Open Educational Resources in Online Learning: Open Educational Resources in Online Learning


Introduction: Introduction What is OER? How to sustain OER efforts? OER Faculty Training Course? What tools and resources are available?


Definition: Definition Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning materials freely available in the public domain Term first adopted at UNESCO’s 2002 Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries funded by the Hewlett Foundation “digitized materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners to use and re-use for teaching, learning and research” (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources)


Open Educational Resources: Open Educational Resources Learning Content Tools Implementation Resources


Open Educational Resources: Open Educational Resources Learning Content Full courses Courseware Content modules Learning objects Collections and journals from "Wikipedia":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources


Open Educational Resources: Open Educational Resources Tools Software to support the development, use, re-use and delivery of learning content including searching and organization of content Content and learning management systems Content development tools On-line learning communities Wikis and blogs Institutional repositories with open access from "Wikipedia":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources


Open Educational Resources: Open Educational Resources Implementation Resources Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials Design principles of best practice Localization of content from "Wikipedia":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources


OER Examples: OER Examples Works by William Shakespeare at Project Gutenberg European History at Wikibooks History of American abolitionism from Library of Congress Astronomy images from NASA World Fact Book with Maps from CIA


Example: History Course with Free Materials: Example: History Course with Free Materials “Modern Europe” online course Rochester Institute of Technology History Department collection of online resources for teaching Modern European History Collection freely available online


Example: Health 101: Example: Health 101 Healthfinder Healthy People 2010 Web Site Evaluation Drill         


Open Courseware: Open Courseware Carnegie Mellon's Open Learning Initiative (OLI) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Massachusetts Institute of Technology Tufts University University of California, Irvine University of Notre Dame Utah State University Rice Connexions Berkeley Webcast Courses University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering Stanford on iTunes Notre Dame OpenCourseware MITE Monterey Institute for Technology and Education


Background: Background Open Content and OER based on the Open Source Software movement Open Source Software movement Characterised by the availability of the source code and freedom to amend that code Open source movement gained strength in wake of a cost-cutting climate following the dot-com bust Advocates a collaborative, non-proprietary approach to software development among a community of developers that allows for rapid evolutionary process Open Courseware initiatives at MIT, Rice, Utah, Foothill College Web 2.0 driven by the use of the internet for developing and sharing knowledge Open Educational Resources involves a new and dynamic relationship between faculty and students


Benefits of OER: Benefits of OER Fosters pedagogical innovation and relevance that avoids “teaching from the textbook” Broadens use of alternatives to textbooks while maintaining instructional quality Lowers costs of course materials for students


Foothill DeAnza Community College District Board Policy: Foothill DeAnza Community College District Board Policy Public Domain Board Policy 6141 “The Foothill-De Anza Community College District supports the creation, use, accessibility, and ongoing maintenance of public domain-based learning materials in accordance with established curriculum standard for educational purposes of the District, using the commonly accepted legal definition of public domain materials. The goals of this policy are to provide students with learning materials that reside in the public domain to augment and/or replace commercially available educational materials, including textbooks where appropriate, to create sustainable academic resources for students, faculty and staff, and to provide opportunities for professional growth of district employees involved in these activities.”


System-wide Approach to Supporting OER Use on Campus: System-wide Approach to Supporting OER Use on Campus


Challenges of OER: Challenges of OER Sustainability Resources for faculty support Faculty training Identification of collaborative tools for development, use, and delivery of OER learning materials Copyright and intellectual property Accessibility of learning materials Quality assurance Limited availability of fully vetted and comprehensive learning materials in some disciplines Articulation and transfer Printing demands on campus


Sustainability: Sustainability Need collaborative tools and process for development and use of OER Open eLearning Content Observatory Services Online-book about how to implement open learning policies and activities in their institution Provides tutorials on development and use of OER Open Knowledge Foundation California Open Source Textbook Project


Faculty Training and Support to Accomplish OER Tasks: Faculty Training and Support to Accomplish OER Tasks Locate/search for digital resources Assess the technical quality of digital resources Assess the credibility of digital resources Evaluate copyright and fair use Evaluate appropriateness of resources for their teaching goals Create their own websites Import resources into course website or database Digitize and post resources to webpage or database Assemble and build collections Curate and/or index the digital resources Preserve digital collections and keep them relevant Short- and long-term storage for collections Guide students in how to find and evaluate digital resources Secure resources such as servers and smart classrooms, which are often scarce


Proposed Faculty Training Course: Introduction to OER Training: Proposed Faculty Training Course: Introduction to OER Training Build educators’ knowledge and skills necessary to find, adapt, repurpose and create accessible OER for use in their classes Specific topics covered include OER terminology and best practices Examples and case studies Copyright and fair use issues as they pertain to OER Sources and repositories of public domain learning materials in various disciplines, Technical issues regarding accessibility of public domain learning materials, and uses of Creative Commons licenses Tools and standards available to develop, organize and disseminate public domain learning materials Searching techniques for identifying public domain learning materials, professional collaboration strategies Criteria for assessing the suitability of public domain learning materials for use various disciplines Lesson plan development than incorporates use of the identified public domain learning materials


Measures of OER Training Success: Measures of OER Training Success Upon completion of the course, participants will possess: Understanding of how to integrate public domain learning materials with existing curricula Knowledge of OER terminology Knowledge of the OER best practices and case studies Knowledge of public domain learning materials sources in the participant’s teaching discipline Knowledge of tools and standards available to develop, organize and disseminate public domain learning materials Knowledge of technical issues regarding accessibility of public domain learning materials Knowledge of Creative Commons licenses Ability to search and identify public domain learning materials suitable for use in the participant’s teaching discipline area Ability to collaborate with professional colleagues in the identification and/or development of public domain learning materials Ability to judge the suitability of public domain learning materials for use in participant’s teaching discipline Ability to develop lessons that incorporate use of the identified public domain learning materials


Copyright and intellectual property: Copyright and intellectual property Creative Commons - non-profit organization that helps people dedicate their creative works to the public domain -- or retain their copyright while licensing them as free for certain uses, on certain conditions. Search engine helps find, for example, photographs that are free to use provided that the original photographer is credited, or songs that may be copied, distributed, or sampled with no restrictions whatsoever.


Accessibility of Learning Materials: Accessibility of Learning Materials


Quality Assurance: Quality Assurance Limited availability of fully vetted and comprehensive learning materials in some disciplines Need process and rubrics for instructor and institution review of materials before use


Student Printing Demands: Student Printing Demands Print-on-Demand Printing demands on campus 7 Things You Should Know About E-Books


OER Resources: OER Resources Tools for locating, organizing, and delivering OER Discipline-specific sources of OER U.S. government sources of OER Use of primary sources for instruction Institutional repositories and self-archiving Tools for collaboration and OER development


Identification and Selection of Public Domain Learning Materials: Identification and Selection of Public Domain Learning Materials OER Commons http://www.oercommons.org Criteria available from MERLOT’s Peer Review process http://taste.merlot.org/evaluationcriteria.html Learning Objects Tutorial "All about learning objects" from TechLearn http://www.eduworks.com/LOTT/tutorial/ Learning Objects - EduCause http://www.educause.edu/645?PARENT_ID=606 The Instructional Use of Learning Objects http://reusability.org/read/  Searching for Public Domain Materials on the Web http://library.colstate.edu/tutorials/webfind/webfind6.shtml


Tools for Locating, Organizing, and Delivering OER: Tools for Locating, Organizing, and Delivering OER


Slide30: Comprehensive open learning network for faculty to access their colleagues’ course materials, share their own, and collaborate Uses Web 2.0 features to create an online experience that engages educators in sharing their best teaching and learning practices Tags Ratings Comments Reviews Social networking Encourages institutions, archives, and creators to open their educational resources for all to use, with appropriate and well-defined conditions of use and re-use Open Educational Resources are created, developed, housed, and maintained through institutions, collections, and authors that are partnering with OER Commons OER Commons does not create or house the learning materials themselves


Slide31: Connexions is a rapidly growing collection of free scholarly materials and a powerful set of free software tools to help authors publish and collaborate instructors rapidly build and share custom courses learners explore the links among concepts, courses, and disciplines Our Content Commons contains small "knowledge chunks" called modules that connect into courses Uses Creative Commons attribution license


WikiEducator: Exemplary Collection of Open eLearning Content Repositories : WikiEducator: Exemplary Collection of Open eLearning Content Repositories Focus on best practice examples: Already existing "packaged" learning materials to learning sequences (course units) Stand alone material for eLearning content production Internet encyclopedias/archives with open access Community developed material


Discipline Specific Sources: Discipline Specific Sources Wikibooks The Assayer ePsych BioMed Central National Fish & Wildlife Service Image Library Biology Browser Physics for Free


Sources: Public Domain Learning Materials: Sources: Public Domain Learning Materials GEM Co-operative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE) Public Domain Images Listed at Wikimedia Commons FREE: Federal Resources for Educational Excellence Wisc-Online (Wisconsin Online Resource Center)


Project Gutenberg: Project Gutenberg Internet's oldest provider of free electronic books (eBooks or eTexts) Books entered into the system after copyright expires


US Government Agency Resources: US Government Agency Resources Center for Disease Control - Public Health Image Library NIH Science Education DOI - Photo Library Resources DOI - Maps Fish and Wildlife Service - Pictures/Images National Park Service- Digital Image Archives Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Photo Library FEMA Maps Library of Congress Astronaut Photography of Earth (NASA) NASA Multimedia Gallery National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Research Room National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) World Factbook CIA


Use of Primary Sources: Use of Primary Sources Help students analyze primary sources they see, hear or read using holiday themed resources from The Library of Congress http://memory.loc.gov/learn/start/prim_sources.html# Smithsonian http://www.smithsoniansource.org/tea/viewdetails.aspx National Archives Lessons Plans http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/ The Teaching with Primary Sources Program http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/ Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/ http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/primary.html http://memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/index.html PrimarySource Learning http://www.primarysourcelearning.org/students/second.shtml


Institutional Repositories and Self-Archiving: Institutional Repositories and Self-Archiving "digital collections capturing and preserving the intellectual output of a single or multiple-university community“ eScholarship of the California Digital Library MIT textbooks Hofstra University Hofprints-Hofstra University E-Print Archive Cornell Race, Ethnicity, and Religion Project


Open Educational Resources Archive: Open Educational Resources Archive Collection of educational content including coursework, study guides, exercises, and recorded lectures For students, teachers, and self-learners at all levels ArsDigita University MIT OpenCourseWare Monterey Institute for Technology & Education AP Courses MSRI Math Lectures Naropa Poetics Audio Archives The University Channel Public Affairs Lectures


Slide40: Encourage participation by students in higher education Reduce the costs of their course development Find good quality materials for using in courses Upload and share their educational resources in the LabSpace Find other educators with shared interest in their specialist field Take part in forums, video conferences and online text chat with other learners and educators Collaborate with others on course development Experiment with new technologies for content delivery Study the Education courses for continuing professional development


Slide41: Openlearn encourages sharing and re-using of educational materials LabSpace – connect, download, remix, upload Intended for educational practitioners and more adventurous learners. Includes all the materials in the LearningSpace with the option to download for use in teaching or research. All content under a Creative Commons license Publish your own educational content in the LabSpace and contribute to a growing library of free online materials for higher education Provides tools: Instant messaging FlashMeeting - live video conferencing Compendium Knowledge mapping software tool for visual thinking Community Forums Learning Journal for personal notetaking


Tool: Wikimedia Commons: Tool: Wikimedia Commons Provides a central repository for freely licensed photographs, diagrams, animations, music, spoken text, video clips, and media Uses the same wiki-technology as Wikipedia edit easily and without advanced technical skills directly in the web browser Files uploaded to Wikimedia Commons can be embedded on pages of all Wikimedia projects without the need to separately upload


Collaboration:Wikisource and Wikiversity: Collaboration: Wikisource and Wikiversity Wikiversity: Community for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities as well as collaborative learning projects and communities around these materials Wikisource: Online library of free content publications collected and maintained by the community