*Relinda Ruth of the UA Cossatot OER and Arkansas OEN*

Our money-saving textbook policy is one aspect of a UA Cossatot educational experience that is different from many other colleges. Relinda Ruth not only heads up our Open Education Resources, but she is a recognized leader in the state in this field. Relinda was recently interviewed by the Open Education Network. That interview can be found at https://open.umn.edu/.../member-spotlight-arkansas...

Recently, the ACC joined the OEN. The OEN recently interviewed Relinda Ruth about Arkansas’s move toward OER and the ACC’s recent membership to the OEN. They published the interview on their blog- https://open.umn.edu/oen/blog-and-events

As the Arkansas OEN leader, Ruth participated in a 3-hour synchronous Zoom session on Wednesday morning. The presenters for the train-the-trainer event were Meggie Mapes, Introductory Course Director at the University of Kansas, and Cheryl Casey, Open Education Librarian at the University of Arizona.

There are 8 OEN delegates around the state, and institutions can select three individuals to serve as OER ambassadors. Arkansas can have 75 Open Educational Resource (OER) ambassadors among the ACC’s institutions. Ambassadors will be trained to bring expertise, mentorship, and best practices back to their member community. They will learn to facilitate workshops to engage and support faculty through a train-the-trainer event.