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Open Educational Resources (OERs) are becoming increasingly popular among teachers as teaching aids. OERs are openly accessible educational resources that are free for anybody to use, copy, modify, and re-share.
What Qualifies as an Open Educational Resource?
Despite the fact that you may access a wide range of educational resources online, just because something is online does not necessarily mean that you can use it. Let’s talk about the various components that make Open Educational Resources.
PART (A)- Building the OER
1. Open up your concept and add some uniqueness:
When you arrive at this development, you’ll have an idea, and it might be anything. Turn that notion upside down by saying to yourself, “This idea will never function as an X…” Then, test your ingenuity and make it work!
Use a tool that generates ideas at random (examples are discussed below in Part 3, the phase that starts with “Immerse yourself”). Consider whether anything in the resource might serve as an inspiration for your activity.
Instead, you could look at yourself and choose a random thing, like a spoon, and utilise it for the learning activity you have in mind, like using a culture’s cutlery to analyse and compare cultures. You can even use poetry about everyday objects presented in their shape to create eye-catching art piece.
2. Pick an appropriate platform:
It’s crucial to consider the platform’s compatibility for both the first intended use of the content and future (re)use when developing an OER. Therefore, deliveries ought to be “open”—freely accessible, password-free, and, preferably, customisable (at the very least, capable of duplication).
It’s not necessary to establish a new website. Alternatively, you might create and upload a text-based document, add new photographs to an existing gallery, amend a wiki page, create a closed resource but discuss your creation process publicly on social media, or construct a brand-new webpage. These are but a few illustrations.
3. Take your time and plan beforehand:
It takes a long time to produce practical learning tools through reflection and content sourcing. This is particularly true for OERs because it can take a long time to find open content or to author your own photos, text, etc. Nevertheless, the work is worth it.
You will frequently discover something novel and unexpected on your path to improvement. It may lead you to decide to abandon the original plan you had in mind. But don’t worry, and go for it! The time until that point wasn’t squandered because it assisted you in carrying out your innovative and exciting strategy.
4. Never be afraid to try anything new:
Things can appear frightening until you put flowers in them! Prepare to take risks and try something new. By trying a fresh concept, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.
If you work in education—as a parent, teacher, coach, or trainer, you will be only aware from personal experience that teaching is only successful when something has been learned. The best approach to show learning is through output or by doing.
5. Take it all in:
Both existing learning resources and fresh ones are readily available. Take a big risk and immerse yourself completely in various settings and tools. Look into the following suggestions for content inspiration and sourcing possibilities:
- Blogs
- Sending lists
- Discover websites
- MOOCs
- Search engines and content banks for OER and CC
- Online content
- Facebook, Twitter, etc. (Usually, the toughest leap is the first one; after that, it’s a lot of fun!)
6. Reuse, repurpose, and recycle:
Many excellent ideas and available resources can be used in a new context, so feel free to develop everything from scratch. Content can be used in a variety of ways, which should be noted:
- Open access content can be extracted and reused directly, partially, or only be inspirational if it forms part of the primary activity.
- Using or linking to other non-CC content is also possible, provided you have the author’s express permission to do so (and there is no harm in requesting it).
- It is optional for the sign-posted content to have a CC licence if it is not crucial to the primary activity.
7. Watch what you open:
The mere fact that something looks open on the internet does not necessarily imply an open license for its use. It is especially true for photographs, as they can be used under various permissions and be found in various locations. Therefore, it’s crucial to attempt to locate the original image rather than just selecting the one with the laxest attribution (or at least to demonstrate that you did your best to do so)! Try a new image if you need more clarification.
- Start in an open position. Creating open material is made easier by using creative commons search engines to find photographs where you do not possess a license.
- Keep an eye on the content’s specific license, such as the share-alike requirement that the final product the resource is included in utilises the same license.
8. Give Credit Where It’s Due:
Remember to credit anyone who has spent the time creating an open resource. Even if it is not necessary for the licence, it is still a good habit to form and a considerate way to express gratitude. Additionally, it facilitates the utilisation of the resource by subsequent users.
PART (B)- Putting Together and Sharing the OER
1. Put your OER together layer by layer:
Following your immersion in stimulating resources, inspiration, and a list of content to employ, all that’s left to do is connect it to your learning activity’s vision by using all the previously learned techniques and insights. Always allow plenty of time for yourself!
2. Open and make available your newly generated OER:
Applying an open licence to your creations is essential because it tells other users that your work is a part of the expanding community of open resources and practices.
Conclusion
Different types of openness are being offered in various fields of higher education as the concept of openness in education goes through a time of fast change. There are occasions when this goes differently than the original proponents of openness had planned, and numerous debates are now taking place about what exactly is meant by openness. This open course has been designed to provide the experience and information required to participate in these discussions.