Dear Colleagues,

Consider one or more opportunities to engage with open education in the New Year!

1. [Extended] Open Education Research Fellow—Now accepting applicants
If you’re interested in research and building upon your experiences with Open Educational Resources (OER), the Open Education Research Fellowship is for you! 

Receive up to $4500 in funding for this annual fellowship that runs from January 1 to December 31 and is aimed at supporting scholarly research on open educational practices by regular faculty at KPU. This may include investigations into the cost savings, perceptions, outcomes, and use of open educational resources (see the Open Education Group’s COUP framework) as well as research on the perceptions and impact of renewable assignments and other forms of open pedagogy.

For more information and to apply by January 29, 2021 visit: https://www.kpu.ca/open/research-fellowship

Hear why open is so important to our current Research Fellow:

“[Open] is a pathway for me to be student-centred for all my students because it removes financial and other barriers that might be exclusionary. By using OER and open pedagogy practices, I am working with students, amplifying their perspectives, experiences, and voices. As KPU’s inaugural Open Education Research Fellow, I am conducting one of the first studies to explore the perceptions of faculty and students towards open pedagogy, in the hopes that faculty and administrators can make informed choices about open education practices and its support.” -Melissa Ashman (Faculty of Business)

2. Open Educational Resources (OER) Grants—Now accepting applicants 


Support KPU’s commitment to open education by applying to the OER Grant program. 

Regular faculty can apply for up to $4000 in funding to create OER or up to $2000 to adapt existing OER! 

In Spring 2020, Statistics Canada collected data from over 100,000 postsecondary students reporting on the impacts of COVID-19. Forty-eight percent of students with a job reported either losing their job or being temporarily laid off. Results from a 2017 study of BC postsecondary institutions, including KPU, showed that 54% students did not purchase a required textbook at least once. Study after study, including at KPU, has also shown that students have achieved the same or better outcomes when using OER. 

Join over 400 of your colleagues who actively engage with open education by saving students money and increasing accessibility to educational resources. Participating in the OER Grant program can enrich student learning and provide an opportunity to explore your pedagogical practice in a collaborative and supportive environment. 

Adapt OER by: 

• Updating or localizing existing textbooks 

• Incorporating interactive components through H5P applications 

• Developing ancillary resources (such as question banks), including collaborating with students through open pedagogical practices 


Create OER by: 

• Authoring new open textbooks in areas of need 

• Creating open courseware, including videos, lecture slides, learning activities, and more 

• Establishing open access journals 


To apply and for more information visit kpu.ca/open/grants 

Applications are now open and will be accepted until January 15, 2021.

🔗 OER are materials that are freely accessible and openly available for anyone to use, re-mix, improve and redistribute. This could include images, videos, interactive simulations, worksheets, and of course textbooks.  

For more information or support with open educational practices and OER, please contact the Office of Open Education: www.kpu.ca/open/connect 

3. Cascadia 2021—Call for Proposals

The call for proposals for Cascadia 2021 — an online open education conference hosted by BCcampus from April 27 to 29, 2021 — is now open.

BC Campus invites you to submit a session proposal that pertains to one of our six conference focus areas, which are:

1. Equity and access
2. Scalability
3. Fostering growth in the OER ecosystem
4. Adaptability in trades, vocational, and career training
5. Orientation to open education
6. Collaborative practices
   
   

Please see the Cascadia 2021 Call for Proposals for further information. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2021.

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On behalf of the Office of Open Education, wishing you all a restful and renewing holiday break. See you in 2021!

	Urooj Nizami; MISt, MA (she/her) Open Education Strategist, Office of Open Education Kwantlen Polytechnic University e urooj.nizami@kpu.ca w www.kpu.ca/open Subscribe to the KPU Open listserv here
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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.