(1) There is created in the department of higher education the Colorado open educational resources council, which is composed of the following members:
(a) Twelve persons from public institutions of higher education appointed by the executive director as follows:
Five faculty members;
Three library professionals;
One person enrolled as a student at a public institution of higher education;
One instructional design expert;
One informational technology expert; and
One administrator;
The executive director of the department, or his or her designee;
The commissioner of education appointed pursuant to section 1 (2) of article IX ofthe state constitution, or his or her designee; and
The person executing the duties of the state librarian, if different from the commissioner of education as provided in section 24-90-104, or his or her designee.
(2) (a) The term of service for the appointed members of the council is three years. The executive director may appoint the same person to serve multiple, consecutive terms.
(b) The executive director shall appoint the members of the council by July 1, 2018, taking into account any nominations received from the public institutions of higher education. In appointing the members of the council, the executive director shall ensure that the council includes at least three representatives from two-year public institutions of higher education and at least three representatives from four-year public institutions of higher education, including research universities. To the extent practicable, the executive director shall appoint persons from areas throughout the state who are representative of the demographics of the state.
The executive director shall convene the first meeting of the council as soon as practicable after the council members are appointed, but no later than August 30, 2018. At the first meeting and annually thereafter, the council members shall select a member to serve as chair of the council and a member to serve as vice-chair of the council. The council shall meet as often as necessary at the call of the chair to complete its duties.
The members of the council serve without compensation but may be reimbursed forreasonable and necessary expenses incurred in serving on the council, as determined by the department. The department shall provide staff and resources to support the council in completing its duties and to assist the public institutions of higher education throughout the state in developing and expanding the use of open educational resources.
The council has the following duties:
To recommend to the commission statewide policies for promoting adaptation, creation, and use of open educational resources at public institutions of higher education across the state;
To facilitate professional development and the sharing of knowledge concerning creating and using open educational resources for public institutions of higher education, faculty, staff, and students, which may include:
Developing informational materials about open educational resources to distribute topublic institutions of higher education across the state for use and adaptation as appropriate;
Creating and maintaining a website to link to the materials that the council develops,other open educational resources, and any existing institutional open educational resources databases; and
Convening regular meetings, which may include convening open educational resources interest groups to share information and ideas, including through meetings, workshops, conferences, webinars, and an annual open educational resources conference for higher education faculty, instructional designers, librarians, campus administrators, secondary educators who teach concurrent enrollment courses, and other relevant staff;
To implement the open educational resources grant program created in section 234.5-104 and ensure that faculty and students at public institutions of higher education across the state can easily identify and access the open educational resources developed using grant money;
To advise the department concerning allocation of the money appropriated for thepurposes of this article 4.5 to pay the costs of the grant program, convening interest groups, and providing staff support; and
To prepare and submit an annual report concerning the use of open educational resources at the public institutions of higher education in the state, as described in section 234.5-105.
(6) The general assembly may annually appropriate to the department such amount as it deems appropriate for the purposes specified in this article 4.5, including the grant program. Any unexpended and unencumbered money from an appropriation made for the purposes of this article 4.5 remains available for expenditure by the department for the purposes of this article 4.5 in the next fiscal year without further appropriation.
Source: L. 2018: Entire article added, (HB 18-1331), ch. 186, p. 1253, § 1, effective April 30.