Florida News Straight From the Source
Following the success of the Florida Virtual Campus’ Open Educational Resources Summit (OER Summit) last February, FLVC is excited to announce the next OER Summit for Feb. 27 – 28, 2019, at the Sheraton Orlando North in Orlando, FL. The Summit is designed for attendees to learn how to identify, modify, and design OER, with the goal of implementation at their college or university. [Read more…] about FLVC to Tackle High Textbook Costs During OER Summit
The Florida Virtual Campus will launch a new College Success Series starting this April. The FloridaShines College Success Series will take place each Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST in April, and provide a live, interactive, online experience for high school juniors and seniors and their parents. The Florida Virtual Campus is managed by the University of West Florida Division of Research and Strategic Innovation.
“The College Success Series will have information on everything students need to get ready for college,” said Nashla Dawahre, assistant director of advising and student services. “The podcast style webinars will focus on a range of several different subjects from college admissions to financial aid to career planning.”
The College Success Series is free and open to Florida high school juniors and seniors and parents seeking information on preparing for college, including where to go, what degree to earn and how to pay for it.
College Success Series sessions will include:
April 4, 2018
Explore Meta-Majors, with an expert from the Florida College System
April 11, 2018
Find My College, with an expert in admissions from one of Florida’s top universities
April 18, 2018
Pay for School, with an expert from Florida’s Office of Financial Assistance
April 25, 2018
Discover Your Career, with an expert from MyCareerShines
For more information, or to register, visit floridashines.org.
About Florida Virtual Campus
The Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC), a Complete Florida Plus program, is made up of several units which provide statewide innovative educational services for Florida’s K-adult students. Working collaboratively with Florida’s 12 public universities, 28 public colleges, K-12 school districts, and other partners, FLVC provides state-funded services to help students go to college, succeed in school, prepare for career success, and thrive in life after graduation.
Florida Virtual Campus held its first Open Educational Resources Summit Feb. 7-8 at the Hilton Sandestin Beach & Golf Resort in Miramar Beach, Florida. FLVC is a Complete Florida Plus Program, managed by the University of West Florida Division of Research and Strategic Innovation.
“We are deeply grateful to all our amazing speakers, staff, and support teams who helped make this event a hit for state and campus leaders,” said Dr. John Opper, executive director of Distance Learning and Student Services at FLVC. “We had approximately 200 attendees, some stating the summit was as good as any national summit they had attended.”
Attendees heard from Cable Green, director of Open Education at Creative Commons, and many other national and campus leaders who are involved in defining and driving OER strategies and initiatives. The summit’s discussion focused on the high cost of college textbooks and the resources available to students. Speakers identified ideas and options for how Florida can raise the level of awareness regarding textbook costs and bring OER options to the forefront of the conversation.
Studies have shown that the cost of college textbooks is creating a barrier to student success. According to the 2016 FLVC Student Textbook and Course Material Survey, almost 46 percent of college students report not registering for particular classes due to the high textbook cost, and 26 percent of students dropped a course when they found out the cost of the textbook.
Open educational resources are freely accessible, openly licensed text, media, and other digital assets useful for teaching, learning and research purposes. One state funded resource for storing and sharing OER is the Orange Grove, an online collection of textbooks and educational materials available to Florida students and faculty for free. Using this resource, students can find textbooks for a range of courses, from english composition to oceanography to precalculus.
If you were unable to attend the summit, a video archive of the presentations can be found on the FLVC YouTube page.
