Guides: OER: Open Educational Resources: Engaging with OER

Start Small

Once you've developed a basic understanding of the OER essentials, there are many ways to engage with OER for your courses, some more time and labor-intensive than others.

You can Adopt an existing OER as is into your course, Adapt an OER by making changes to parts of it, or Create an entirely new OER. Here are some recommendations for Starting Small:

Use one OER
- Try out an Open Educational Resources from one of the many collections out there in your class. It can be an assignment, in-class activity, or any other small component of your overall class. If you like it, keep using it!
Review OER
- If you use OER material in your class, consider posting a review to let others know how useful an item is. Many OER collections like Merlot offer the option of peer reviews from the community. If you want to be an official OER reviewer, check out Merlot's GRAPE Camp for official peer reviewers.
- If you run a blog or social media site, you can write a post with a review of the material that you have found and used.
Make a list of OER resources for your discipline
- Make a list on your website or blog.
- Send it to a discipline's mailing list.
- Post it on social media like Academia.edu or LinkedIn.
Deposit OER
- OER collections like Merlot and OER Commons are made of resources created by the community. You can contribute as well! Once you've created and licensed an item, deposit it in one of these collections or choose one of the subject-specific collections listed in this guide.
- Share it with your library subject specialists.

Format & Tools

Whether creating something new or adapting an existing OER, there are several important considerations to keep in mind, especially with regards to format.

Format

To re-use the work of another, the format is important. It's difficult to make edits to a PDF file, and some older file extensions (e.g. .wps) can be difficult to use on modern computers.

Consider offering your text-based teaching materials in an accessible and editable format like Rich Text File (.rtf) or even a plain text file that can be read by a number of different software programs. An HTML file is a good option too.

Making a video for your class? Consider the format and the available players carefully. The .mp4 extension is often recommended for OER because of the many players that read it and its easy reuse for others.

Creation Tools

Google Drive
Drive allows you to create web-hosted documents, presentations, forms etc. Each document can be linked to from D2L and centrally maintained (i.e. you can update the google document and it will automatically update within D2L). This can be useful especially if you are using the same material for multiple classes.
Pixlr
Online photo editor and drawing tool. Requires Flash.
PressBooks
"Easily create e-books, typeset PDFs, and web books. Choose from professionally designed book themes. One button publishing." Free and priced options.
PubPub
PubPub is a collaborative writing and publishing platform from MIT's Knowledge Futures group. The basic level for free allows for robust drafting, editing, and publishing features, as well as a URL at pubpub.org and e-mail support.
Rebus Community
Rebus Community guides open textbook projects through the publishing workflow and makes it easy to find, recruit, and organize collaborators.
Screencast-o-matic
Easily record and edit videos of action on your computer screen.
SoftChalk
Can be used to create interactive tutorials and mash up text/media.
WeBWorK
WeBWorK is an open-source online homework system for math and science courses. Instructors can create problem sets or use material from existing libraries. Current courses include college algebra, discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, single and multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra and complex analysis.
YouTube (Uploading Videos)
The place to upload and store videos for viewing. This link leads to a tutorial on how to upload videos to YouTube.
See more OER authoring tools
From SUNY Empire.

Guides on Creation Tools

80 Open Educational Resources tools
Includes 80 online resources that you can use to learn how to build or participate in a collaborative educational effort that focuses on publication and development of those materials. Although some choices focus solely on publication, development, or tools used to accomplish either effort, some provide multifaceted venues that offer communities in which to collaborate on one or all of these efforts.
Authoring Open Textbooks by the Open Textbook Network
This guide is for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks in higher education and K-12. Content includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools.
A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students (from the Open Textbook Network)
A handbook for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other Open Educational Resources. This is a first edition, compiled by Rebus Community, and we welcome feedback and ideas to expand the text.
SUNY Empire Authoring Tools Guide
A clearinghouse of OER, including learning object repositories, open course repositories, scholarly repositories, open textbooks, and information about open learning/education in general.
Open Education Self-Publishing Guide
The BCcampus Open Education Self-Publishing Guide is a reference for individuals or groups wanting to write and self-publish an open textbook.This guide provides details on the preparation, planning, writing, publication, and maintenance of an open textbook. Copyright, open-copyright licences, and the differences between citation and attribution are discussed as well as the importance of copy editing and proofreading. Checklists and templates are also provided. This guide replaces the BCcampus Open Education Authoring Guide.
Rights Reversion and Open Textbooks
If you've published a textbook that is several years old, you might be able to use Rights Reversion to obtain the rights to publish a new version as an Open Textbook. Read this story about Dale Cannon's successful negotiation for rights to his book.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

OER: Open Educational Resources

Start Small

Format & Tools

Format

Creation Tools

Guides on Creation Tools