ACC joins the Open Education Network (OEN)
June 14, 2022
Arkansas Community Colleges (ACC) will join the Open Education Network (OEN) to further its initiatives for removing financial barriers to higher education and promoting student success across the state. The OEN is an active community of higher education leaders across the U.S., Canada, and Australia working together to build sustainable open education programs. The OEN community supports the Open Textbook Library, a comprehensive resource for free openly licensed academic peer-reviewed textbooks.
The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) will fund the ACC’s first year of membership. ACC members include all 22 of the state’s comprehensive community and technical colleges.
“ACC is very excited to be part of this initiative as it is a great benefit for our students,” said ACC Executive Director Andrea Henderson.
University of Arkansas-Cossatot was the state’s first institution to join the OEN in 2018 and leads Arkansas in OER usage among two-year colleges with 65% of courses using open resources.
Eight delegates, along with UA Cossatot Director of Educational Resources and OER Specialist Relinda Ruth, will liaise with the OEN and share resources with their colleagues. Open Educational Resource (OER) ambassadors among the ACC’s institutions from across the state will be trained to bring expertise, mentorship and best practices back to their member community, and will learn to facilitate workshops to engage and support faculty.
Special thanks to SREB’s Program Specialist in OER and Postsecondary Education Charlotte Dailey who initiated OEN membership for Arkansas community colleges. With this membership, advocates for higher education across Arkansas have the opportunity to be part of a learning environment that encourages innovative global sharing of knowledge.
For more information about ACC’s OEN membership, contact UA Cossatot Director of Educational Resources and OER Specialist Relinda Ruth (rruth@cccua.edu).