BCcampus Open Textbook Summit 2017 – May 24-25

The next Open Textbook Summit is slated for May 24-25 at Simon Fraser University – Harbour Centre in Vancouver. Join us for two days of workshops and presentations that explore how open practices can influence open textbook development to enhance teaching and learning.

Sharing. Communicating. Collaborating.

One of the most important takeaways from the last Open Textbook Summit was the creation of a sense of community; an engaged collaboration of educators having meaningful conversations and creating essential environments where students can succeed. For the 2017 Summit, we’re hoping to build on this foundation and continue to engage the learning community with open practices.

This year’s Open Textbook Summit features the introduction of a series of one-hour workshops that focus on a hands-on, practical application of concepts and components related to Summit topics, through the lens of improving open textbooks. Attendees will include faculty, staff, and students from B.C., as well as representatives from Creative Commons, OpenStax, Lumen Learning, SPARC, and the Open Textbook network.

“We have a robust program this year, engaging the learning community with open practices, specifically open textbooks, open pedagogy and efficacy research,” shared Amanda Coolidge, Senior Manager, Open Education at BCcampus. “The open education community is built on collaboration and sharing, and the Summit is a great opportunity to learn from each other, share resources, and identify impactful practices.”

Presentations

We have had a fantastic response to our call for proposals. We were looking for presentations that spoke to the B.C. and Canadian perspective, and with the help of a talented selection committee with representatives from BCcampus and the post-secondary education system of B.C., we merged similar topics and conversations to produce a series of panel presentations that focus on research, pedagogy, adoption, and adaptation, and will help make a positive impact for B.C. institutions.

An ideal outcome of this event will be the continuation of collaboration among our partner institutions. We’ll be putting out another call for proposals in late April or early May for B.C. institutions to assemble proposals for open education projects. In the spirit of system engagement, we are looking for institutions collaborating with each other, really taking to heart the message of community, collaboration, and sharing, and embracing ways to work collaboratively.

Keynote Speakers

This year’s keynote will be delivered by Ryan Merkley, Chief Executive Officer at Creative Commons, and Kory Wilson, Founder of Right to Learn and Executive Director, Indigenous Initiatives and Partnerships at BCIT.

Ryan has made a big impact in the open education space, speaking about community and gratitude, and what that means to education, and Kory is helping us explore ways to share and promote traditional knowledge with truth and respect.

Registration

Tickets for this two-day event include:

Breakfast and lunch for both days
Entry to the Summit social night, which includes 1 drink and appetizers (you must RSVP for the social night when registering for the event)
Admission to the Summit workshops, seminars, and presentations

While we would love to have all educators from across the province join us, space is limited and we did sell out last time. Registration is now open, so book your spot soon – the next summit is slated for 2019.

To ensure we continue to deliver quality content that engages with the post-secondary community of British Columbia, we are alternating our major learning events annually: The Festival of Learning will take place in 2018- with an OER stream, and the next Open Textbook Summit will be scheduled for 2019.

Notable Quotes

“I attended the Open Textbook Summit because I knew that other authors would be there and hoped that I would be able to learn from their experiences. I was not disappointed! Most of the sessions that I attended were given by other authors, and I had numerous conversations with other authors. All had a wealth of ideas about how to get the most out of the openness of open texts: how to get students engaged with the content, how to make content accessible to everyone, ways to get other faculty involved and how to encourage them to use open texts.” – Steven Earle PhD, faculty member at Thompson Rivers University, shares his thoughts on the 2015 Open Textbook Summit