Let’s take a look at the ways that Open Educational Resources (OER) have emerged in the news lately.
1) CityTech’s OER Librarian, Cailean Cooney, was featured in a recent article about online learning. Cooney notes that “faculty are generally very sensitive and aware of our student population,” and that the program is structured to support their needs.
2) Another article from InsideHigherEd posits OER as an “institutional survival strategy, making the pitch that OER is a “win-win.”
3) The Justice EReader is a new project developed at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, “offering a collection of key texts on the topic of justice, broadly defined, that functions as an intellectual hub for conversations about justice among undergraduate students and their teachers at the college.” As an OER, this project is freely accessible for widespread use.
If you’re still not clear about the dynamics of OER in the classroom, check out our previous blog post reflections by OER Fellows. Also, you can take a look at the OER developed within the Fellowship at CityTech, here.
There are many resources for LGBTQ students across CUNY, but sometimes they can be hard to find. Let’s take a closer look!
Resources at CityTech
Here at CityTech, there is an on-campus group for queer-identifying students and allies, NYCCT Pride. Check out their website for details about events and meeting times.
Just in case you (or someone you know) would be a good fit, check out the CUNY LGBTQI Student Leadership Program. Participants embark on a year-long journey that offers “interactive training workshops focusing on leadership and personal development, civic and community engagement, and social networking opportunities.”
If your interest in the topic takes a scholarly turn, check out events hosted through the Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS). CLAGS programming is diverse and includes many types of events – in 2015, CLAGS co-sponsored the Queers and Comics conference, which drew over 100 creators from various parts of the comics industry. The conference will take place again in a few weeks, on May 18-19, 2019.
The City Tech library is holding its bi-annual book sale today, Wednesday, May 1st, 2019 from 12:45PM to 2:30PM. It will be held in Namm 119. For more information contact Prof. Junior Tidal – jtidal@citytech.cuny.edu.
If you’re a CityTech alumni, there’s exciting news – you can still have access to the Library (and other benefits!).
Even if you didn’t graduate from the college, you may still be an Alumni. If you completed one full year at CityTech, you are considered an alumni of the college and are eligible for these benefits through your Alumni Membership Card. To obtain the card, simply fill out this form.
One of the best opportunities available for CityTech Alumni is ongoing access to the Professional Development Center.
If you need help updating your resume, finding a job, or are perhaps considering graduate school, you can obtain free, in-person assistance. You can even participate in a mock interview – something that sounds intimidating, but can help take the edge off of the real interview for a job.
And finally, CityTech alumni (individuals who have attended for one full year) can visit the on-campus Dental Hygiene Clinic. A selected range of dental services are provided for free or at low-cost, and by CityTech students under the supervision of licensed dentists and hygienists.
Given that Open Educational Resources (OER) are a relatively recent development in higher education, many people are still exploring the ways they can be leveraged towards the goal of increased student engagement.
For the most part, OER are made available online, thereby granting all users access ( (as long as the individual has a working Wi-Fi connection and internet-ready device). But OER are not synonymous with “digital,” since they require the additional consideration of being openly-licensed. Theoretically, a printed course pack could also qualify as an open resource, if it had been released under an open license.
For this reason, identifying the specific advantage of OER (as opposed to digital materials or online learning) can be tricky. A variety of projects are underway to explore this issue.
1) Prof. Matt Brim (College of Staten Island, CUNY) challenged his graduate students to seek out materials that could be integrated into OER, for the field of Queer Studies. The resulting site, Free Queer CUNY, showcases these items and offers student feedback about how they could be used in class.
Feedback on the Learning Objects assignment from U. of British Columbia
3) A Physics course from the University of British Columbia requires students to create “learning objects.” The concept is that if students interact with the material with the goal of teaching others, it will enrich their own experience.
And finally, here is a list of Open Pedagogy Assignments, compiled into a shared doc by educator Quill West.
TransPresence is a paid art opportunity organized through the Doctoral Students Council at The Graduate Center, and open to all currently enrolled CUNY students.
The exhibit intends to showcase “artistic visual representation which speaks to the history of resistance, resilience and liberation of the transgender community in New York City.” Students are invited to submit a piece of artwork that relates to this theme, described as “the achievements or other otherwise invisibilized experiences of the trans community.” If artwork is chosen to be displayed in the exhibit, the creator(s) will be compensated with a stipend for their participation.
For more information, check out the full proposal, which includes details how to submit your idea/project by the deadline, April 20th, 2019.
Please donate to the Ursula C. Schwerin Library’s upcoming Spring Book Sale, which will be held on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, from 12:30-2:30 p.m. (location to be announced). We will accept hardcover and softcover books (including paperbacks) in good condition. These may include fiction, literature, travel, leisure reading, non-fiction of all sorts, and recently published textbooks. We are also accepting DVDs, CDs and other media. We cannot accept damaged or heavily annotated books and most technical manuals, directories, or handbooks over three years old. We may select some donations for our library holdings if they meet the needs of our curricula.
To arrange a donation, please contact Prof. Morris Hounion at mhounion@citytech.cuny.edu or at extension 5491. All donations should be received by Monday, April 29. We will acknowledge your donation with a thank-you letter but we cannot place dollar values on donated items. Information about the Library’s Gifts Policy.
The month of April brings all the beacons of Spring – flowers in bloom, more hours of daylight, and on warmer city days, ice cream trucks. It’s also National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate the craft of poetry. Below are a few local and online resources to pique your interest, and perhaps also your creative spirit.
Local Poetry Resources
The Nuyorican Poets Cafeis an award-winning location and event space in the East Village, hosting over 100 readings, poetry slams, music concerts, and so much more, every year. It began in 1973 as “a living room salon,” founded by a group of “playwrights, poets, and musicians of color whose work was not accepted by the mainstream academic, entertainment or publishing industries.” The Nuyorican Poets Cafe also accepts volunteers and hosts internships, for those looking to expand their horizons towards events management/planning and other live events.
Poets House – For those looking for a (very) quiet study space, and perhaps some poetic inspiration, check out this Lower Manhattan space. Free and open to the public, the organization offers access to an extensive library of chapbooks and works of poetry.
There’s also the website Poets.org, which includes mini-biographies of many current poets, as well as individual poems. Poets often tackle hard, contemporary topics that may elude or escape familiar interpretation.
Open Educational Resources
If you’re an instructor seeking to introduce poetry to the classroom, try this new book from the State University of New York (SUNY) – Naming the Unnameable: An Approach to Poetry for New Generations. It’s available for free download or viewing online, as part of the state funding towards Open Educational Resources (OER).
There are also many works on Poetry.org that could be interwoven to your course site or class discussion, includingthe full text of Alan Ginsberg’s Howl. Although under copyright, you can always link out to these available resources.
I had a chance to interview Nandi Prince, our new Instruction and Reference Librarian. Many at City Tech have known Nandi as she was an adjunct reference librarian before starting as a full-time library faculty member. Here is what she had to say.
What is your academic and library background?
I hold a BS in hospitality management from New York Institute of Technology; an MLIS from Queens College and an MA in English. I started in public libraries and transitioned to academic libraries. City Tech is my third academic experience. I served as a reference librarian at St. Joseph’s College and taught a health and information literacy course to students at Philips School of Nursing at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
What made you want to become a librarian? Was there any event or person that influenced you?
My love for reading as a child contributed to my love for libraries. The local library was the place to obtain a free book in whatever series I was reading. I like helping people, connecting people’s informational needs to the best resources is personally gratifying.
What will you be doing at City Tech Library?
Teaching Information Literacy Instruction classes to students and providing in-person and online reference services are my primary responsibilities. As a subject specialist, I have responsibility for our collections in nursing, Latin American Studies and ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Languages]. Coordinating QuestionPoint, the library’s 24/7 reference online chat service, is among my charges. The ways in which people seek information has changed and City Tech has adapted to this. I am committed to serving our virtual users. In addition to reference and collection development work, I chair the library’s Workshop Committee which, plans, coordinates and delivers many learning opportunities for students, faculty and staff. View our current offerings by visiting the library website for workshop dates and times.
What were your first impressions of life at City Tech? Were there any surprises?
The spirit of collaboration was uplifting, and everyone seemed to like their jobs. The students are very appreciative of the staff. I am surprised at student’s polarizing perspectives on e-books.
What are your goals for the next few years as a librarian?
Student success is important to me. My intentions are to continue to incorporate emerging technology into instruction to improve student’s learning. I plan to teach one or more semester-long LIB course, in addition to one-shot sessions. Additional plans are to continue research in my areas of interest.
What are your research interests? Are you working on any research projects now?
My research focuses on (1) works of dramatic literature and (2) library instruction. I am presently writing an article that explores how the novel Native Son by Richard Wright explores turmoil in society. My library research focuses on critical and reflective practices that improves models of library instruction.
What are your pop-culture go tos…music, movies, tv, or books?
Artists this week are: Adele and Morgan Heritage
The Star War series is somewhere at the top of my favorites.
All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
What book (or other source) would you recommend to others from City Tech Library’s collection, and why?
I would recommend our Latin American collection because it gives insight to the history of indigenous peoples as their social culture continues to be marginalized.
If you haven’t heard of the OpenLab, it’s definitely worth taking a closer look. In a nutshell, the OpenLab is “an open-source digital platform…where faculty and students can work together, experiment, and innovate.” It’s a robust online community space that continues to be developed entirely here at CityTech, and is responsive to the needs of users.
CityTech faculty members have the option to create whole course sites on the OpenLab, offering an engaging alternative to Blackboard. Class interaction may be encouraged through blog posts, annotation, and other digital interaction. If the site is public, then no login is required, and content from CityTech classrooms can be instantly shared with a worldwide audience.
Many of the college’s Open Educational Resources (OER) are hosted on the OpenLab, and tagged with the special OER badge designation. We’ve written a bit on this blog about the various uses of OER, and their integration across CUNY.
Customized for CityTech
Users can customize the OpenLab to suit their needs, creating Clubs, Portfolios, and Projects in this flexible digital environment. Portfolios can be used to showcase student work, class projects, and give a public-facing representation of student activities. You can add images to represent yourself, change the site’s theme and structure, and otherwise be creative with the look and feel of your site.
A screenshot from Prof. DeSantis’ OER course site for Typographic Design III.
Another newly added feature is the option to add gender pronouns to your OpenLab Profile. We use pronouns to refer to each other every day: e.g., she rode her bike…he took a walk, and so on. The custom of asking for pronouns as a way to accommodate gender identity/expression originated in the LGBTQ community, and has recently been embraced more widely.
Above: new feature in the OpenLab Profile settings
The OpenLab: Yours to Explore
If you’re seeking to learn more about this great resource, feel free to check out their blog, The Open Road, which offers workshops and other ways to get involved. Similarly, there’s an extensive introduction to the site here, and Open Pedagogy on the OpenLab, with its own content relating to digital teaching practices, and more.
