Unit 3: Adapting, Creating, and Sharing OER

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Unit objectives

Upon completing this unit, you should be able to:

• Determine whether or not you can legally adapt an open resource
• Adapt an open educational resource
• Construct open educational resources from your own work
• Describe various methods of sharing your work

Can I adapt this?

Imagine that you've found an excellent resource you'd like to use in your own work. Maybe it's got one glaring error in it. Maybe the examples used are a little dated. How do you know if you can modify it?

You should be able to determine this from the license. Let's revisit the Creative Commons licenses - which licenses allow you to modify the resource?

Take the quiz!

Adapting OER

The wide variety of resource types is one benefit to OER. However, that variety makes it difficult for us to provide advice on how to adapt OER. For instance, the process for adapting a lesson plan would be very different from the process from adapting a video.

That said, here are some tips that should apply to all types of media:

• Aim for accessibility and inclusion, no matter the medium.

  It's important for us to remember that when we design in an inclusive manner, we are helping people with disabilities, but we're also helping able-bodied persons who need to learn in a variety of circumstances.

  Example. Let's say you're modifying a video. Make sure to add captions, or update the existing ones. Captions will obviously help deaf and hard-of-hearing learners, but they can also be useful to hearing people. A parent soothing an infant might find it useful to watch a video without sound, so that it wouldn't disturb the sleeping infant. A learner who forgot headphones at home might appreciate being able to watch a video with captions, if they're in a public environment like a library or computer lab.

• Remember that you can incorporate others' work into OER.

  You can incorporate others' open work into the OER you're adapting - that's where the concept of "remixing" comes into play. Make sure the license of both works allows you to do this, and make sure to give credit to the original authors.

  Also, remember that you can build resources around non-open materials, like we discussed in unit 2, lesson 1. While it would be wonderful if everything was openly licensed and freely available, we know that isn't the case!

• Be realistic about what you can adapt.

  We recommend that you only attempt to modify OER that (a) you have the technological expertise to adapt; or (b) are built on a platform that is easy to learn.

  Example #1. Let's say you teach science, and you have found a useful simulation on the PhET website. You want to make a change to the simulation you've found, but you don't know how to code.It's probably best to either use the simulation as is, or find a different one.

  Example #2. Let's say you've found a textbook on BC Open Textbooks that you'd like to modify. You see that these textbooks are built on Pressbooks, which is built on WordPress. You're very familiar with WordPress, so you think you can likely figure out Pressbooks.

• In general, follow the guidelines and styles that are customary to that medium.

  Consider the type of resource you've chosen to adapt, and whether there are any rules or guidelines that are typically used with that type of resource.

  Example. Let's say you've chosen to adapt a lesson plan. Consider what you already know about creating and editing lesson plans. You don't need to learn an entirely new approach to lesson plans!

  Using what you already know will make adapting open educational resources easier for you, but it will also help people who use your adaptations. If your open lesson plan is consistent with the way lesson plans are typically created, the structure and flow of your lesson plan will be familiar to others.

Creating OER

Almost everything discussed in the previous section applies to the creation of OER, too:

• Aim for accessibility and inclusion
• Don't be afraid to integrate others' work
• Make sure your project is within your limits
• Be consistent with the rules and guidelines of the medium

Additional Resources:

• Creating open educational resources

  This free course provided by Open Learn is an in-depth look at the creation of open educational resources. If you've completed the previous lessons in our course, you will find some of the same information in the Open Learn course. However, the Open Learn course delves deeper into issues of pedagogy.

• Create with Open Author

  This user-friendly tool from the OER Commons lets you create both student-facing content, and instructor-facing content.

How should I approach a large OER project?

If you have a large OER project in mind - such as a textbook or a website with interactive web tools - our best piece of advice is collaborate with others! We'll talk about finding like-minded peers in the course wrap-up.

Sharing OER

So you've modified or created an open educational resource. What next?

1. Make sure your resource has an open license on it.

   Hopefully, you've seen a number of different open resources at this point, and you've seen the licenses these resources use. Essentially, it's good practice to use the image of the license (such as we used in unit 1) as well as some text indicating the license type. (Make sure to give credit to the original source, if applicable.) Here are a few examples:

   Example: This is the license used by the National Endowment for the Arts, in a lesson about The Adventures of Tom Sawyer [1]:

   

   Many web tools also provide an easy way for you to indicate that you'd like to openly license that resource.

   Example: The University of Edinburgh provides a tutorial on applying Creative Commons licenses to YouTube videos. (Hint: They also have guides on applying CC licenses on other web platforms.)

2. Upload or link to it in as many repositories as possible.

   The OER Commons is one repository, and it's probably a good place to put most types of resources. There may be other repositories that are especially useful for your discipline or for that particular medium.

   Example #1: If you've created a video to share, consider uploading it to YouTube and/or Vimeo.

   Example #2: Let's say you've created a resource that would be useful for those teaching in career and technical education. You might consider uploading to SkillsCommons.

3. Don't be afraid to let people know about your work.

   It's a good idea to put things into repositories, because it will increase the likelihood of people finding your open resources - but don't discount word of mouth! You might want to let people know about your work by telling coworkers about it, posting about it on a mailing list, or even doing a presentation on it at a professional conference.

Reflection Activity

Take out your notes from unit 2, lesson 2, when you evaluated an open resource. In a new section or on a new page, consider the following:

• What teaching and learning materials do you have that you could share, or already sharing, with your colleagues?
• Would you be willing to license these materials with a Creative Commons license? Why or why not?
• What questions do you still have about OER?

Ready to move on?

Yes! Take me to Open Educational Resources: Final Thoughts!

References & Resources

[1] National Endowment for the Arts. (n.d.) Teacher's Guide. In NEA Big Read (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer). Retrieved from https://www.arts.gov/partnerships/nea-big-read/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer

 

This mini-course was created by Laura Harris. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.