OpenVA has gone viral, with the first documented outbreak happening this Saturday from 10am-2pm on the William & Mary campus in Williamsburg, VA. There are still a few open spots left if you want to come. You can find the link to register and other important information on the OpenVA site, http://openva.org.
William & Mary graduate student Jamison Miller caught the OpenVA bug during last year’s summit at Tidewater Community College and brought it back with him to the W&M campus, where it spread apparently. Those infected have been manifesting symptoms like a newfound interest in openness and a disregard for weekend plans. It’s the kind of virus that I’d like to see become a pandemic. OK, OK, end of my extended metaphor(or simile?).
I am excited to be moderating the opening panel, Intro to OER, especially since I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it to OpenVA 2.1 at all. However, I think this event is a significant development in the somewhat grassroots growth of OpenVA and, as I didn’t want to miss it, made room in my schedule. Besides, it’s pretty easy to reschedule my Zhumba® workout.
Visit the OpenVA website to see the full agenda and the roster of speakers.
“P.S., citizens: ye should license openly all of mans’ intellectual endeavors to avoid some serious problems down the road.”
OpenVA is putting on its breeches and tri-cornered hat, hopping on its pony, and heading to Williamsburg, VA. OpenVA is evolving from a centrally-organized, annual summit to more of an umbrella term for a collection of institution or group-sponsored gatherings focused on all forms of openness. This is a good thing, I think, and was the goal anyway, shared at the close of OpenVA 2.0 last October at Tidewater Community College with the idea of the college “drive-by.”
The W&M event is really an ideal format for the next iteration of OpenVA. Jamison Miller, previous OpenVA participant and graduate student in W&M’s Higher Education Program, organized OpenVA 2.1 to address particular needs at his institution, but has designed the event with input from the the broader open community in Virginia. Here is the announcement Jamison posted to the OpenVA mailing list:
We are excited to announce “OpenVA 2.1”, a 3-hour workshop on Open Educational Resources (OER) that will be hosted at the College of William and Mary on Saturday, May 2nd. Although OER are gaining exposure and adoption across the globe, awareness remains one of the chief obstacles to implementation. This event, then, is about fostering a rich and varied awareness of the many faces of OER. We are organizing two focused panels to critically discuss:
the current OER landscape and what constitutes OER and,
first-hand accounts of OER implementation from a variety of disciplines and contexts.
These panel sessions will be broken up by an expectedly spirited keynote address from Gardner Campbell, Vice Provost for Learning Innovation and Student Success at Virginia Commonwealth University. Space in the agenda will be reserved for audience input, as we hope to encourage an engaged dialogue relevant to attendees. And lunch is on us!
It is good to see the DIY, guerilla spirit of the first OpenVA conference continue. The first conference was created 2 1/2 years ago out of spit and polish, rolls of duct tape, Werner Herzog-recommended bolt-cutters, pure, unrefined human ingenuity, and a small roll of bills that constituted a budget. We referred to it as an “inaugural” event at the time, but that was purely aspirational. Here we are today, with another exciting event at one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious colleges. Who’d a thunk? Details below. It’s free, but you have to register.
Saturday, May 2nd, 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (doors open at 10 for coffee) Media Center, Ground floor, Swem Library The College of William and Mary 400 Landrum Drive, Williamsburg, VA 23185
OpenVA has gone viral, with the first documented outbreak happening this Saturday from 10am-2pm on the William & Mary campus in Williamsburg, VA. There are still a few open spots left if you want to come. You can find the link to register and other important information on the OpenVA site, http://openva.org.