OpenVA 2.1: May 2nd, 2015

This spring we are following through with the promise made at the 2014 conference to hold smaller, more focused campus workshops. Our focus will be open educational resources (OER) that were the topic of one of the sessions at the summit. The intent is to raise OER awareness both at the College of William & Mary and regionally while also continuing the fruitful dialogue from last October. Read on for more details and be sure to register before we cap out at 80 50 registrants. Registration is free, and lunch is on us!

______________________________________________

Come in

Blink And You’ll Miss It! / Pete / CC BY 2.0

We’re back, with a workshop!

This spring we are holding the first in what we hope will be a long series of campus based workshops  that will supplement the Annual OpenVA conferences, but we have decided to change up the format a bit. The first two conferences brought together students, educators, learning technology specialists and administrators to share innovative practices using OER. Since that time, the planning committee has remained engaged enthusiastic about furthering the work in this area.

We’re taking the OER conversation to The College of William and Mary on Saturday, May 2nd. The event is free and open to all, and will focus on practices from around the state involving OER. We will be sharing ideas about what constitutes OER, how to find them, how to vet them, and how to use them. Stories will be shared from the trenches of implementation–successes and failures–and there will be space for participants to bring their own questions and insights.

Some event presenters will be invited by the planning committee based on its prior knowledge of their work and its relevance to the topics.  However, there is also an open call on the website for submissions so that the committee can learn about other examples and incorporate them into a robust schedule for the roughly 3-hour event.

Gardner Campbell - photo by darcyWe’re thrilled to have Gardner Campbell visit us from VCU as our keynote speaker. Gardner  is Vice Provost for Learning Innovation and Student Success, Dean of University College, and Associate Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has been involved in teaching and learning technologies for over two decades, including work at the University of San Diego and the University of Richmond. He has presented at numerous national and international conferences on Renaissance literature, film, and teaching and learning technologies. You can read Gardner’s blog, “Gardner Writes,” at http://www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1, where you can also download his most recent CV.

Fernsebner PicWe’re also excited to be hearing from Sue Fernsebner, Associate Professor of History at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She is the founding co-chair of the Digital Scholars Institute at UMW, a program dedicated to supporting university faculty in their development of digital projects in pedagogy and research. Susan has shared her work in the digital realm in numerous forums since 2007 including presentations at national and international conferences for the American Historical Association and the Association of Asian Studies, at regional events including OpenVA and UMW’s Faculty Academy, as well as in local workshops on technology and curriculum development, among others.

As further details about presenters and the format emerge, we will post them here. In the meantime, you can register for the event, which will be free of charge, here:  http://openva.org/register-2/

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *