THE BASICS OF
Questions to Consider 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
What in the world is an OER? How does a resource become open? Is every open resource free? Aren’t most OER low-quality? Why should I care? How can I get started and who can help me?
What in the world is an OER?
Open Educational Resources (OER) “Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits nocost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.” From the Hewlett Foundation: https://www.hewlett.org/strategy/open-educational-resources/
Examples of Types of OER
Defining the "Open" in OER: The 5 R-Activities • Retain (e.g., download, duplicate, store, and manage) • Reuse (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video) • Revise (e.g., translate the content into another language)
• Remix (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup) • Redistribute (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend) From David Wiley’s definition given at http://www.opencontent.org/definition/
So how does a resource become open? So how do I make my lesson plans open?
CC Licensing BY (Attribution) SA (Share Alike) NC (Non-Commercial) ND (No Derivatives)
When we share, everyone wins.
Example of an OER Textbook Applied Combinatorics
Conditions of Use
(1 review) Mitchel Keller, Washington and Lee University William Trotter, Georgia Institute of Technology Pub Date: 2017 ISBN 13: 978-1-9737027-1-9
Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA
Reviews Learn more about reviews.
Publisher: Independent
Read This Book
PDF Online Print B&W
Reviewed by Sebastian Cioaba, Associate Professor, University of Delaware, on 2/2/2018.
Is every open resource free?
Yes
Original open version must stay free.
‌and No May be minimal charges for enhanced or print versions of the original.
Free!
$48.50 from OpenStax on Amazon
Aren’t most OER low quality? Answer: They run the gamut of educational resource quality. Babson Survey Research Group. (2016). Opening the Textbook: Open Education Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2015-2016. http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/oer.html
Post-Production Peer Review 20 Reviews ~4.5 on scale of 1 to 5 • • • • • • • • • • •
Comprehensiveness Accuracy Relevance/Longevity Clarity Consistency Modularity Organization/Structure/Flow Interface Grammatical Errors Cultural Relevance Comments
Example of an OER Interactive Tutorial
Example of an OER Complete Course
Why should I care about OER?
Why should we care? Textbook price increases over the last 10 years have outpaced increases of all other consumer goods combined, and even outpaced increases in college tuition and fees. (USBOLS) Between 1977 and 2015, textbook prices rose 1041% while the CPI for all items combined rose only 308%. (NBC News) Textbooks costs average $1250 per year for students at public 4-year colleges and $1390 per year for students at public 2year colleges. (National College Board) High textbook prices are causing students to take fewer courses, or to not purchase a textbook even when they know it will likely hurt their grade. (Florida Virtual Campus Survey) Textbooks are one student expense that colleges can control.
Examples of Potential Savings Top 29 Highest Enrollment Academic Courses in the ACCS for 2016-2017
278,412 x $100 = $27,841,200
How can I get started?
Resources for Starters • Open Textbook Library: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/ • OpenStax: https://openstax.org • OERCommons: https://www.oercommons.org/ • Affordable Learning Georgia: https://www.affordablelearninggeorgia.org/
Points of Contact Ron Leonard, Coordinator of Special Initiatives Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) Phone: 334-242-2211 Ron.Leonard@ache.Alabama.gov Vicky Ohlson, Director of Special Projects Academic and Student Affairs Division Alabama Community College System (ACCS) Phone: 334-293-4568 Vicky.Ohlson@accs.edu