Celebrating Open Education @ USask!
USask began the campaign to support Open Education in 2014, and since then our students have saved over $11,000,000 with instructors supporting and adopting Open Educational Practices (OEP). Most of the cost savings for students are a direct result of USask instructors switching from commercial textbooks to Open Educational Resources (OER), primarily open textbooks. Additionally, each year a growing number of USask instructors choose to integrate open pedagogy activities in their courses, where students are creators of learning content instead of simply consumers of it.
Open Education Week celebrates the USask instructors making these changes, staff supporting the initiative, and our engaged students by sharing our stories and their accomplishments.
Register for one of our workshops to learn more about how to get started with open textbook/resource creation, understanding and incorporating open pedagogy, how to engage students as creators, understanding creative commons licenses, the Harvest Repository, and to find open resources.
Calendar of Events
Click on a title to jump down this page to it's description and registration link.
| Below each of the session descriptions you will find a green registration button. Click it once to submit your registration and an email confirmation will be sent to your USask email address. You can check our registration system to see a list of sessions you are enrolled in (NSID login may be required). |
Monday, March 2
Lunch and Learn Panel - Stories From Those Engaged In the Creation of OER
Time: 12:00 pm - 12:50 pmLocation: Gwenna Moss Centre, Room 50 Murray
Join us for lunch and to hear from a panel of instructors and staff who are currently working or have created an open textbook. Panellists representing the Department of Chemistry, Department of Curriculum Studies, the USask Library, and the new School of Rehabilitation Science will share their stories of why they started these projects and what their experiences have been like.
Intro to Open Educational Resources
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pmLocation: Zoom
More than 13,000 students are benefitting from the use of open educational resources (OER) at USask during this 2025-26 academic year. In this session, participants will learn about what OER are, why they benefit learners and instructors, and how to get started using them.
Tuesday, March 3
Finding and Evaluating Open Educational Resources (OER)
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pmLocation: Zoom
Are you thinking about minimizing costs for your students or your course? Do you want to find material you can customize for your specific needs? Open educational resources might be just what you are looking for. It can be overwhelming to begin looking for material that fits your needs, as there are many different places to search and ways to search for them.
In this session you will be introduced to OER repositories, as well as how to conduct an effective and efficient search to find OER material. You will also be introduced to evaluation methods related to OER that will make finding the right resources a breeze!
Wednesday, March 4
How to Use Creative Commons Licenses
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pmLocation: Zoom
"Creative Commons (CC) is a non-profit organization that maintains a set of user- and creator-friendly copyright licenses that you can attach to your work to communicate how it can be used and distributed by others." (quote from this quick start guide).
In this session Kate Langrell, USask Copyright Coordinator, will review the Creative Commons licenses and share how to attach one to your work. She will also touch on the relationship between Generative AI materials and Creative Commons licenses, and what to do if you want to use part of someone else's work within your own Creative Commons work.
Learners as Creators: An Introduction to Open Pedagogy
Time: 1:30 pm - 3:00 pmLocation: Zoom
In this session, participants will learn how to use open pedagogy to increase learner engagement and reduce concerns related to students using GenAI outside of accepted guidelines and rules. Participants will have an opportunity to draft a new or revised assessment in alignment with the principles of open pedagogy.
Thursday, March 5
Introduction to Using Pressbooks
Time: 1:30 pm - 3:00 pmLocation: Zoom
Pressbooks is an online platform for creating books (and other book-like learning materials), including open educational resources (OER). It enables authors and publishers to design, format, and share their books in several ways, including in web-based and digital/ebook formats, or as print-ready PDFs. Pressbooks is used by independent authors and educational institutions around the world. In this hands-on webinar, you will learn how to use Pressbooks to create, build, and adapt online books and OER. We will cover the basics of structuring your book, adding and formatting content, and briefly look at some ways you can enhance your book with embedded media (like images, video, and interactive H5P activities).
If you do not already have a USask Pressbooks account, one will be provided for you, along with a “sandbox” book that you can explore during the session and continue building with later. Join this session with Kristin Moskalyk from GMCTL to learn more!
Friday, March 6
Become an Open Advocate at USask
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pmLocation: Zoom
Join us for a conversation on how you can help advance the open education work at USask as an educator and an advocate. We will also discuss supports available to help your efforts, including funding.
Support
For registration support or questions regarding Open Education Week, email the Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning.