Session 1: Introductions Recap and Introductions - October 2022A

Hi @oct22-a-cohort!

It was wonderful to meet so many of you or in some cases see you again, as well as see all of the teams in our cohort represented at our first session!

Here is the [chat transcript](Session 1 Chat Transcript - Google Docs) from our session.

The main focus was to get to know one another’s projects, understand how our sessions will be structured, and learn about Rebus’ tools and approaches. As some of you requested more guidance for project accountability in the process, we are designing activities for in-session practice and application afterwards, so that you can successively build out your OER creation plan and implement it smoothly over the coming year. On that note, I kindly ask you to complete this week’s activities as outlined in your session handout:

  • Respond below with your introduction, Agree to the Memorandum of Understanding for our cohort.
  • Write a brief introduction to the forum titled: Who’s in the cohort? including your role on the project and the dream goal you have for it.

We also spent a bit of time discussing Rebus’ collaborative approach to publishing, and how a larger community around a resource can not only make it stronger, but also help maintain it down the line. Our approach hinges on thinking about communications, accessibility, formatting, and more at each stage to really harness the global potential of OER. And these stages can and most likely will be flexible, and thus play out in different ways for each team — that’s what the model is built to do!

We also discussed how being transparent about the process of creation can invite others to contribute and be involved in your projects, whether in big ways or small. Using a public-facing space for your project planning and communication, for example, is a unique way to broadcast your project and invite collaborators to join efforts in its creation.

Talking about the tools we use for the Textbook Success Program like Curriculum Hub in Google, for instance, we also mentioned the Rebus Community Forum, where this recap is posted and where we will conveniently streamline ALL our cohort communication. All materials will be available to you throughout the program. We encourage you to share your questions here! Please note that you can use the tag (@oct22-a-cohort) for conversations that include all cohort members. In addition, you can also write direct messages to individuals, not only in your cohort, but the entire forum space. Refer to the video tutorials in your handout for a more in-depth overview of the forum and its features.

Also, here is one of the resources that I mentioned during our session, which is an OER from Mexico for sociological theorists -
Marianne & Max Weber - https://rosariorogel.net/weberweb/

I’ll be sharing more resources as we go along! Looking forward to learning together!