Monica Brown recently was awarded a competitive, fully funded scholarship to attend OpenCon, a global conference on open access in Toronto, Canada, Nov. 2-4.
Brown was the only candidate selected to represent both Boise State University and the Open Textbook Network (OTN) at OpenCon. OTN is a national network of colleges, universities and library systems representing more than 600 campuses worldwide. Boise State joined OTN this year. OTN is committed to advancing Open Educational Resources (OER) to reduce financial barriers for students and improve student success. OTN institutions have saved students $8.5 million on textbook costs since its founding.
OER are openly licensed educational resources that allow free use and revision by faculty for their courses. As a result, OER can play a role in reducing textbook costs for students. OER has become a focus of the Idaho State Board of Education, which is encouraging faculty to use OER to make general education courses across the state more affordable for students.
“As Boise State begins to support the use of OER in our courses, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to learn from others across the globe,” Brown said. “I’ll be able to bring back ideas to help inform our open initiatives within the state.”
For online faculty, Brown offers individual consultations on OER adoption including assistance with search for materials, custom OER course maps, and answers to license and copyright questions. Online faculty are welcome to contact Brown at monicabrown1@boisestate.edu to set up a consultation.