Open Access Week is an annual event to promote the benefits of Open Access in scholarly research and publishing. It takes place internationally from October 24th to 30th:

“Open Access Week, a global event now entering its eighth year, is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.”

Campus Manitoba has promoted the use of open educational resources at universities and colleges in Manitoba since 2015. We’ve raised awareness of open educational resources under OpenEd MB, including our initiative to fund faculty reviews and encourage adoptions of openly licensed textbooks.

This week, we’re calling on members of Manitoba’s post-secondary community to join us in learning about Open Access. To that end, we’re hosting a livestream on YouTube to discuss the use of Creative Commons licenses in education. It will include a basic overview of Creative Commons licenses. The livestream is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26th at 10 AM CST.

Update: Our recorded livestream can now be accessed on YouTube. Click the picture above to view the recording!

About “Open Access”

“Open Access” to information – the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole.

Open Access (OA) has the potential to maximize research investments, increase the exposure and use of published research, facilitate the ability to conduct research across available literature, and enhance the overall advancement of scholarship. Research funding agencies, academic institutions, researchers and scientists, teachers, students, and members of the general public are supporting a move towards Open Access in increasing numbers every year. Open Access Week is a key opportunity for all members of the community to take action to keep this momentum moving forward.

To learn more about Open Access Week and how to get involved, go to openaccessweek.org.

Adapted from SPARC “About Open Access” CC-BY

About OpenEd Manitoba

Since 2015, Campus Manitoba has been raising awareness of open educational resources in Manitoba. Our efforts to promote open educational resources at universities and colleges in Manitoba has continued under a new name and a new website, OpenEd MB. OpenEd MB includes an open textbook collection that has been widely reviewed by faculty from across Canada. It also includes resources for using open educational resources in the classroom.

We support the use of open textbooks in Manitoba classrooms through outreach and by funding reviews. We also work with  BCcampus and the Canada OER Group to stay current with OER initiatives across Canada.

If you or your institution would like to get involved in open education, visit OpenEd MB and get in touch with us at open@campusmanitoba.ca. All of our promotional materials and resources are available online.

Campus Manitoba is a consortium of Manitoba’s public post-secondary institutions. Through collaborative projects and shared services, we facilitate student mobility and expand access to post-secondary programs for students in Manitoba. In addition to openedmb.ca, our websites include ecoursesmb.ca and setyourcourse.ca.