Last week, we held our monthly OpenCon Community Call, which fell during Open Education Week. During the call, we heard from five members of the OpenCon community doing fantastic work to advance Open Education.  In case you weren’t able to make it, here’s a quick recap of some of the projects we heard about!

OER Hub

Beck Pitt spoke to us about the OER Hub, a group that researches Open Education. The group works collaboratively with teachers, learners and students on a number of projects; assesses the impact of OER around the world; and has produced a course on Open Research, which comes with an Open Research Toolkit!  Beck also shared information about the Global OER Graduate Network, which holds monthly webinars, which are open for anyone to join.

OER pilot initiative at University of Calgary

Alicia Lunz, an undergraduate student leader at the University of Calgary, told us about an upcoming pilot project for supporting OER on campus, including funding for three PhD-level OER advocates, and a ten-person team of undergraduates who will be going through university course outlines to find OER equivalents for course materials.  You can read more about this exciting initiative here.

Rebus Community

Zoe Wake Hyde, a community and project manager at the Rebus Foundation, shared some of their ongoing projects including the Rebus Community - a platform building a new, collaborative model for publishing open textbooks. They are currently working on 12 pilot projects, each with a different set of needs. If you’re interested in contributing to one of the open textbook projects, you can read more about them here.

Year of Open

Igor Lesko discussed the Year of Open, which celebrates different milestones in Open, increases awareness and advocate for different Open issue areas, including Open Education, Open Access, Open Source Software, and more! Each month of the year is dedicated to a different Open Perspective.  Check their calendar to see if there’s any way for you to participate in an existing event - or submit an event if you are interested in hosting.

OER World Map

Finally, Jan Neuman spoke to us about the OER World Map - and gave a quick demo to show us how the platform works!  The OER World Map catalogs and visualizes data on people, projects, organizations, and initiatives advancing OER around the world.  Don’t see your Open Education work on the map? We encourage you to create a profile and add your organization or project to the platform.  

Our OpenCon community calls happen once a month; and everyone is welcome to join!  They are a great chance for you to learn what's happening in open research and education around the world, share what you're doing, and find collaborators and opportunities.  We encourage you to join us for our next call on April 26, at 6 PM CEST / 5PM BST / 12PM EDT / 9AM PDT.  Let us know if you’ll be joining by RSVPing here!