college levels, as well as open education connections in the K-12 environment. Our speakers are as follows:
Dr. Michael Moore – University of Arkansas Fayetteville
Dr. Michael Moore is the Vice President for Academic Affairs for the University of Arkansas System where he supports the academic programs at the System’s high school, colleges, and universities. He also serves at the Chief Academic and Operating Officer for the University of Arkansas System eVersity, a 100% online university providing high-quality, accessible, work-place relevant education. Dr. Moore lead the effort to build eVersity, from vision to operation, including securing accreditation and Title IV participation. eVersity is the only 100% OER institution in the State of Arkansas and has won national awards for course design. His presentation is How and Why a University went 100% OER, and will discuss how a new university was able to accomplish a 100% OER curriculum, the challenges with building and maintaining the curriculum, policy and financial considerations for OER models, and future challenges to OER based curriculum models.
Gabby Hernandez – University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Gabby Hernandez is the Open Education Librarian at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. As a recipient of the Open Education Network Open Education Resource (OER) Librarian Certification and the Creative Commons Certificate for Academic Librarians, she has been able to successfully advocate for Textbook Affordability at UTRGV. With almost a decade of experience teaching in the K-12 setting, she has been able to utilize her teaching skills to develop OER professional development series as well as educate various stakeholders about the importance of adopting Open Educational Practices. Her presentation is titled An Overview of Open, and will discuss the various opportunities open education provides to create an equitable and engaging classroom environment that can impact teaching, learning, and student success. In this presentation, we will explore various open educational practices such as Open Educational Resources, Open Pedagogy, and Open Publishing. We will discuss why these practices are seen as valuable as well as how to integrate these practices into your course.
KEYNOTE – Cheryl Casey – University of Arizona
Cheryl Casey is the Open Education Librarian at the University of Arizona. She leads OER initiatives for the UA Libraries and manages the UA’s Pressbooks network. She is also an instructor for the Open Education Network’s Certificate in OER Librarianship. Her address is titled Why OER? and will include information about the advantages of open educational resources and open pedagogy, as well as some of the challenges we face. Be prepared to leave this session inspired with new possibilities!
Dr. Cassandra Barnett – Arkansas Department of Education
Dr. Cassandra Barnett is the Program Advisor for School Libraries at the Arkansas Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Her responsibilities include providing resources, professional development and support for school librarians and school library programs for the state of Arkansas. An active member of the American Association of School Librarians, Cassandra has served in a number of capacities including President of the American Association of School Librarians, 2009-2010. Her presentation is OERs for School Librarians: Getting the Word Out, and provides an overview of last summer’s OER training for school librarians. Dr. Barnett asks how we can continue to reach out to school librarians to provide additional support. Additional professional development will be discussed.
Relinda Ruth – UA Cossatot
Relinda Ruth is the Director of Educational Resources and OER Specialist at UA Cossatot. Her presentation is Zero to Sixty in Five Years: A Journey to Success with OER and A Pathway to Funding. UA Cossatot is a small community college in the southwest corner of Arkansas with approximately 1,400 students. Among two-year colleges in Arkansas, we lead in OER usage, but we didn’t get there overnight. It took collaboration between college administration, faculty, and staff to increase OER usage from 0 percent to 60 percent in five years. In 2015, we addressed the financial hardships textbook expenses created for our students and it became clear that establishing an OER initiative was not only a viable economic alternative, but also the right thing to do for students. With unwavering determination and dedication, UA Cossatot started the first internal textbook rental and OER program in Arkansas. For community colleges transitioning to OER, it doesn’t matter how big or small your college is, you can step up to eliminate some of the financial barriers that students face. We’ve learned a lot about open resources and Creative Commons and we’re eager to share our experience of how we created one of the most successful OER initiatives in Arkansas and went from 0 to 60 in five years.