News and Events

Texas Tech University Libraries Celebrates Open Education Week

by Camille Thomas, Scholarly Communication Librarian

What is Open Education Week?

Open Education Week is a celebration of the global Open Education Movement. Its goal is to raise awareness about open textbooks, etc. and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. It will be held March 5-9, 2018. The Libraries' celebration will be themed "Astronomical" to highlight the rising cost of education and the new frontier of affordable resources.

What are Open Education Resources?

Open Education Resources include things like open textbooks, lecture notes, multimedia and more. They are free for students and provide copyright permissions to be downloaded, shared and posted with attribution. This is good news for distance students! Research shows courses that use Open Textbooks do just as well or better as traditional textbooks. Many higher education institutions have seen increases in enrollment and retention with open education resources.

For more information on Open Education Resources and where to find them in the libraries' catalog, visit our research guide or contact a Librarian.

Library Events from Open Education Week

Open Textbooks at TTU Panel
Monday, March 5 from 12:00 - 1:00 pm in TLDPC Room 152
Audience: Faculty
Texas Tech University Libraries will be partnering with the Teaching, Learning and Professional Development Center to offer an information session and panel. Faculty will learn the basics about open textbooks, copyright licenses like Creative Commons, and strategies to adopt open textbooks into courses at TTU. The panel discussion will feature faculty at Tech who have written or used open textbooks in their courses. 
Register here.

Affordability Beyond Textbooks: Vendors, Courseware, and Library Resources
Wednesday, March 7 from 12:00 -1:00 pm in TLPDC Room 152
Audience: Faculty
Texas Tech University Libraries, in partnership with the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center, will continue the conversation on classroom affordability with a brown bag information session presenting an overview of vendor OER programs, affordable courseware options, and the library resources which are already freely available to faculty and students.
Register here.

Open Education Week: Are You #Textbookbroke?
Audience: Students
Textbook prices can be astronomical! How much did you spend on textbooks this semester? What could you have bought with that money? Come tell us in the Croslin Room and learn what you can do to support the open textbook movement. You can also join the conversation online at #textbookbrokeTTU.

Please contact Camille Thomas, Scholarly Publishing Librarian, at camille.thomas@ttu.edu with any questions.