Dear colleagues,
I am thrilled to share the news that KPU now offers the first design program in Canada with zero textbook costs. Foundations in Design<https://www.kpu.ca/design/find/students> is a one-year, two-semester, certificate program that helps students develop skills and understanding of design as a career. Skills developed include drawing, 2D and 3D design as well as developing a creative process.
I am grateful to Natasha Campbell, the FIND program coordinator, for her hard work and leadership and to Andhra Goundrey, interim Dean of the Wilson School of Design, for her strong support of this initiative.
To read the press release, please see: https://www.kpu.ca/news/2019/07/29/kpu-offers-first-design-program-canada-z…
KPU now offers over 600 zero textbook cost (ZTC) courses and 6 ZTC programs: the Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies, the Associate of Arts Degree in Sociology, the Diploma in General Studies, the Certificate in Arts, the Adult Graduation Diploma, and the Certificate in Foundations in Design. Since January 2018, KPU students have saved an estimated $2.2 million in textbook costs as a result of this initiative.
Cheers,
Rajiv
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Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D. (pronouns: he/him)
Associate Vice Provost, Open Education
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
t 604.599.3253 e rajiv.jhangiani(a)kpu.ca<mailto:rajiv.jhangiani@kpu.ca>
www.kpu.ca/open<http://www.kpu.ca/open>
This e-mail and any attachments may be confidential or legally privileged. If you received this message in error or are not the intended recipient, please destroy the e-mail message and any attachments or copies.
At KPU, we work, study, and live in a region south of the Fraser River which overlaps with the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semihamoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlen peoples.
Dear colleagues,
To help support the growing interest across campus in Open Pedagogy<https://www.kpu.ca/open/pedagogy>, especially among faculty who wish to work with students to create open educational resources as part of their course work (e.g., editing Wikipedia, creating instructional videos, annotating open textbooks, etc.), I am delighted to share our new Student Agreement to Publish Course Work Under a Creative Commons License<https://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/Teaching%20and%20Learning/Student%20…>. This template provides guidance to faculty and includes links to relevant resources for both faculty and students.
I would like to thank Jennifer Duprey, General Counsel, for her support throughout the development this template along with Deepak Gupta, AVP Research, and the members of our Open Education Working Group for their feedback on earlier drafts.
Cheers,
Rajiv
[logo gif]
Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D. (pronouns: he/him)
Associate Vice Provost, Open Education
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
t 604.599.3253 e rajiv.jhangiani(a)kpu.ca<mailto:rajiv.jhangiani@kpu.ca>
www.kpu.ca/open<http://www.kpu.ca/open>
This e-mail and any attachments may be confidential or legally privileged. If you received this message in error or are not the intended recipient, please destroy the e-mail message and any attachments or copies.
At KPU, we work, study, and live in a region south of the Fraser River which overlaps with the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semihamoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlen peoples.
Dear colleagues,
Our friends at OpenStax (the major open textbook publisher located at Rice University in Houston) are looking for 10 students to join their internship program this Fall. This internship is paid and all travel costs are covered. Some details from the application form:
“Interns will learn about current issues, debates, and advocacy work in higher education, travel to professional conferences, and publish blog posts sharing their perspectives and experiences. Both to broaden their knowledge of education advocacy and to make sure that student voices are represented, interns will attend the annual Open Education Conference (Open Ed) this October in Phoenix. Each student will also develop a project that tackles an affordability or accessibility issue on their campus. As a culmination of the project, students will be a part of our Creator Fest conference in March 2020 hosted in Houston, Texas. All of this work will happen alongside the other student interns, OpenStax team members, and advocacy experts there to provide support and feedback.”
If you know of any KPU students who would be a good fit for this opportunity please feel free to direct them to the application form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJyGZzDDm3BU4Ql5C9nxunTdxG612ypNR…
I am also happy to address any questions they may have (I am on the committee helping to adjudicate these applications).
Many thanks,
Rajiv
[logo gif]
Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D. (pronouns: he/him)
Associate Vice Provost, Open Education
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
t 604.599.3253 e rajiv.jhangiani(a)kpu.ca<mailto:rajiv.jhangiani@kpu.ca>
www.kpu.ca/open<http://www.kpu.ca/open>
This e-mail and any attachments may be confidential or legally privileged. If you received this message in error or are not the intended recipient, please destroy the e-mail message and any attachments or copies.
At KPU, we work, study, and live in a region south of the Fraser River which overlaps with the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semihamoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlen peoples.
Dear colleagues,
As many of you know, since last summer KPU students have been able to search for course sections that have zero required textbook costs using the Zed Cred course attribute. They have further been able to use these courses to complete the requirements for several programs at KPU (see https://www.kpu.ca/open/zedcred for more information about this initiative). Cumulatively, over the past four semesters KPU students have saved over $2 million through this initiative.
I am delighted to inform you that today (the start of Fall registration), we are adding two new programs to this list: the Associate of Arts Degree in Sociology<mailto:https://www.kpu.ca/calendar/2018-19/arts/sociology/sociology-aa.html> and the Diploma in General Studies<mailto:https://www.kpu.ca/calendar/2018-19/arts/generalstudies/generalstudies-dip.html>. Students who earn either of these credentials can expect to save ~$2250 in textbook costs over the course of their program. I want to thank our colleagues in the Department of Sociology and in the Dean of Arts Office for their hard work in making this happen. Happily, this means that KPU now hosts the first five zero textbook cost undergraduate programs in Canada!
Cheers,
Rajiv
[logo gif]
Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D.
Associate Vice Provost, Open Education
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
t 604.599.3253 e rajiv.jhangiani(a)kpu.ca<mailto:rajiv.jhangiani@kpu.ca>
www.kpu.ca/open<http://www.kpu.ca/open>
This e-mail and any attachments may be confidential or legally privileged. If you received this message in error or are not the intended recipient, please destroy the e-mail message and any attachments or copies.
At KPU, we work, study, and live in a region south of the Fraser River which overlaps with the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semihamoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlen peoples.
Dear colleagues,
I am delighted to share the news that KPU has been approved for institutional membership by both the Open Education Consortium (https://www.oeconsortium.org/) and the International Council for Open & Distance Education (https://www.icde.org/). These are the premier global organizations that promote and support open education by providing resources and training, hosting events, and bringing together like-minded institutions to help widen equitable access to education.
Both organizations hold an annual conference in the Fall, the Open Education Global Conference and the World Conference on Online Learning, for which KPU faculty, staff, and students can now receive reduced registration fees. For more information about this year’s conferences please see: https://conference.oeconsortium.org/2019/ and https://wcol2019.ie/
Cheers,
Rajiv
Dear colleagues,
As you may know, our Zed Cred initiative<https://www.kpu.ca/open/zedcred> enables students to take courses and even earn credentials at KPU while incurring zero required textbook costs (thanks to the use of open educational resources or library resources). Over the past two years we have launched Canada’s first such programs, the most recent of which are the Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies, the A. A. in Sociology, and the Diploma in General Studies. Across the four semesters that this initiative has been running, KPU students have saved approximately $1.8 million in textbook costs.
However, over this same period we have received feedback from several students, instructors, and staff about the name of the initiative. The issue has been a lack of clarity: the term “Zed Cred” always needs to be explained so that it is not confused as meaning zero credit courses or even zero credibility courses. Indeed, as a result of this confusion we have heard that there have been some cases of students not registering for these sections. In order to resolve this problem, the Open Education Working Group has worked with our colleagues in Marketing to look at alternative names. We are proposing a rebranding of the initiative, from Zed Cred to Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC for short). The term “Zero Textbook Cost” has several advantages, including that it is already being used by several U.S. institutions that offer similar programs, it is self-explanatory, and it is flexible (could be used for courses, programs, or degrees).
But before we consider adopting the new term we wanted to reach out to solicit feedback on the proposed rebranding. Do you see any issues with it? If so, please share your thoughts by sending an email to open(a)kpu.ca<mailto:open@kpu.ca>
Thank you very much,
Rajiv
[logo gif]
Rajiv Jhangiani, Ph.D.
Associate Vice Provost, Open Education
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
t 604.599.3253 e rajiv.jhangiani(a)kpu.ca<mailto:rajiv.jhangiani@kpu.ca>
www.kpu.ca/open<http://www.kpu.ca/open>
This e-mail and any attachments may be confidential or legally privileged. If you received this message in error or are not the intended recipient, please destroy the e-mail message and any attachments or copies.
At KPU, we work, study, and live in a region south of the Fraser River which overlaps with the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semihamoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlen peoples.
Dear colleagues,
BCcampus has posted a wonderful opportunity to be one of three Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellows. This is a terrific opportunity to engage in research on open educational practices and includes some funding to supporting attending and presenting at conferences on this work. For more information about the opportunity and the application see: https://bccampus.ca/grants-calls-for-proposals/faculty-fellows/
The application deadline is coming up quick, on Monday July 8. If you are considering applying please reach out and I would be delighted to give you feedback on your application (I have held this position in the past).
Cheers,
Rajiv
