Program Description

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) Division of Digital Learning welcomes applications for participation in the third cohort of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Core Elements Academy. We are offering an academy this April, in partnership with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME). Full and part-time faculty, librarians, and instructional designers at public and private higher education institutions that are new to OER or have intermediate experience are invited to participate. 

The OER Core Elements Academy will consist of three synchronous, virtual sessions: 

• Tuesday, April 1 1:30 – 3:00 PM CST Introduction to Open Educational Resources and Practices – Exploration of the what, why, and how of OER, highlighting use cases involving successful adoption and implementation of OER at Texas institutions. 
• Tuesday April 8 1:30 – 3:00 PM CST Discovery and Curation – Hands-on training aimed at supporting effective search, quality evaluation, open licensing, and curation strategies to collaboratively identify, evaluate, and organize OER relevant to desired use. 
• Tuesday, April 15 1:30 – 3:00 PM CST Evaluating and Remixing – Deep dive into courseware evaluation, developing workflows to utilize the platform authoring tools to design, create and remix resources. Leverage supports for peer-review, reflection, and refinement of resources. 

Participants are required to attend the three 90-minute webinars and complete approximately seven hours of practice activities. Participants will be eligible for a Certificate of Completion upon fulfillment of all requirements. There will be office hours offered for support and informal discussion with OER experts outside of the published times. 

The Academy will be capped at 75 participants and limited to 10 participants per institution. Applicants will be selected on a first come, first served basis and reviewed for participation based on their commitment to attending all sessions and completing all learning activities. 

Please complete the online application form to register. 

The application deadline is Friday, March 14. Participants will be contacted via email by Friday, March 21, if selected to participate based on a review of the application.  

For questions contact Carrie Gits, Director of Digital Learning, at digitallearning@highered.texas.gov.