4 How to Go Open
A Framework for OER
See “A Framework for Creating OER” (2020) by Ariana Santiago is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 International license.
- Research: explore OER in your subject area, learn about OER and copyright, consult a librarian if needed.
- Pre-production: define your OER goals and curate existing OER. If available, call for colleague volunteers to help remix, adapt and create.
- Design: develop the OER outline, scope the production and assess needs.
- Development: write and revise content, get peer review/feedback, check intellectual property and accessibility. Import to your publication platform and perform a final quality assurance check.
- Publication: disseminate and share with appropriate channels and distribute to students.
Finding OER
First, when looking for relevant OER for your course, please consult with your college OER champions (available in the ‘Read Me’ tab). They will help guide you through this process and find available options that will likely fit your needs. Note, that if your course is in general education that many well-developed and widely adopted resources already exist (e.g., OpenStax and Open Textbook Library). Alternatively, if your course is a career and technical education course, then open textbooks may already be developed for your subject area (e.g., Skills Commons Repository, Libretexts Workforce Library) or these could be lacking. Yet, know that open content is expanding daily, and thus if you are unable to find relevant open content today, that this may be developed and available soon.
For more information, consult The OER Starter Kit Workbook sections ‘Finding Open Content’, ‘Repositories and Search Tools’, and ‘Ancillary Content’. Also see the Community College Consortium for OER’s ‘Find OER’ guidance with helpful resources.
Adopting OER
Finding and adopting resources can be time-consuming and overwhelming, but we are fortunate to have so many individuals in the open education world that are standing by and ready to support you in your endeavor. In the below steps, these individual roles are bolded. We recommend, starting small and creating an action plan.
Step 1: Review the Materials
The process for reviewing open textbooks is the same as commercial textbooks. Keep in mind that many open textbooks have been peer-reviewed by faculty or subject matter experts so you may use these reviews to narrow down choices before examining them yourself. If you want to evaluate the materials yourself, there are some existing rubrics that can guide you.
- Open textbook review criteria from BCcampus Open Textbooks
- Evaluation rubric for OER from Achieve
- Evaluating OER module and resources from SUNY
- OER rubric from WTCS’s OpenRN project
- ‘Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Openness’ blog series from CCCOER that raises many points you will also want to keep in mind when evaluating OER.
Step 2: Modify the OER (if necessary)
After completing an evaluation of the materials, you can determine whether any modification is needed. If you decide to modify materials, then the format of the material, the license type, and the potential for hosting a new digital version must be considered. BCcampus’ Open Textbook Adaptation Guide includes information that you may find helpful.
Remixing allows you to mix and match different OER and other resources available in the public domain. Remixing provides you with a customized product geared towards your specific course competencies, local area, and/or local examples. When you publish a remixed textbook, you will want to be sure to use the appropriate Creative Commons licensing. You need to respect the original authors’ license requirements in addition to your own. Your lead OER contact will be able to assist you with this and you can also consult the Creative Commons Frequently Asked Questions for information on which licenses are compatible. Some institutions offer a publishing platform called Pressbooks to create or remix books, but they can be created in any processing tool such as Microsoft Office or Google docs. LibreTexts offers a free tool (funded by the U.S. Department of Education) to remix textbooks. See an example of a remixed textbook.
For specific instructions or tutorial on remixing, visit the optional resources below.
- “LibreText Remixer Tutorial” by LibreText
- “Creating a Remix on OER Commons” by Kate Katz
Step 3: Attribution of OER
Creative Commons licenses require that the user of a creative work attribute the creator or copyright holder. This is also a requirement of U.S. copyright law and is good practice in general, particularly to model the behavior you are trying to promote. If you plan to use images, videos, or other CC-licensed works in your own instructional materials or documents then you must include the required attribution. Read “How to attribute a Creative Commons licensed work” to learn more about attributing CC licensed materials as well as to receive tips and a free tool to help you automate the process. Your college librarians can likely help you in this attribution process.
Step 4: Delivery of OER to Students
There are several stakeholders on campus involved in delivering instructional materials to students, including the bookstore, library, IT help desk, disability support services, instructional technologist, and possibly on-site print services. It is important to engage these stakeholders in your move to OER as they can all assist in the smooth delivery of open materials to students. Your college may have a policy requiring faculty to notify the college bookstore of any textbooks required for courses they are teaching by a certain date. In this case, you may need to work to broaden the policy so that an open textbook (digital or printed copy) selection can also be made available through the bookstore.
Online
The simplest and most economical method of delivering OER to students is to provide a link for students to view the OER online or to download it. Most open textbooks are available in a few different downloadable formats, such as PDF, ePub, Mobi, or DAISY formats. Keep in mind that certain formats may be preferable for students with visual impairments.
Offline
Downloadable options may also be useful for students without reliable Internet access so they can download the material to their computers or mobile devices for offline viewing. You could also download a copy of the OER and integrate it into the Learning Management System (LMS) at your college.
Low-cost printing is another option for open textbooks. Some OER textbook providers offer low-cost printing services directly from their websites, in which case you may be able to work with your institution’s bookstore to acquire printed copies. Other printing options could include institutional printing services or students using free printing allowances to print chosen sections of the textbook.
Creating OER
Even more challenging than adopting OER or other affordable resources is creating original resources. However, if we take a step back and examine our current teaching, we will find that we are often already creating original content. We tend to think of creation as writing textbooks, but textbooks are really only one piece of the overall teaching and learning experience. Think of the resources that you use in your class already – lectures, assignments, case studies, etc. If you have made any of these resources then you have ventured into creation!
Of course, some of the highest impact resources are textbooks. For example, a general psychology or physics textbook can meet standard competencies not only in your class but at colleges across the country. These large-scale, high impact textbooks are very large projects and often require support from hundreds of developers, in addition to generous financial support. Many of these textbooks exist for general education courses, but there are still many disciplines that lack original content – such as health sciences. View the Open RN web site to learn more about how the Wisconsin Technical College System is addressing this problem head-on. Typically the library will provide support with creating and remixing, but have a conversation with your institution’s lead OER contact to learn more.
There are often questions surrounding writing or contributing to OER. Essentially, how do you write an OER or how do you get started? OER follows the same principles and guidelines as any other writing, with the writing process as the framework. Often faculty or creators confuse writing an OER with the writing process in general. For information on the writing process and how it relates to OER, see the resources below.
- Authoring Open Textbooks by Falldin and Lauritsen is licensed under CC BY 4.0
- How to Write an OER Chapter for Students by UTA Libraries (optional video)
- “The Writing Process” by Allie Davis (optional infographic and reading)
Sustaining Your Content
One of the biggest concerns I see from faculty and developers is sustainability. Who is going to keep this free content updated? The concern is valid, especially if you are the creator and you are aware of the time commitment involved to make a great resource. The truth is, there is no one answer to this question. Many OER materials have been developed by a single instructor, who updates the content as needed. Some organizations, such as OpenStax, coordinate a team of volunteers to peer review materials. Many colleges and institutions are now earmarking funds specifically to create, update, maintain, or even pilot the use of open educational resources. Sustainability varies between institution, system, or even state. Grants will likely be available for a long time to create or even re-create original products, but an increasing number of institutions are allocating more budgeted dollars towards sustainable efforts.
A model that the Open RN project is exploring involves applying very small royalties from the sales of the print version of the textbook towards a sustainability fund. In this example, the cost of each textbook will include a $1 to $5 royalty which would be applied towards future updates and revisions. Looking at this from a practical lens, the project might conduct a text review during the 5-year curriculum review process which is required in Wisconsin. While a competency or two might change, it is unlikely that a complete overhaul will be needed. It is worth mentioning that this model still aligns with the “Open” principle as students will always have the option to access the digital version of the text at no cost.
Optional Resources
- WTCS User Guide to OER – A 1-page resource with information on finding, adopting, adapting OER.
- WTCS OER Field Guide for Sustainability Planning: resource guide for colleges in scaling OER work that is specific to the WTCS
- Using OER to re-open education: 1-page infographic for leveraging OER with the constraints of COVID-19
- Affordable and Open Educational Practices Scale of Adoption Assessment: tool for colleges to evaluate OER resources and structures, and set goals for scaling best practices to advance OER
- Interested in learning more about OER? Enroll in OER 101, an introductory course taught by CVTC Director of Library Services, Vince Mussehl. This course has been developed as part of the OpenRN project, but participants do not need to be part of the Health Sciences. This opportunity is open to all WTCS faculty and staff. Sign up on the OpenRN webpage.
- Interested in developing an open textbook? Learn more about the development process used in the OpenRN project by watching this presentation from OpenRN project director, Kim Ernstmeyer (MSN, RN, CNE, APNP-BC, CHSE).
- Wisconsin Technical Colleges: Making Wisconsin Open (Community College Consortium for OER)
This chapter adapts and remixes content from Student Success with Open & Affordable Resources (OER 101) from Vince Mussehl, provided under CC-BY 4.0 and content from the Community College Consortium for OER (e.g. Adopt OER), provided under CC-BY 4.0