That's a great idea, Michael. Definitely count me in. I also think the student associations are a key component of this. Having a campaign that gets a statement or perspective from each institution's student association. I know there was a letter-writing campaign by students at one point.

Personally, I'd like to see as well coordinated six month to year-long campaign. Perhaps pulling together crafted messages (in short letter or infographic form) from each participating institution, which includes a student association and faculty perspective, and is situated under a common tagline/hashtag (call to action) could be sent to the NDP (or multiple parties) on a staggered basis - via mail, email, and social media. The messages could highlight money saved to students, improved pedagogical approaches, and flexibility that OER affords instructors, etc. I would think any coordinated effort that gets press would put pressure on the parties.

Just some Friday thoughts.

Cheers,

Erik

On Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 6:06 PM Michael McNally <mmcnally@ualberta.ca> wrote:

Dear Canada OER Community,

I was reflecting on the fact that we recently went through a federal election campaign where affordability was a central concern for seemingly every party, even to the point of floating vague��promises (e.g. wireless mobile cost reductions with little specifics on how this would be practically achieved). Specifically, the NDP noted post-secondary affordability as a key issue, but its focus was more on tuition and grants, and it appeared, to the best of my knowledge, silent on textbook costs.��

Many parties also seemed relatively unconcerned��about making expenditure promises if they figured they would garner votes.�� Couple these with the fact we are likely looking at a shorter time frame to the next election (most saying 18 to 24 months) and that every party will be looking to improve on their��performance��from earlier in the month, and I was wondering if there was interest in trying to get OER funding on to any of the federal party's radar (with the hope that given it is a relatively��non-partisan issue, that if one party were to propose OER funding others may simply adopt it).��

I think there might be a variety of approaches/strategies to pursue to get OER funding, but thought I would see if there was some collective interest in pursuing this.

Michael

--
Michael B. McNally,
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education (School of Library and Information Studies)��
5-171 Education North, University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta CANADA T6G 2J4
mmcnally@ualberta.ca
Phone: 780-492-3934
Fax: 780-492-2430
_______________________________________________
Canadaoer mailing list
Canadaoer@mail.bccampus.ca
https://lists.bccampus.ca/mailman/listinfo/canadaoer