O-E-R and Y-O-U

What is OER anyway? According to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, “OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.” ("Open Educational Resources").

Simply put, OERs could be defined as educational content created by you or your colleagues that other educators can use freely in their own courses. You can use OERs in your courses, too!

According to Inside Higher Ed, “The OER movement has sprung up in response to the rising cost of higher education, and aims to curb one of the additional fees that sometimes take students by surprise once they make it to campus -- namely textbook prices” (Straumsheim, 2014).” Indeed, as we begin to understand OER, we will be empowered to help make higher education more affordable for our students.

So, what can you do now?

There are a few simple things you can do now if you are curious about OERs:

• Learn more about OERs 
• Browse for OERs that relate to your own field on popular sites like oercommons.org, merlot.org or openstax.org
• Contact a member of the Center for Online & Digital Learning or the Hatch Library if you are interested in exploring ways to incorporate OERs into your own courses 

For now…

Check out an example of an “OER” that discusses the world's population:

Sources:

Open Educational Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education/open-educational-resources
Straumsheim, C. (2014, November 4). Open educational resources perceived as high quality, even though faculty awareness lags @insidehighered. Retrieved February 13, 2015, from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/04/open-educational-resources-perceived-high-quality-even-though-faculty-awareness-lags

Make A Tegrity Lecture Capture Video

Lecture capture is a powerful tool that allows students to view and engage with recorded lectures and demonstrations on their own schedule. It also allows faculty to provide additional instruction outside of the classroom for more in-depth topics or to support the "flipped classroom" model.

Learn how you can get started using this tool to enhance your students' learning experience. Click here to view Justin LeTellier's, demonstration of how Tegrity works. Note: this link will open in a new window and may take a moment to load.

If you have questions about getting started with Tegrity, please contact Bay Path's help desk at techsupport@baypath.edu.

Office 365 for Your iPad or Computer-it's FREE

Microsoft Office is now available as a FREE download for use on your computer and iPad.

Here's how to get Office 365:

1. Click on this link and sign in using your Bay Path email. Note: this link will open in a new window.  You'll be sent a message asking you to confirm your identity and set up an account.
2. Once you have created an account you can download the Microsoft Office 365 products (Excel, PowerPoint, Word etc.) individually onto your computer.
3. On your iPad, you can also download your favorited Microsoft 365 app from the App store.

Read about Microsoft's free Office 365 subscriptions here. 

If you would like to learn more about how to add Office365 to your teaching toolbox, contact: 

• the Center for Online and Digital Learning by emailing online@baypath.edu or calling 413.565.6880

If you have any difficulties with subscribing or downloading Office365, contact:

• the IT Department by emailing techsupport@baypath.edu or calling 413.565.1487 

Happy working!

Mobile Portal for Faculty

Our ITS department has communicated some exciting news recently about the release of our new Faculty MOBILE Portal Site! 

Faculty are now able to log in to a mobile-friendly version of the portal by navigating to my.baypath.edu/go on a smartphone or tablet. Once you go to my.baypath.edu/go, tap on the 'Mobile Faculty Portal Login' link and you will be able to log in to the mobile Faculty Portal.

On mobile portal site, faculty will be able to:

• See an overview of a term's course schedule, along with dates, locations, and times

• Get class listings for each course, along with each student's photo ID (unless they are FERPA-restricted), and email the student(s) enrolled in the course directly

• Enter grades on the portal from the mobile site

• Review advisee information, including advisor's type (for example, WELL, MAJOR, etc.) and email advisees directly

• Search room availability on each campus.

No new login is needed for the mobile portal site; use the same login as you do for the desktop portal site.  You'll still enjoy automatic login to your Bay Path Gmail and the mobile site is accessible via any device on any platform!

There is so much more to see!  Checkout the site by going to my.baypath.edu/go on a smartphone or tablet! 

Please reach out to Jill Cooney (jcooney@baypath.edu) if you have any other questions or feedback!

Paper App: Everything For Free!

Do you like to sketch, draw, or paint on iPad? Know someone else who does? If so, today is a great day for you (or them)!

Paper, a drawing app by Fifty Three (not the one by Facebook), today announced that all of their In-App Purchases are now free. The coolest feature is Mix, which allows users to create together, much like an artist and inker on a comic book.

Happy Drawing!