Thursday, October 20, 2022
Equity is main focus during Wisconsin Open Education Symposium
CVTC is proud to take part in the second annual Wisconsin Technical College System Open Education Symposium, virtually, on Friday, Oct. 28. Hundreds of attendees from throughout the U.S., Canada and China are expected to participate.
Register here for the free virtual event. The Symposium is a space for inclusive and open sharing, conversation, and creating meaningful collaborations to advance OER work.
“The Symposium is instrumental in bringing Wisconsin open education advocates, developers and faculty together and on the same page,” said Vince Mussehl, CVTC’s Director of Library Services and Open RN Lead Librarian. “We want to make sure we are sharing our work with other colleges and industry, avoiding duplication and celebrating our accomplishments. Open educational resources can save students thousands of dollars during their time in college. It also promotes equity and increases student graduation rates.”
CVTC has taken a front seat in OER because, in many ways, it promotes the students’ success. The goal of the conference is to continue that success, connect faculty with each other from throughout the state and set a time for college administrators to collaborate on best practices at their institutions, Mussehl said.
“CVTC is leading Wisconsin in the number of OER classes, students using zero-cost textbooks and OER creation with the Open RN Project,” Mussehl said. “We are also on the forefront of cost-savings, with $2.2 million in savings for our students last year alone.”
Keynote speaker Ursula Pike is the Associate Director of the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas and a Creative Writing instructor for Austin Community College. She is a member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee for the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) and completed SPARC’s Open Education Leadership Program in 2021.
CVTC’s fellow Wisconsin technical college, Gateway Technical College, is leading the symposium this year. Technical colleges throughout the state have been collaborating to advance open education through developing and adopting resources, Mussehl said.
