(SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – March 11, 2013) For the second consecutive year, SUNY Empire State College is participating in Open Education Week. Coordinated by the Open Courseware Consortium, Open Education Week takes place Monday, March 11, through Friday, March 15.

The college will facilitate two webinars to advance the overall goals of Open Education Week and the use of open-education resources.

“The open-education movement and open-education resources are part of the ongoing revolution of higher education,” said Robert Cougherty, acting vice provost of the college’s Office of Research Innovation and Open Education. “Massive open online courses are the most well-known examples of open-education resources, but there is so much more. By validating college-level learning gained from open-education resources and awarding college credit, students and institutions can save time and money on the way to earning a college degree.”

More information about open education is available here.

As part of the official activities and events of Open Education Week, the college’s Coordinator of Open Education Amy McQuigge, Cathy Leaker, associate dean at the College’s Metropolitan New York Center, and Frances Boyce, faculty mentor in business, management and economics at the Hauppauge Office of the college’s Long Island Center, will facilitate and participate in the one-hour webinar, “Validating the Learning Obtained through Open Educational Resources,” to be held Thursday, March 14, beginning at 2 p.m. EST.

"Open Education Week is a great opportunity for administrators, faculty and staff to learn about worldwide initiatives that will shape next-generation learning, resources and assessment,” said McQuigge. “We hope to share some of our emerging and evolving practices with the education community."

SUNY REAL, Recognition of Experiential and Academic Learning, will be one of the topics of this webinar. SUNY REAL will establish a new pathway to degree completion for students with learning acquired outside of the formal higher-education system through open-education resources.

The webinar is free, open to the public and will be available here.

The second webinar, "Fostering Creativity in Learning: How to Effectively Incorporate OERs into Assignments," is sponsored by the college’s Center for Mentoring and Learning and will be held Thursday, March 14, from noon to 12:45 p.m. EST. Rhianna C. Rogers, faculty mentor and an assistant professor of cultural studies at the college’s Niagara Frontier Center, will facilitate. Katherine Jelly, director of the college’s Center for Mentoring and Learning, will introduce Rogers and participate in the event.

“There is a growing trend among scholars and educators to see open-educational resources as a cost-effective, sustainable and global approach to making high-quality digital and non-digital resources available to support learning and teaching,” said Rogers. “Yet, not all educators understand how to do this effectively.”

Rogers' presentation provides practical strategies for implementing open-education resources in the design of course assignments. The webinar is free, open to the public and will be available here.

The college’s national and international leadership in the area of open-education resources is demonstrated through its establishment of the Office of Research, Innovation and Open Education, its membership in the Open Education Resource University and its work in moving forward with SUNY REAL.

About SUNY Empire State College

SUNY Empire State College was established in 1971 to offer adult learners the opportunity to earn associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the State University of New York.

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career. Students engage in guided independent study and course work onsite, online or a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to learn at the time, place and pace they choose.

The college serves more than 20,000 students worldwide at more than 35 locations in New York state and online. Its 66,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more. More information about the college is available here.

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Media contact: David Henahan, director of communications

518-587-2100, ext. 2918

David.Henahan@esc.edu

518-321-7038 (after 5 p.m. and on weekends)