Open Education Week 2024

UTA Libraries will celebrate Open Education Week on March 4-8 with institutions worldwide. This annual event spotlights free educational resources and materials with open licenses for reuse or modification. 

Jessica McClean, Director of Open Educational Resources, stated that these materials are crucial in making knowledge accessible to broader audiences, mainly where cost barriers exist.  

“Over the past several years, we are seeing sectors of growth in the number of classes that are using low or no cost materials. This means more and more students have access and more money is being saved,” Jessica said. “We are also seeing more people looking at this as an opportunity to reimagine how they teach their course.”  

Jessica stated that open educational materials make higher education more accessible for students by removing that cost barrier. It also gives faculty members a new way to publish and share their expertise and knowledge worldwide.  

Open Educational Resources published its first textbook on the Pressbooks site in 2018. Since then, they have published 25 faculty-authored textbooks, with several still being developed. These textbooks have been used across the country and the globe by universities. Some of these countries include Canada, Thailand, Ethiopia, Germany, Switzerland, Ecuador and Australia.  

UTA Libraries will host three events for students and faculty during Open Education Week. These events include:  

• The “Open Textbook Workshop” for faculty members only is from Noon-1 p.m. Monday, March 4 in room 109 at the Central Library. Faculty members can attend in person or virtually. The event gives an overview of the OER program and its benefits.  

• The “This is My OER” event for students will take place from 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, in room 109 at the Central Library. This event shows the opportunities and benefits that OER plays in their academic journey. The drop-in event will have presentations every 15 minutes. Prizes will be available for the first 25 students. Books published by OER will be on display. 

• The “OER at UTA: Lessons and Directions” event will take place from 10-11 a.m. Wednesday, March 6, in room 315A at the Central Library. People can attend the event in person or virtually. OER at UTA will feature a presentation highlighting the successes in the Libraries’ OER program and talk about how the program’s philosophies have changed. It will also highlight growth and challenges in the program.  

Information about Open Education Week events is available through the UTA Libraries website. 

People interested in utilizing OER’s Mavs Open Press to publish a textbook or use an already-created book can visit the UTA Cares Grant Program website for more information.  

They can also email the OER department at OER@uta.edu.