COW Updates
The 4th annual “E”ffordability Summit will be held virtually from February 22-24, 2022. This year’s theme is READI (Reaching Equity, Accessibility, Diversity and Inclusion), Set, Open! The Summit is open to all educational professionals who are dedicated to improving course resources and reducing student cost through open education and other means. This event provides a venue to share knowledge, dismantle barriers, and identify ways to work together for our students. The Summit brings together students, faculty, technologists, librarians, and administrators from K-12, public libraries, college stores and two and four-year colleges and universities to concentrate on one thing…providing quality, cost effective education.
Jasmine Roberts-Crews will be kicking off the Summit as our opening keynote! We are working to build an engaging agenda.
Register now so you don’t miss out!
Members gathered virtually to share OER and affordable learning updates with Wisconsin colleagues.
This Symposium is a space for inclusive and open sharing and conversation, and creating meaningful collaborations to advance OER work. This 2021 virtual Symposium was hosted by Chippewa Valley Technical College and held on October 28-29th. View the recording, slides, and notes from the Symposium here.
COW is excited to share a call for proposals for the 2019 “E”fordability Summit that will take place at UW-Stout on March 27 and 28. There are already several really great keynote speakers lined up and the summit will doubtlessly feature a series of high-quality programs revolving around open educational resources, library resources, and other cost-reduction initiatives.
If you are interested in either speaking at or attending the summit, check out the call for proposals and brochure for more information. Please share this announcement with any colleagues or friends that may be interested in speaking or attending as well.
For any questions, contact Bob Butterfield at or use this form.
Like COW on Facebook and follow for news, events, and opportunities for Wisconsin’s Open Education initiative!
Connect with COW at WLA in La Crosse on Thursday, October 25th from 7:00 – 9:00 pm at the Waterfront Restaurant and Tavern.
Community for Open Wisconsin Members,
I wanted to send you a quick note to get you up to date on the COW activities since our face-to-face meeting last March.
The summer has been busy and several things have been set in motion to move us along rapidly. Accomplishments include:
- Evaluating the data collected at the face-to-face meeting at the “E”ffordability Summit 2018.
- Meeting of the group’s officers in June and August.
- COW officers met with the Wisconsin Library Association’s Library Development and Legislative Committee to introduce COW and discuss potential legislative priorities for the future.
- Applying for a Ideas to Action grant from Wisconsin Library Services (WiLS). The application was successful (Thank you to Vince Mussehl for writing the grant!) and will provide funding for several COW projects.
- Planning is underway for the next face-to-face meeting at the Wisconsin Library Association Annual Conference in La Crosse on October 23-26, 2018. An informational presentation on COW and a booth to encourage member recruitment are planned along with the meeting.
- Planning is also underway for “E”ffordability Summit 2019. A COW meeting will be planned along with a lineup of programming on affordability and open resources.
- A steering committee is being formed to assist in driving the community’s initiatives. If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact the COW chair.
- Outreach is being conducted with organizations inside and outside of Wisconsin. This information will help inform the structure, operation and initiatives for the Community for Open Wisconsin.
As you can see, a lot has been accomplished in getting COW ready to be an organization of action. A lot of this initial work has been “behind the scenes” to get us ready organizationally. More information will be forthcoming on specific initiatives but there is work for you now.
We need you to gather questions, compile lists of things you would like to accomplish over the next couple of years, be willing to assist on committees and workgroups, and most of all, spread the word! We want to keep growing as our voice intensifies with the growth of our membership. We will also be looking for a few willing individuals that are interested in being part of the COW Steering committee that will be launching this fall.
Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I hope the rest of your summer is glorious!
Thank you!
Bob Butterfield
Chair, Community for Open Wisconsin
