Events, University Libraries
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This collection holds video and audio recordings, slide presentations, and handouts from workshops, talks, presentations, and other events held in Newman Library at Virginia Tech.
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- Virginia Tech Authors Recognition Event 2025Bengtson, Kelsey (2025-04-10)
- Cheesy Nights Stickers - Collaboration with student workersBengtson, Kelsey; Slowinski, Milana; Wedling, Morgan (2025-04-30)
- Connecting the Opens: Open Education Week 2025Lener, Edward F.; Walters, Tyler; Walz, Anita R.; Neser, Laura; Guimont, Corinne; Surprenant, Aimée; Young, Philip (Virginia Tech, 2025-03-03)The 2025 Connecting the Opens panel discussion features brief overviews of open publishing, open educational resources, and open data to provide some general information on the topics. Finally, presenters will discuss how aspects of open have impacted their career development as well as how they have incorporated open practices into their research and scholarship, and the audience will be invited to participate in the conversation.
- Open Educational Resources: Tailor Your Textbook, Not Your Course DesignNeser, Laura; Walz, Anita R.; Grey, Kindred (2025-02-13)Instructors often design course content around commercial textbooks, which dictate the sequence of topics and impose financial burdens on students. This poster presentation explores an alternative: using existing open educational resources (OER) to create custom textbooks that align with your course structure. By adapting OER, instructors can organize topics in the order that best suits their teaching, providing students with free, accessible materials. Additionally, many institutions offer grants and technical assistance to support the development of these tailored resources, offering a flexible, cost-effective solution that prioritizes course objectives over predesigned textbooks. In higher education, the traditional textbook regularly serves as the cornerstone of course design, yet the widespread reliance on commercial textbooks has long been a point of contention. These textbooks often dictate the sequence and depth of topics covered in a course, forcing educators to adapt their course design to the textbook rather than designing a course that best matches the instructor's pedagogical approach. Additionally, the high cost of these textbooks places a financial strain on students, sometimes hindering their academic success. However, there is an alternative approach: adapting existing open educational resources (OER) to develop textbooks or other course materials tailored to the instructor's pedagogical approach and course objectives. OER are freely available, openly-licensed educational materials that can be reused, revised, and redistributed. They are most commonly released under a Creative Commons license which allows adaptation with attribution to the original author. These licenses enable educators to legally modify and share educational content, which is essential for freely creating customized textbooks that meet specific course needs. Adapting existing OER to generate customized textbooks represents a significant advancement in higher education pedagogy. Educators can break free from the constraints of commercial textbooks by adopting and adapting OER, allowing them to customize content, reduce student costs, and enhance pedagogical flexibility. This presentation draws on the examples of co-author Dr. Laura Neser’s adapted open textbooks, Introduction to Earth Science (2022) and Introduction to Earth Science, second edition (2025). Since its publication in 2022, Dr. Neser’s textbook has been downloaded over 170,000 times, not including additional views of the HTML version of the book at https://pressbooks.lib.vt.edu/introearthscience/. Moreover, at least 54 colleges and universities worldwide have adopted all or part of the textbook, which has been viewed in 100 countries. The poster presentation aims to equip educators with the knowledge and tools needed to identify, adapt, and integrate OER into their courses. This process includes: (1) identifying suitable OER materials that align with course objectives; (2) adapting these materials to fit the desired course structure and sequence; and (3) utilizing grants and institutional resources to support the adaptation of OER-based textbooks. The grants presented on this poster are specific to Virginia Tech faculty; however, similar resources may be available at your own institution to support the adaptation of OER materials in your courses. By adapting OER, instructors can create customized textbooks that are free, flexible, and aligned with their pedagogical goals. This strategy offers a practical solution to the limitations of commercial textbooks, fostering a more student-centered and flexible approach to course design.
- Connecting the Opens: A Panel Discussion for the Future ProfessoriateLener, Edward F.; Walz, Anita R.; Walters, Tyler; Guimont, Corinne; Pullen, Brandie (Virginia Tech, 2024-10-21)The 2024 Open Access Forum features presentations on open access, open data, open educational resources, and open publishing, followed by Q&A.
- Opening Assessment in Problem-Based Courses: A WeBWorK Pilot Case StudyWalz, Anita R.; Hart, Heath David (2024-10-08)This presentation was delivered at the 2024 Open Education Conference in Providence, Rhode Island Large-enrollment courses tend to produce assessment headaches for instructors in nearly any discipline. And when courses depart from testing and grading by hand, assessment can become even more complex. These assessment challenges can reduce the likelihood that an instructor chooses an open textbook. While subject matter experts have begun to generate human created and/or AI-written/human edited test banks for their topics, these testbanks typically align to QTI formats, which are multiple choice, lack graphics, and don’t meet the needs of some courses especially those in math-intensive disciplines. In 2023, Departments of Mathematics and Statistics at Virginia Tech, with support from the University Libraries Open Education Initiative began piloting WeBWorK, an open-source hosted software solution already used at many institutions. We present a case study of this pilot project, discuss project framing, decisions, impact, WeBWorK and OER adoption, and our hopes for the future. Attendees of this session will be able to: -Describe programmatic efforts to explore homework software in a campus or system environment. -Meet other people dealing with math assessment and mathematically-rich homework software issues. -Find further information regarding low-cost and open homework systems -Be able to articulate the use case for a system like WeBWorK. -Summarize our programmatic efforts, reflecting on decisions made, the capacities of our team members, barriers and lessons learned, and results part-way through year two. A recording of this presentation is available at: https://youtu.be/y8iTeyQJLFE
- From Closed to Open: Laboring to Revert Rights and Republish Existing WorksWalz, Anita R. (2024-10-10)This presentation was delivered at the 2024 Open Education Conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Rights-reversion is a powerful tool for broadening access to books which are still-in-demand but paywalled or out-of-print. Converting these works to Open Educational Resources (OER) broadens their availability and meets reader and instructional needs while utilizing existing workflows used by those who create open textbooks. This presentation describes rights reversion, presents multiple case studies, documents the labor involved in rights-reversion and re-publishing workflows, and provides tips and tools for working with authors and publisher-copyright-holders. Attendees of this session will be able to: -Articulate a summary of what rights reversion is. -Describe what makes something an Open Educational Resource (OER) -Explain rationale for including rights-reversion-to-OER as part of their publishing program -Describe why rights-reversion-to-OER might add value to the communities they serve, and similarities and differences to what they might already do in their community or institution A recording of this session is available at: https://youtu.be/zvjNtRt7sng?feature=shared
- Open Education Forum 2024: Connecting the OpensMcNabb, Kayla B.; Lener, Edward F.; Griffin, Julie; Guimont, Corinne; Pullen, Brandie; Walz, Anita R.; Orth, Donald J.; Surprenant, Aimée (Virginia Tech, 2024-03-18)University Libraries’ faculty, Corinne Guimont, Anita Walz, and Brandi Pullen will provide brief overviews of open publishing, open educational resources, and open data to provide some general information on the topics. Finally, presenters will discuss how aspects of open have impacted their career development as well as how they have incorporated open practices into their research and scholarship, and the audience will be invited to participate in the robust conversation.
- Cheesy Nights stickersSlowinski, Miliana; Weildling, Morgan (2024-03-25)Stickers for Cheesy Nights. Ordered 5,000 stickers
- Connecting the Opens: Open Access, Open Data, Open Educational Resources, Establishing Your Online Scholarly PresenceMcNabb, Kayla B.; Young, Philip; Petters, Jonathan L.; Walz, Anita R.; Surprenant, Aimée (Virginia Tech, 2023-10-23)The 2023 Open Access Forum features presentations on open access, open data, open educational resources, and establishing an online scholarly presence, followed by Q&A.
- How the Sausage Gets Made: Building State-Wide Support for Open Education InitiativesCohen, Sarah Faye; Butterfield, Robert; Gallaway, Terri; Thornton, Glenda; Walz, Anita R. (2017-11)Over the last few years, we've seen increasing state-wide support for open education. But how does that support begin? Who's behind those initiatives and what are they doing to advance open education efforts at the state level? This panel presentation will share the experiences of initiators of state-wide programs across four states (Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, and Wisconsin). While each panelist has gained state-wide support for open textbook adoption, they have done so in different ways and with different degrees of mandate. The panelists will have the opportunity to share their processes, their lessons learned, their successes, and the status of their efforts, helping attendees identify avenues for their own state-wide initiatives while also demonstrating there is not just one way to establish or implement support. One thing these panelists will certainly agree on though --it's worth the effort. Link to conference site: https://sched.co/BXeR
- Library Selection -- and Uses -- of Printed Open TextbooksWalz, Anita R. (2017-06-07)Open educational resources (OER) are available in a variety of formats, including print. This presentation highlights potentials for use of printed OER as a promotional tool for OER initiatives in college and university settings. This presenation was delivered at VIVA (the Virtual Library of Virginia) Annual Collections Forum 2019 in Richmond, VA.
- Conversation: Discussion and Hands-On Exploration of Open Educational ResourcesWalz, Anita R.; Pannabecker, Virginia (2015-02-05)This conversation session was hosted at the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy in Blacksburg, VA on February 5, 2015.
- 2023 Spring Open Forum: Connecting the Opens: Open Access, Open Data, Open Educational Resources, and Establishing Your Online Scholarly PresenceWalz, Anita R.; Young, Philip; Petters, Jonathan L.; Miles, Rachel A.; Surprenant, Aimée (Virginia Tech, 2023-02-20)Join the University Libraries for a presentation for future professors regarding open access, open educational resources, open data, and establishing an online scholarly presence. University Libraries’ faculty Philip Young, Anita Walz, Jonathan Petters, and Rachel Miles will provide a brief overview of each topic, with discussion to follow.
- Open Access Forum 2022: Connecting the OpensJoseph, Heather; Potter, Peter J.; Young, Philip; Petters, Jonathan L.; McNabb, Kayla B.; Surprenant, Aimée; Walters, Tyler (Virginia Tech, 2022-10-24)The 2022 Open Access Forum features a presentation by Heather Joseph on the recent OSTP memo (aka Nelson memo) requiring immediate access to research funded by federal agencies, with a Q&A afterward. Short introductions to open access, open data, and open educational resources follow.
- Open Education Week 2022 Open Course Tours EventThompson, Liz; Finlayson, Caitie; LeClair, Renee J.; Binks, Andrew P.; Goodwin-Jones, Robert; Leek, Danielle; Westcott, Stephanie; Ghaphery, Jimmy; Thomas, Judith (Virginia Tech, 2022-03-09)This event sponsored by SCHEV-Open Virginia Advisory Committee (OVAC) provides four virtual tours of courses utilizing Open Education Resources (OER) and/or Open Pedagogy. These course tours are designed to move beyond the basics of OER to show how OER are being implemented in actual courses by colleagues in Virginia, in a variety of educational contexts. A summary of the Virginia Course Materials Survey and information on VIVA Open Grants available for OER is also presented.
- Open Education Forum 2022: Connecting the Opens: Open Access, Open Educational Resources, and Open DataWalz, Anita R.; Young, Philip; Petters, Jonathan L.; McNabb, Kayla B.; Surprenant, Aimée ; Binks, Andrew P.; LeClair, Renee J. (Virginia Tech, 2022-02-21)Join the University Libraries and invited guests for a panel discussion for future professors regarding open access, open educational resources, and open data. University Libraries’ faculty, Philip Young, Anita Walz, and Jonathan Petters will provide a brief overview of each of the three topics. Selected Virginia Tech faculty will be invited to share about their career development and how they have incorporated open practices into their teaching and scholarship. And, we will moderate a robust conversation among attending graduate students.
- Open Access and Evidence SynthesisComer, C. Cozette; Pannabecker, Virginia; DeBose, Kyrille; Brown, Anne M.; Stewart, Ryan D.; Patino, Sofia Rincon Gallardo (Virginia Tech, 2021-10-25)This session will begin with a discussion on how open access supports several aspects of the evidence synthesis process. We’ll explore the value of having open access sources to include in the synthesis itself and some challenges that must be overcome when searching and accessing sources that require institutional access or are fee-based. We will also address ways to utilize open access repositories (such as VTechWorks and Open Science Framework) to make your synthesis more transparent so that others can properly evaluate, replicate, or use your synthesis. Additionally, we will hear cases from folks who have used open access resources or repositories as a means to support their evidence synthesis projects. Panelists include: - Dr. Sofia Rincon Gallardo Patino, Regional consultant on Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Pan American Health Organization - Dr. Anne Brown, Assistant Professor, Science Informatics Consultant at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech - Dr. Ryan Stewart, Associate Professor, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech
- Open Access Forum 2021: Virginia Tech's New Open Access Policy + Intros to Open Data and Open Educational ResourcesYoung, Philip; Petters, Jonathan L.; McNabb, Kayla B.; Surprenant, Aimée; Suber, Peter; McGuire, Kevin J.; Sanchez, Thomas W.; Pannabecker, Virginia (Virginia Tech, 2021-10-25)This year's Open Access Forum features a presentation on Virginia Tech's new open access policy, with a Q&A afterward with OA expert Peter Suber and members of the working group. Short introductions to open data and open educational resources follow.
- Figures in Environmental History: Rupert CutlerCutler, Rupert; Pittman, Bess (Virginia Tech, 2021-04-21)Environmentalist and conservationist Rupert Cutler discusses his lifelong work preserving natural resources and wild spaces.