There are many regional OER initiatives happening throughout Oregon, including grant programs, legislative mandates for course labeling, and plenty of email listservs to connect with your colleagues.

House Bill 2871

House Bill 2871 established the Open Educational Resources Grant Program within Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
The Oregon Legislators allocated $700,000 for the biennium starting July 1, 2015 to be used for:

• grant funding to faculty at universities and community colleges across the state to produce OER curriculum that can be used statewide
• the creation of a HECC OER Specialist position charged with facilitating this grant program

Download the full text of HB2871 here.

Mandatory Designation of Low-Cost Materials

Section 4 of HB2871 establishes a state-wide mandate that all publicly funded universities and community colleges clearly label which courses use OER or low-cost/no-cost course texts so students—Oregon tax payers—can be informed consumers when choosing which courses they enroll in.
The TAT is working with Instructional Services, IT and the MHCC Bookstore to implement these course designations. This will take the form of a note next to the Course Section in both the online Course Schedule the bookstore’s textbook listing page.
For more information about HB2871 and the mandatory course designation, please refer to our FAQ.

Open Oregon

Open Oregon Educational Resources helps coordinate OER efforts at Oregon's 17 community colleges. Activities include tracking textbook savings efforts on the Open Oregon Resources page, professional development through in-person and online trainings, and managing grant programs for faculty to review, adopt, adapt, and create open educational resources. Funding comes from the Community College & Workforce Development Office via the Oregon Community College Distance Learning Association.

Sign up for the Open Oregon email Listserv here

Questions?
Contact reference@mhcc.edu