CREATING, USING AND SHARING OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Creating, Using and Sharing MOOCS AND OER MORE USEFUL REPOSITORIES FURTHER REFERENCES (ALL OPENLY LICENSED) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) consist of lessons that are Academic Earth houses US college courses. SIMPLE GUIDES Open Educational Resources freely available to anyone on the Internet, and are accessed by http://academicearth.org Commonwealth of Learning & UNESCO. (2011). Guidelines for open educational large numbers of learners. They are generally not for credit and the Ariadne Finder searches a European repository that hosts content resources (OER) in higher education. Retrieved from www.col.org/ majority of participants do not commit to the full course, but instead in many languages. resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=364 participate according to their personal needs and preferences. MOOCs http://ariadne.cs.kuleuven.be/AriadneFinder Kanwar, A., Uvalić-Trumbić, S., & Butcher, N. (2011). A basic guide to open have grown out of the online learning movement, but many are not Connexions in the US has more than 20,000 OER. educational resources (OER). Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/ publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=357 quite so “open” and use closed licences. These closed xMOOCs are http://cnx.org/ typically for-profit, venture-capital-backed and characterised by OAPEN-UK. (n. d.). Creative Commons guide. Retrieved from http://oapen-uk. Curriki is a US OER repository with mainly K–12 content. their focus on knowledge transmission (e.g. video lectures) rather jiscebooks.org/ccguide/ www.curriki.org than interaction. The original cMOOCs stress connectivity and rely Open Knowledge Foundation. (n. d.). Guide to finding interesting public domain on student discoveries, discussions and the shared creation of The Federal Registry for Educational Excellence is a US government works online. Retrieved from http://publicdomainreview.org/guide-to- knowledge among participants. However, both types may or may not search engine. Many resources in this repository are public domain finding-interesting-public-domain-works-online/ use both open and closed licensed content that is freely accessible but not all. Prabhala, A. (2010). Copyright and open educational resources. Retrieved from on the Internet. http://free.ed.gov www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=323 JISC in the UK provides search advice and a list of open and free RESEARCH AND IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES repositories. Butcher, N., & Hoosen, S. (2012). Exploring the business case for open HOW TO FIND OER? A LIST www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/finding-video-audio-and-images- educational resources. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/ OF RESOURCES online/#creative-commons publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=421 OER are available in repositories on the Internet. Jorum is a UK Further and Higher Education repository of OER. Commonwealth of Learning. (2012). Fostering governmental support for OER http://www.jorum.ac.uk internationally. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/ SELECT LIST OF SPECIALISED MERLOT in the US has links to more than 40,000 resources, but some detail.aspx?PID=436 SEARCH ENGINES are subject to copyright restrictions. Dhanarajan, G., & Porter, D. (Eds.). (2013). Open educational resources: An The Commonwealth of Learning’s Directory of Open Educational www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm Asian perspective. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=441 Resources was designed to aid distance education practitioners in The National Repository of Open Educational Resources in India particular and it seeks out OER in the major repositories. contains a wide variety of OER types. Downes, S. (2011, July 18). Open educational resources: A definition. Retrieved from www.downes.ca/archive/11/07_18_news_OLDaily.htm http://doer.col.org http://nroer.in/home Glennie, B. J., Harley, K., Butcher, N., & van Wyk, T. (Eds.). (2012). Creative Commons Search is not limited to OER and contains links Open OER Knowledge Cloud is a repository of scholarly articles, research educational resources and change in higher education: Reflections from to open content of all sorts. and reports about OER. practice. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from http://search.creativecommons.org https://oerknowledgecloud.org www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=412 http://open4us.org/find-oer Siyavula houses a South African repository of K–12 books in science Hylen, J. (2007). Giving knowledge for free: The emergence of Google University Learning searches through a collection of OER and and technology. Sign-up is required. open educational resources. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/ Open Courseware sites. http://projects.siyavula.com/technology-powered-teaching dataoecd/35/7/38654317.pdf https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=00919024379268290399 Wikiversity links to wiki-based OER in several languages. McGreal, R., Kinutha, W., & Marshall, S. (Eds.). ( 2013). Open educational 0:e40rcqv1bbo www.wikiversity.org resources: Innovation, research and practice. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/ OERCommons is a large database of OER with resources suitable for A catalogue of OER repositories is available in Appendix 6 (p. 87) a variety of education environments, from K–12 to higher education. Pages/detail.aspx?PID=447 of the Commonwealth of Learning’s publication Basic Guide to OER www.oercommons.org OER Knowledge Cloud. A database of more than 600 OER related research www.col.org/PublicationDocuments/Basic-Guide-To-OER.pdf resources. Retrieved from http://oerknowledgecloud.org OER Dynamic Search Engine provides a list of websites that house Creative Commons has a page dedicated to open educational UNESCO. (2012). UNESCO Paris Declaration on Open Educational Resources. various OER. resources. Retrieved from www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/ http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/OER+Dynamic+Search+Engine http://creativecommons.org/education Events/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_01.pdf SELECT LIST OF OTHER OER Creative Commons has a page that highlights OER case studies. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/OER_Case_Studies SEARCH ENGINES CREATING, USING AND SHARING OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES KNOWLEDGE SERIES Computer Science OER Portal USEFUL TOOLS This guide was prepared by Rory McGreal, UNESCO/COL Chair in OER, as part of the http://iiscs.wssu.edu/drupal/csoer_collections CC licence chooser simplifies adding a CC licence notice to a website. UNESCO/COL Chair in OER initiative with the help of S. D’Antoni (Athabasca University), OpenTapestry is a repository of OER from Saylor.org and other OER http://creativecommons.org/choose W. Mackintosh (OER Foundation) and C. Green (Creative Commons). sites. It “also provides tools that help organizations easily adopt and Compfight allows for searching openly licences photos in Flickr. adapt open courses into existing learning management systems.” http://compfight.com The Knowledge Series is a topical, start-up guide to distance education practice and delivery. New titles are published each year. www.opentapestry.com/courses Editor: Lesley Cameron OpenAttribute consists of a suite of tools that simplifies copying/ Designer: Denise Tremblay TEMOA Knowledge Hub is a public multilingual portal searchable by pasting the correct attribution for any CC-licensed work. All Web references and links in this publication are accurate at press time. subject area or media type. It also includes social networking tools. http://openattribute.com www.temoa.info Commonwealth of Learning, 2013 Xpert can be used to search a database of open learning resources. Note that not everything is openly licensed. Commonwealth of Learning, 1055 West Hastings, Suite 1200, Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9 CANADA www.nottingham.ac.uk/xpert PH: +1.604.775.8200 | FAX: +1.604.775.8210 | E-MAIL: [email protected] | WEB: www.col.org knowledge
A TOPICAL, START-UP GUIDE TO DISTANCE EDUCATION PRACTICE AND DELIVERY
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER also available at www.col.org/knowledge S series OER are reusable; are adaptable to many learning contexts and environments; and should be interoperable in different formats (including print) as well as on different devices, operating systems and applications.
There are many benefits to using OER in addition to sharing, which are used in some sites, and can be useful; they are usually in the form of and effort of creating your own “perfect” materials. Quite often the INTRODUCTION is an important component of any educational experience. With OER, star ratings or numbers. Instructors can also conduct self-evaluations of OER DEVELOPMENT only people who care about “perfection” are the curriculum specialists Open Educational Resources (OER) are free learning resources OER development is becoming more sophisticated as instructors and course the author retains ownership of his or her copyright without having resources to ensure that the quality meets their standards. Also, the brand or themselves — and they can spend years arguing over the relative PROBLEMS WITH available on the Internet. OER can be openly licensed or in the public specialists become more familiar with the environment. Most approaches to to assign it to a publisher, so author rights are preserved. Moreover, reputation of the course developers or their institutions can be an important merits of different approaches, techniques and content. COMMERCIAL CONTENT domain, and can be used or reused for free. They can exist in many OER creation have been developed from the approaches used for face-to- open licences require that attribution be given to the author when an indicator of quality. It is pedagogically justifiable and often most appropriate to adopt formats: text (either print or digital); audio, video, multimedia or face learning. However, the online environment opens up new possibilities OER is reused, revised, remixed or redistributed. Plagiarism becomes Of course, the above quality indicators can and should also be used outright or adapt an entire course produced by other institutions. DRM = DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT hypermedia; or various combinations of these. They can be based for learning. When initiating and supporting OER assembly/development less of a problem when a work can be freely copied — there is no in evaluating restrictively licensed content. The ability to update content Specific modules on relevant course topics can sometimes be more (OR TPM, TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION on a single learning point, a lesson, a series of lessons (a module), a projects, OER users may want to bear in mind the following list of recom- incentive to lie about the source or to deny attribution. OER are also in a timely fashion without restriction gives OER a significant measur- suitable. Externally produced OER can form the component parts of MEASURES) whole course or even an entire programme of study. They can sup- mendations, which draws on direct knowledge of and experience in distance an excellent way of marketing an institution and spreading its name able quality advantage over closed content. Commercial vendors do specific modules or larger courses. Often they can serve as alternate port a specific learning methodology or approach — whether that education and traditional learning, adapting to the online environment and Commercial content can be expensive, but the real need for internationally. not allow users to modify their content and so it cannot be updated by pathways to accommodate differing learning styles or to allow students be behaviourist, constructivist, connectivist, etc. — or any combi- the strengths and weaknesses of software applications. OER is driven by DRM, the technical protection measures As more and more educators learn about OER, the supply keeps the users. Cost is another important variable in evaluating quality. If to use different devices. Course materials must be reusable and adapt- nation of methodologies or approaches. Although they may differ in that disable many functions and that are commonly known increasing. There are now large numbers of OER on many subjects. the content is too costly and essentially unaffordable, it is not useful. 1. BEG OR BORROW (OR STEAL!) LEARNING able for repurposing. To facilitate this, organise lessons as modules. format, structure or approach, they share a common characteristic: as “digital locks.” Commercial publishers can technically They are becoming more relevant and their quality is improving. Not OER are free of charge and the costs of developing content as OER is RESOURCES. DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL. 5. BUILD FLEXIBLY FOR REUSE AND REPURPOSING. control how, when, where and with what specific brands their openness. Using previously created materials is almost always more efficient than only are OER free of cost, they are also free to use in any way that a shared among many institutions. An institution may develop one OER GENERALISABILITY REDUCES COSTS. of technological assistance users can access content and OER are also open (mostly). What does that mean in practical creating your own. Take advantage of the freely and legally accessible learner or instructor desires and are free of technological and legal and receive thousands in return. OER can facilitate change in the type and amount of your course applications. These restrictions include: terms? With an open licence, the creators retain ownership of OER that are accessible online. It is almost always easier to adapt existing restrictions, so no time has to be spent seeking permissions. Highly materials’ content, features and functionality. They are normally self- their work and can specify how open they want their resources materials to your needs than to develop them yourself. If course materials • restricting accessibility to one format and one structured OER can support traditional teaching methods, while contained and portable to different environments. The costs of overall to be, from fully open to closed for specific purposes (see COPYRIGHT ISSUES that you like are not available as OER, you can always take the idea and device; more open examples lend themselves to constructivist, connectivist development are reduced significantly when materials are generic and Creative Commons, below). Unlike commercial resources, OER In the Commonwealth (and the USA), copyright law evolved from the Statute create your own content. You can make an OER. Remember, ideas are not • disabling highlighting, annotating, hyperlinking and or other approaches. And because OER can be changed to meet the available for use in multiple subject areas and formats. This approach can be used and reused as needed and/or desired by learners of Queen Anne, 1710, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning (http:// copyrightable, only the specific expression of an idea is protected by copy- printing options; needs or requirements of the user, they can be used to support a wide also makes ongoing maintenance and error correction much easier. and teachers: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne). Fair dealing (http://en.wikipedia. right. If no OER are available you can also use fair dealing rights to access • disabling audio and video applications used by those range of learning environments. An important benefit of this ability to Too many designers do not allow for multilingual capacity in their • They can be edited to reflect the styles and approaches of org/wiki/Fair_dealing) or “fair use” has been enshrined in copyright law from resources up to a reasonable amount or simply create a link. with audio or visual impairments; change OER is that it facilitates timely updating as well as localising, course structures. This is unfortunate, because many materials could the users. the beginning, particularly for research and education. Under fair dealing, • prohibiting the reuse, mixing and matching or aug- translating and otherwise adapting the material to specific contexts. 2. TAKE WHAT EXISTS AND BUILD THE COURSE be easily translated if the course structure were open. For example, • They can be augmented by the insertion of new material as This freedom is also important for the training of course developers educators have every right to use “a reasonable amount” of restrictively menting of the resource; licensed content in their course packs or websites. (Analogous rights ex- AROUND IT. if text is not used inside graphics, there is an option for translation it becomes known or available. within institutions as more instructors learn how to access, adapt, • geographic restrictions whereby resources cannot ist in other legal traditions.) However, please be careful when integrating This is a tried and true approach to course development. Early universities into other languages and access by persons with varying degrees of • They can be customised to reflect the ethos of your organ- improve and deploy open content. be used outside of a certain region; and restrictively licensed content. The use of this “closed” content should be developed around monasteries or religious study groups, where teachers visual impairment. isation. OER are not only a good thing because they are free and acces- based their lessons on traditional texts — that is, the content determined • removing content when monthly payments stop or avoided whenever possible as it can create problems for others who wish 6. DESIGN FOR USE ON MOBILE DEVICES. • They can be repurposed. For example, a Sociology statis- sible. They have also been linked to improved achievement and the learning. Now, many instructional design manuals insist that you start licences expire or at the company’s discretion. to share the course materials. Mobile devices are becoming very popular. More than 90 per cent of tics package can be adapted for Psychology or Nursing or student completion rates when students can readily access the with a needs analysis and build your course materials based on the specific Linking to any content that is freely displayed on the Internet is legal the world’s population can now access mobile signals. More people Economics, etc. course material. With global sharing, which is facilitated by OER, learner needs. While this approach has value, so does the more traditional RESTRICTIVE LICENSING and can be an excellent way of supplementing course material. Links can access the Internet using mobile phones and tablet computers than by In addition: there is less and less unnecessary duplication or “reinventing of approach. Instructors can construct relevant courses, or relevant sections even be integrated into a course if the students have reasonably reliable any other means, including desktops. So, when developing OER, the When you click on many, if not most, licences for commercial • OER can be combined to assemble lessons, courses and the wheel.” Sharing reduces the cost of course development by of courses, based on materials that are already available. For example, a Internet connections. Some YouTube videos are also openly licensed and so developers should recognise this and design not for paper or desktop content, you have agreed that: programmes. spreading materials among many different institutions. Copyright Geography instructor could design specific relevant tasks around a com- can be remixed inside YouTube, allowing teachers to create custom videos use, but for mobile device use. This may involve “chunking” — that • you accept many, if not all, of the above DRM • Content can be reformatted to make it suitable for use on clearance, which can be quite laborious, is eliminated with OER. puter game or a computer simulation on running a city like Lincity (http:// for their classroom. is, dividing lessons into smaller, more manageable units. restrictions; different devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablets). And, most importantly, the active sharing of content among scattered developer.berlios.de/projects/lincity-ng). Computer Programming instructors institutions and jurisdictions engages open communities and builds • you cannot share the content with anyone else; • Mash-ups can be created by using blended resources from CREATIVE COMMONS (CC) LICENCE could refer students to specific free courses on Java programming that are 7. BUILD TO STANDARDS. • you do not buy the product but merely purchase the a variety of sources. capacity. For online learning, OER are essential. OER can usually be identified by their use of a Creative Commons (CC) available online. How about a history-teaching module based on the openly When the technical resources are available, course materials should privilege of using it; These characteristics of OER make possible a shift away from When many different educators are working on developing and licence (http://creativecommons.org). This licence gives instructors or their licensed ancient history game 0.A.D. (http://play0ad.com)? be built to commonly accepted technical standards to make the improving curricula, many divergent techniques and approaches resources easier to assemble, adapt and repurpose. Resources • you waive any rights including ownership, resale and creating courses to assembling them. Rather than depending on institutions copyright over their resources, while opening them up for use 3. ASSEMBLE. DON’T CREATE. MIX AND MATCH. can be experimented with. This can be an ongoing exercise and should conform to the international metadata standards for learning fair dealing or fair use rights; commercial textbooks to develop courses from scratch, educators by others. With CC creators can: Assembling courses rather than creating or developing them from scratch can support constant improvement and updating of the resources objects and course packaging (IEEE LOM [http://en.wikipedia.org/ • the owner can control how, when and where you can gather together OER from a variety of sources, using accessible • ensure that their name remains with the work when others use it is enabled by OER. Mixing and matching modules from different sources not only for lessons and courses but also for entire programmes. wiki/Learning_object_metadata], SCORM [http://en.wikipedia.org/ access the resource; content from the Internet, and assemble them into lessons, courses (attribution); can be more effective than creating them or spending too much time on The talents of those involved can be pooled in the development wiki/Scorm], IMS Common Cartridge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ and programmes. As a start, course designers can begin by “debon- • they can ensure that their work remains in its original form (though adapting materials to make them “just right.” “Good enough” is often • the owner has the right to access your device and of assessment tools such as examinations, tests, assignments Common_cartridge#Common_Cartridge]). As well, institutions can ing” their courses — that is, removing the commercial resources this restriction is not ideal for education as other teachers may want preferable to “perfect” if it saves time and resources. The integration of disable applications; and essays. implement local standards for interface design and quality. Create and replacing them with OER. to modify the resource) (no derivatives); modules can often take up more time than it is worth. Linking to external • the owner can access and use your personal data a standard procedure and “look” for course development in your resources can also be effective. Everything does not have to be housed in without further permission; QUALITY OF OER • ensure that any changes to the work must also be openly licensed institution and follow it intelligently. Be consistent in the wording of a consistent look. Learning effectiveness is not always dependent on the • you accept that the company has no liability to WHY OER? Concerns about the quality of OER are often overstated, but nonethe- (share-alike); instructions, use of icons, etc. And be sure to add a Creative Commons maintenance of an “integrated whole.” Seemingly disconnected modules ensure that the product works; and OER are supported by educators who believe that sharing is important less must be addressed. The most obvious way of evaluating OER • ensure that the resource cannot be used for commercial purposes licence to your resources. This can be done easily using the Creative can be used to promote effective learning experiences. • you accept that the licence can be changed by the for learning. They want to: content is the same as for evaluating restrictively licensed content. without permission (non-commercial); or, Commons tool (http://creativecommons.org/choose/). company at any time. • use affordable (free) learning resources; The instructor validates the content, and tests its potential peda- • employ any combination of these options. 4. MOVE FROM “NOT INVENTED HERE” TO “PROUDLY Most importantly, when assembling or building courses: Keep it gogical effectiveness and ease of use. The perceived quality of any With OER, you have none of these technical and legal • have the legal rights to use these (free) learning resources; In addition, many public domain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_do- BORROWED FROM THERE.” simple. Do not make the interface difficult to navigate. Use simple content can vary considerably depending on its purpose and fit with a main) materials are also available for use as OER. These consist mainly of Curriculum specialists, instructional designers and individual teachers can restrictions. That is why OER are essential in education. • have updated content; commands and easily understandable icons. Simple, clean interfaces particular course, its pedagogical framework and its generalisability. works where the author died before the 1940s in most jurisdictions (life +70 find fault with any course material. “Turf protection” is alive and kicking in with no glitz are preferable to overly complex designs with bells and • translate resources into other languages; Peer review is used at times to validate quality. A few sub- years), the 1960s (life +50 years) in others. many learning institutions. Material developed or chosen by someone else whistles. Make it easy for the learner. Use plain, simple language. • broaden access to learning; and ject matter experts all certifying that content meets, or exceeds, is all too often judged to be inferior. Sometimes settling for someone else’s Explicitly state the course objectives on a separate course objectives • ensure publicly funded educational resources are available to acceptable criteria is one of the best quality indicators. User ratings course material that is “good enough” is better than going to the expense page. And lastly, don’t procrastinate. Just do it! the public.
YOU BUY BUT YOU DON’T GETDavid Wiley OER are reusable; are adaptable to many learning contexts and environments; and should be interoperable in different formats (including print) as well as on different devices, operating systems and applications.
There are many benefits to using OER in addition to sharing, which are used in some sites, and can be useful; they are usually in the form of and effort of creating your own “perfect” materials. Quite often the INTRODUCTION is an important component of any educational experience. With OER, star ratings or numbers. Instructors can also conduct self-evaluations of OER DEVELOPMENT only people who care about “perfection” are the curriculum specialists Open Educational Resources (OER) are free learning resources OER development is becoming more sophisticated as instructors and course the author retains ownership of his or her copyright without having resources to ensure that the quality meets their standards. Also, the brand or themselves — and they can spend years arguing over the relative PROBLEMS WITH available on the Internet. OER can be openly licensed or in the public specialists become more familiar with the environment. Most approaches to to assign it to a publisher, so author rights are preserved. Moreover, reputation of the course developers or their institutions can be an important merits of different approaches, techniques and content. COMMERCIAL CONTENT domain, and can be used or reused for free. They can exist in many OER creation have been developed from the approaches used for face-to- open licences require that attribution be given to the author when an indicator of quality. It is pedagogically justifiable and often most appropriate to adopt formats: text (either print or digital); audio, video, multimedia or face learning. However, the online environment opens up new possibilities OER is reused, revised, remixed or redistributed. Plagiarism becomes Of course, the above quality indicators can and should also be used outright or adapt an entire course produced by other institutions. DRM = DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT hypermedia; or various combinations of these. They can be based for learning. When initiating and supporting OER assembly/development less of a problem when a work can be freely copied — there is no in evaluating restrictively licensed content. The ability to update content Specific modules on relevant course topics can sometimes be more (OR TPM, TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION on a single learning point, a lesson, a series of lessons (a module), a projects, OER users may want to bear in mind the following list of recom- incentive to lie about the source or to deny attribution. OER are also in a timely fashion without restriction gives OER a significant measur- suitable. Externally produced OER can form the component parts of MEASURES) whole course or even an entire programme of study. They can sup- mendations, which draws on direct knowledge of and experience in distance an excellent way of marketing an institution and spreading its name able quality advantage over closed content. Commercial vendors do specific modules or larger courses. Often they can serve as alternate port a specific learning methodology or approach — whether that education and traditional learning, adapting to the online environment and Commercial content can be expensive, but the real need for internationally. not allow users to modify their content and so it cannot be updated by pathways to accommodate differing learning styles or to allow students be behaviourist, constructivist, connectivist, etc. — or any combi- the strengths and weaknesses of software applications. OER is driven by DRM, the technical protection measures As more and more educators learn about OER, the supply keeps the users. Cost is another important variable in evaluating quality. If to use different devices. Course materials must be reusable and adapt- nation of methodologies or approaches. Although they may differ in that disable many functions and that are commonly known increasing. There are now large numbers of OER on many subjects. the content is too costly and essentially unaffordable, it is not useful. 1. BEG OR BORROW (OR STEAL!) LEARNING able for repurposing. To facilitate this, organise lessons as modules. format, structure or approach, they share a common characteristic: as “digital locks.” Commercial publishers can technically They are becoming more relevant and their quality is improving. Not OER are free of charge and the costs of developing content as OER is RESOURCES. DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL. 5. BUILD FLEXIBLY FOR REUSE AND REPURPOSING. control how, when, where and with what specific brands their openness. Using previously created materials is almost always more efficient than only are OER free of cost, they are also free to use in any way that a shared among many institutions. An institution may develop one OER GENERALISABILITY REDUCES COSTS. of technological assistance users can access content and OER are also open (mostly). What does that mean in practical creating your own. Take advantage of the freely and legally accessible learner or instructor desires and are free of technological and legal and receive thousands in return. OER can facilitate change in the type and amount of your course applications. These restrictions include: terms? With an open licence, the creators retain ownership of OER that are accessible online. It is almost always easier to adapt existing restrictions, so no time has to be spent seeking permissions. Highly materials’ content, features and functionality. They are normally self- their work and can specify how open they want their resources materials to your needs than to develop them yourself. If course materials • restricting accessibility to one format and one structured OER can support traditional teaching methods, while contained and portable to different environments. The costs of overall to be, from fully open to closed for specific purposes (see COPYRIGHT ISSUES that you like are not available as OER, you can always take the idea and device; more open examples lend themselves to constructivist, connectivist development are reduced significantly when materials are generic and Creative Commons, below). Unlike commercial resources, OER In the Commonwealth (and the USA), copyright law evolved from the Statute create your own content. You can make an OER. Remember, ideas are not • disabling highlighting, annotating, hyperlinking and or other approaches. And because OER can be changed to meet the available for use in multiple subject areas and formats. This approach can be used and reused as needed and/or desired by learners of Queen Anne, 1710, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning (http:// copyrightable, only the specific expression of an idea is protected by copy- printing options; needs or requirements of the user, they can be used to support a wide also makes ongoing maintenance and error correction much easier. and teachers: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne). Fair dealing (http://en.wikipedia. right. If no OER are available you can also use fair dealing rights to access • disabling audio and video applications used by those range of learning environments. An important benefit of this ability to Too many designers do not allow for multilingual capacity in their • They can be edited to reflect the styles and approaches of org/wiki/Fair_dealing) or “fair use” has been enshrined in copyright law from resources up to a reasonable amount or simply create a link. with audio or visual impairments; change OER is that it facilitates timely updating as well as localising, course structures. This is unfortunate, because many materials could the users. the beginning, particularly for research and education. Under fair dealing, • prohibiting the reuse, mixing and matching or aug- translating and otherwise adapting the material to specific contexts. 2. TAKE WHAT EXISTS AND BUILD THE COURSE be easily translated if the course structure were open. For example, • They can be augmented by the insertion of new material as This freedom is also important for the training of course developers educators have every right to use “a reasonable amount” of restrictively menting of the resource; licensed content in their course packs or websites. (Analogous rights ex- AROUND IT. if text is not used inside graphics, there is an option for translation it becomes known or available. within institutions as more instructors learn how to access, adapt, • geographic restrictions whereby resources cannot ist in other legal traditions.) However, please be careful when integrating This is a tried and true approach to course development. Early universities into other languages and access by persons with varying degrees of • They can be customised to reflect the ethos of your organ- improve and deploy open content. be used outside of a certain region; and restrictively licensed content. The use of this “closed” content should be developed around monasteries or religious study groups, where teachers visual impairment. isation. OER are not only a good thing because they are free and acces- based their lessons on traditional texts — that is, the content determined • removing content when monthly payments stop or avoided whenever possible as it can create problems for others who wish 6. DESIGN FOR USE ON MOBILE DEVICES. • They can be repurposed. For example, a Sociology statis- sible. They have also been linked to improved achievement and the learning. Now, many instructional design manuals insist that you start licences expire or at the company’s discretion. to share the course materials. Mobile devices are becoming very popular. More than 90 per cent of tics package can be adapted for Psychology or Nursing or student completion rates when students can readily access the with a needs analysis and build your course materials based on the specific Linking to any content that is freely displayed on the Internet is legal the world’s population can now access mobile signals. More people Economics, etc. course material. With global sharing, which is facilitated by OER, learner needs. While this approach has value, so does the more traditional RESTRICTIVE LICENSING and can be an excellent way of supplementing course material. Links can access the Internet using mobile phones and tablet computers than by In addition: there is less and less unnecessary duplication or “reinventing of approach. Instructors can construct relevant courses, or relevant sections even be integrated into a course if the students have reasonably reliable any other means, including desktops. So, when developing OER, the When you click on many, if not most, licences for commercial • OER can be combined to assemble lessons, courses and the wheel.” Sharing reduces the cost of course development by of courses, based on materials that are already available. For example, a Internet connections. Some YouTube videos are also openly licensed and so developers should recognise this and design not for paper or desktop content, you have agreed that: programmes. spreading materials among many different institutions. Copyright Geography instructor could design specific relevant tasks around a com- can be remixed inside YouTube, allowing teachers to create custom videos use, but for mobile device use. This may involve “chunking” — that • you accept many, if not all, of the above DRM • Content can be reformatted to make it suitable for use on clearance, which can be quite laborious, is eliminated with OER. puter game or a computer simulation on running a city like Lincity (http:// for their classroom. is, dividing lessons into smaller, more manageable units. restrictions; different devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablets). And, most importantly, the active sharing of content among scattered developer.berlios.de/projects/lincity-ng). Computer Programming instructors institutions and jurisdictions engages open communities and builds • you cannot share the content with anyone else; • Mash-ups can be created by using blended resources from CREATIVE COMMONS (CC) LICENCE could refer students to specific free courses on Java programming that are 7. BUILD TO STANDARDS. • you do not buy the product but merely purchase the a variety of sources. capacity. For online learning, OER are essential. OER can usually be identified by their use of a Creative Commons (CC) available online. How about a history-teaching module based on the openly When the technical resources are available, course materials should privilege of using it; These characteristics of OER make possible a shift away from When many different educators are working on developing and licence (http://creativecommons.org). This licence gives instructors or their licensed ancient history game 0.A.D. (http://play0ad.com)? be built to commonly accepted technical standards to make the improving curricula, many divergent techniques and approaches resources easier to assemble, adapt and repurpose. Resources • you waive any rights including ownership, resale and creating courses to assembling them. Rather than depending on institutions copyright over their resources, while opening them up for use 3. ASSEMBLE. DON’T CREATE. MIX AND MATCH. can be experimented with. This can be an ongoing exercise and should conform to the international metadata standards for learning fair dealing or fair use rights; commercial textbooks to develop courses from scratch, educators by others. With CC creators can: Assembling courses rather than creating or developing them from scratch can support constant improvement and updating of the resources objects and course packaging (IEEE LOM [http://en.wikipedia.org/ • the owner can control how, when and where you can gather together OER from a variety of sources, using accessible • ensure that their name remains with the work when others use it is enabled by OER. Mixing and matching modules from different sources not only for lessons and courses but also for entire programmes. wiki/Learning_object_metadata], SCORM [http://en.wikipedia.org/ access the resource; content from the Internet, and assemble them into lessons, courses (attribution); can be more effective than creating them or spending too much time on The talents of those involved can be pooled in the development wiki/Scorm], IMS Common Cartridge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ and programmes. As a start, course designers can begin by “debon- • they can ensure that their work remains in its original form (though adapting materials to make them “just right.” “Good enough” is often • the owner has the right to access your device and of assessment tools such as examinations, tests, assignments Common_cartridge#Common_Cartridge]). As well, institutions can ing” their courses — that is, removing the commercial resources this restriction is not ideal for education as other teachers may want preferable to “perfect” if it saves time and resources. The integration of disable applications; and essays. implement local standards for interface design and quality. Create and replacing them with OER. to modify the resource) (no derivatives); modules can often take up more time than it is worth. Linking to external • the owner can access and use your personal data a standard procedure and “look” for course development in your resources can also be effective. Everything does not have to be housed in without further permission; QUALITY OF OER • ensure that any changes to the work must also be openly licensed institution and follow it intelligently. Be consistent in the wording of a consistent look. Learning effectiveness is not always dependent on the • you accept that the company has no liability to WHY OER? Concerns about the quality of OER are often overstated, but nonethe- (share-alike); instructions, use of icons, etc. And be sure to add a Creative Commons maintenance of an “integrated whole.” Seemingly disconnected modules ensure that the product works; and OER are supported by educators who believe that sharing is important less must be addressed. The most obvious way of evaluating OER • ensure that the resource cannot be used for commercial purposes licence to your resources. This can be done easily using the Creative can be used to promote effective learning experiences. • you accept that the licence can be changed by the for learning. They want to: content is the same as for evaluating restrictively licensed content. without permission (non-commercial); or, Commons tool (http://creativecommons.org/choose/). company at any time. • use affordable (free) learning resources; The instructor validates the content, and tests its potential peda- • employ any combination of these options. 4. MOVE FROM “NOT INVENTED HERE” TO “PROUDLY Most importantly, when assembling or building courses: Keep it gogical effectiveness and ease of use. The perceived quality of any With OER, you have none of these technical and legal • have the legal rights to use these (free) learning resources; In addition, many public domain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_do- BORROWED FROM THERE.” simple. Do not make the interface difficult to navigate. Use simple content can vary considerably depending on its purpose and fit with a main) materials are also available for use as OER. These consist mainly of Curriculum specialists, instructional designers and individual teachers can restrictions. That is why OER are essential in education. • have updated content; commands and easily understandable icons. Simple, clean interfaces particular course, its pedagogical framework and its generalisability. works where the author died before the 1940s in most jurisdictions (life +70 find fault with any course material. “Turf protection” is alive and kicking in with no glitz are preferable to overly complex designs with bells and • translate resources into other languages; Peer review is used at times to validate quality. A few sub- years), the 1960s (life +50 years) in others. many learning institutions. Material developed or chosen by someone else whistles. Make it easy for the learner. Use plain, simple language. • broaden access to learning; and ject matter experts all certifying that content meets, or exceeds, is all too often judged to be inferior. Sometimes settling for someone else’s Explicitly state the course objectives on a separate course objectives • ensure publicly funded educational resources are available to acceptable criteria is one of the best quality indicators. User ratings course material that is “good enough” is better than going to the expense page. And lastly, don’t procrastinate. Just do it! the public.
YOU BUY BUT YOU DON’T GETDavid Wiley OER are reusable; are adaptable to many learning contexts and environments; and should be interoperable in different formats (including print) as well as on different devices, operating systems and applications.
There are many benefits to using OER in addition to sharing, which are used in some sites, and can be useful; they are usually in the form of and effort of creating your own “perfect” materials. Quite often the INTRODUCTION is an important component of any educational experience. With OER, star ratings or numbers. Instructors can also conduct self-evaluations of OER DEVELOPMENT only people who care about “perfection” are the curriculum specialists Open Educational Resources (OER) are free learning resources OER development is becoming more sophisticated as instructors and course the author retains ownership of his or her copyright without having resources to ensure that the quality meets their standards. Also, the brand or themselves — and they can spend years arguing over the relative PROBLEMS WITH available on the Internet. OER can be openly licensed or in the public specialists become more familiar with the environment. Most approaches to to assign it to a publisher, so author rights are preserved. Moreover, reputation of the course developers or their institutions can be an important merits of different approaches, techniques and content. COMMERCIAL CONTENT domain, and can be used or reused for free. They can exist in many OER creation have been developed from the approaches used for face-to- open licences require that attribution be given to the author when an indicator of quality. It is pedagogically justifiable and often most appropriate to adopt formats: text (either print or digital); audio, video, multimedia or face learning. However, the online environment opens up new possibilities OER is reused, revised, remixed or redistributed. Plagiarism becomes Of course, the above quality indicators can and should also be used outright or adapt an entire course produced by other institutions. DRM = DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT hypermedia; or various combinations of these. They can be based for learning. When initiating and supporting OER assembly/development less of a problem when a work can be freely copied — there is no in evaluating restrictively licensed content. The ability to update content Specific modules on relevant course topics can sometimes be more (OR TPM, TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION on a single learning point, a lesson, a series of lessons (a module), a projects, OER users may want to bear in mind the following list of recom- incentive to lie about the source or to deny attribution. OER are also in a timely fashion without restriction gives OER a significant measur- suitable. Externally produced OER can form the component parts of MEASURES) whole course or even an entire programme of study. They can sup- mendations, which draws on direct knowledge of and experience in distance an excellent way of marketing an institution and spreading its name able quality advantage over closed content. Commercial vendors do specific modules or larger courses. Often they can serve as alternate port a specific learning methodology or approach — whether that education and traditional learning, adapting to the online environment and Commercial content can be expensive, but the real need for internationally. not allow users to modify their content and so it cannot be updated by pathways to accommodate differing learning styles or to allow students be behaviourist, constructivist, connectivist, etc. — or any combi- the strengths and weaknesses of software applications. OER is driven by DRM, the technical protection measures As more and more educators learn about OER, the supply keeps the users. Cost is another important variable in evaluating quality. If to use different devices. Course materials must be reusable and adapt- nation of methodologies or approaches. Although they may differ in that disable many functions and that are commonly known increasing. There are now large numbers of OER on many subjects. the content is too costly and essentially unaffordable, it is not useful. 1. BEG OR BORROW (OR STEAL!) LEARNING able for repurposing. To facilitate this, organise lessons as modules. format, structure or approach, they share a common characteristic: as “digital locks.” Commercial publishers can technically They are becoming more relevant and their quality is improving. Not OER are free of charge and the costs of developing content as OER is RESOURCES. DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL. 5. BUILD FLEXIBLY FOR REUSE AND REPURPOSING. control how, when, where and with what specific brands their openness. Using previously created materials is almost always more efficient than only are OER free of cost, they are also free to use in any way that a shared among many institutions. An institution may develop one OER GENERALISABILITY REDUCES COSTS. of technological assistance users can access content and OER are also open (mostly). What does that mean in practical creating your own. Take advantage of the freely and legally accessible learner or instructor desires and are free of technological and legal and receive thousands in return. OER can facilitate change in the type and amount of your course applications. These restrictions include: terms? With an open licence, the creators retain ownership of OER that are accessible online. It is almost always easier to adapt existing restrictions, so no time has to be spent seeking permissions. Highly materials’ content, features and functionality. They are normally self- their work and can specify how open they want their resources materials to your needs than to develop them yourself. If course materials • restricting accessibility to one format and one structured OER can support traditional teaching methods, while contained and portable to different environments. The costs of overall to be, from fully open to closed for specific purposes (see COPYRIGHT ISSUES that you like are not available as OER, you can always take the idea and device; more open examples lend themselves to constructivist, connectivist development are reduced significantly when materials are generic and Creative Commons, below). Unlike commercial resources, OER In the Commonwealth (and the USA), copyright law evolved from the Statute create your own content. You can make an OER. Remember, ideas are not • disabling highlighting, annotating, hyperlinking and or other approaches. And because OER can be changed to meet the available for use in multiple subject areas and formats. This approach can be used and reused as needed and/or desired by learners of Queen Anne, 1710, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning (http:// copyrightable, only the specific expression of an idea is protected by copy- printing options; needs or requirements of the user, they can be used to support a wide also makes ongoing maintenance and error correction much easier. and teachers: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne). Fair dealing (http://en.wikipedia. right. If no OER are available you can also use fair dealing rights to access • disabling audio and video applications used by those range of learning environments. An important benefit of this ability to Too many designers do not allow for multilingual capacity in their • They can be edited to reflect the styles and approaches of org/wiki/Fair_dealing) or “fair use” has been enshrined in copyright law from resources up to a reasonable amount or simply create a link. with audio or visual impairments; change OER is that it facilitates timely updating as well as localising, course structures. This is unfortunate, because many materials could the users. the beginning, particularly for research and education. Under fair dealing, • prohibiting the reuse, mixing and matching or aug- translating and otherwise adapting the material to specific contexts. 2. TAKE WHAT EXISTS AND BUILD THE COURSE be easily translated if the course structure were open. For example, • They can be augmented by the insertion of new material as This freedom is also important for the training of course developers educators have every right to use “a reasonable amount” of restrictively menting of the resource; licensed content in their course packs or websites. (Analogous rights ex- AROUND IT. if text is not used inside graphics, there is an option for translation it becomes known or available. within institutions as more instructors learn how to access, adapt, • geographic restrictions whereby resources cannot ist in other legal traditions.) However, please be careful when integrating This is a tried and true approach to course development. Early universities into other languages and access by persons with varying degrees of • They can be customised to reflect the ethos of your organ- improve and deploy open content. be used outside of a certain region; and restrictively licensed content. The use of this “closed” content should be developed around monasteries or religious study groups, where teachers visual impairment. isation. OER are not only a good thing because they are free and acces- based their lessons on traditional texts — that is, the content determined • removing content when monthly payments stop or avoided whenever possible as it can create problems for others who wish 6. DESIGN FOR USE ON MOBILE DEVICES. • They can be repurposed. For example, a Sociology statis- sible. They have also been linked to improved achievement and the learning. Now, many instructional design manuals insist that you start licences expire or at the company’s discretion. to share the course materials. Mobile devices are becoming very popular. More than 90 per cent of tics package can be adapted for Psychology or Nursing or student completion rates when students can readily access the with a needs analysis and build your course materials based on the specific Linking to any content that is freely displayed on the Internet is legal the world’s population can now access mobile signals. More people Economics, etc. course material. With global sharing, which is facilitated by OER, learner needs. While this approach has value, so does the more traditional RESTRICTIVE LICENSING and can be an excellent way of supplementing course material. Links can access the Internet using mobile phones and tablet computers than by In addition: there is less and less unnecessary duplication or “reinventing of approach. Instructors can construct relevant courses, or relevant sections even be integrated into a course if the students have reasonably reliable any other means, including desktops. So, when developing OER, the When you click on many, if not most, licences for commercial • OER can be combined to assemble lessons, courses and the wheel.” Sharing reduces the cost of course development by of courses, based on materials that are already available. For example, a Internet connections. Some YouTube videos are also openly licensed and so developers should recognise this and design not for paper or desktop content, you have agreed that: programmes. spreading materials among many different institutions. Copyright Geography instructor could design specific relevant tasks around a com- can be remixed inside YouTube, allowing teachers to create custom videos use, but for mobile device use. This may involve “chunking” — that • you accept many, if not all, of the above DRM • Content can be reformatted to make it suitable for use on clearance, which can be quite laborious, is eliminated with OER. puter game or a computer simulation on running a city like Lincity (http:// for their classroom. is, dividing lessons into smaller, more manageable units. restrictions; different devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablets). And, most importantly, the active sharing of content among scattered developer.berlios.de/projects/lincity-ng). Computer Programming instructors institutions and jurisdictions engages open communities and builds • you cannot share the content with anyone else; • Mash-ups can be created by using blended resources from CREATIVE COMMONS (CC) LICENCE could refer students to specific free courses on Java programming that are 7. BUILD TO STANDARDS. • you do not buy the product but merely purchase the a variety of sources. capacity. For online learning, OER are essential. OER can usually be identified by their use of a Creative Commons (CC) available online. How about a history-teaching module based on the openly When the technical resources are available, course materials should privilege of using it; These characteristics of OER make possible a shift away from When many different educators are working on developing and licence (http://creativecommons.org). This licence gives instructors or their licensed ancient history game 0.A.D. (http://play0ad.com)? be built to commonly accepted technical standards to make the improving curricula, many divergent techniques and approaches resources easier to assemble, adapt and repurpose. Resources • you waive any rights including ownership, resale and creating courses to assembling them. Rather than depending on institutions copyright over their resources, while opening them up for use 3. ASSEMBLE. DON’T CREATE. MIX AND MATCH. can be experimented with. This can be an ongoing exercise and should conform to the international metadata standards for learning fair dealing or fair use rights; commercial textbooks to develop courses from scratch, educators by others. With CC creators can: Assembling courses rather than creating or developing them from scratch can support constant improvement and updating of the resources objects and course packaging (IEEE LOM [http://en.wikipedia.org/ • the owner can control how, when and where you can gather together OER from a variety of sources, using accessible • ensure that their name remains with the work when others use it is enabled by OER. Mixing and matching modules from different sources not only for lessons and courses but also for entire programmes. wiki/Learning_object_metadata], SCORM [http://en.wikipedia.org/ access the resource; content from the Internet, and assemble them into lessons, courses (attribution); can be more effective than creating them or spending too much time on The talents of those involved can be pooled in the development wiki/Scorm], IMS Common Cartridge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ and programmes. As a start, course designers can begin by “debon- • they can ensure that their work remains in its original form (though adapting materials to make them “just right.” “Good enough” is often • the owner has the right to access your device and of assessment tools such as examinations, tests, assignments Common_cartridge#Common_Cartridge]). As well, institutions can ing” their courses — that is, removing the commercial resources this restriction is not ideal for education as other teachers may want preferable to “perfect” if it saves time and resources. The integration of disable applications; and essays. implement local standards for interface design and quality. Create and replacing them with OER. to modify the resource) (no derivatives); modules can often take up more time than it is worth. Linking to external • the owner can access and use your personal data a standard procedure and “look” for course development in your resources can also be effective. Everything does not have to be housed in without further permission; QUALITY OF OER • ensure that any changes to the work must also be openly licensed institution and follow it intelligently. Be consistent in the wording of a consistent look. Learning effectiveness is not always dependent on the • you accept that the company has no liability to WHY OER? Concerns about the quality of OER are often overstated, but nonethe- (share-alike); instructions, use of icons, etc. And be sure to add a Creative Commons maintenance of an “integrated whole.” Seemingly disconnected modules ensure that the product works; and OER are supported by educators who believe that sharing is important less must be addressed. The most obvious way of evaluating OER • ensure that the resource cannot be used for commercial purposes licence to your resources. This can be done easily using the Creative can be used to promote effective learning experiences. • you accept that the licence can be changed by the for learning. They want to: content is the same as for evaluating restrictively licensed content. without permission (non-commercial); or, Commons tool (http://creativecommons.org/choose/). company at any time. • use affordable (free) learning resources; The instructor validates the content, and tests its potential peda- • employ any combination of these options. 4. MOVE FROM “NOT INVENTED HERE” TO “PROUDLY Most importantly, when assembling or building courses: Keep it gogical effectiveness and ease of use. The perceived quality of any With OER, you have none of these technical and legal • have the legal rights to use these (free) learning resources; In addition, many public domain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_do- BORROWED FROM THERE.” simple. Do not make the interface difficult to navigate. Use simple content can vary considerably depending on its purpose and fit with a main) materials are also available for use as OER. These consist mainly of Curriculum specialists, instructional designers and individual teachers can restrictions. That is why OER are essential in education. • have updated content; commands and easily understandable icons. Simple, clean interfaces particular course, its pedagogical framework and its generalisability. works where the author died before the 1940s in most jurisdictions (life +70 find fault with any course material. “Turf protection” is alive and kicking in with no glitz are preferable to overly complex designs with bells and • translate resources into other languages; Peer review is used at times to validate quality. A few sub- years), the 1960s (life +50 years) in others. many learning institutions. Material developed or chosen by someone else whistles. Make it easy for the learner. Use plain, simple language. • broaden access to learning; and ject matter experts all certifying that content meets, or exceeds, is all too often judged to be inferior. Sometimes settling for someone else’s Explicitly state the course objectives on a separate course objectives • ensure publicly funded educational resources are available to acceptable criteria is one of the best quality indicators. User ratings course material that is “good enough” is better than going to the expense page. And lastly, don’t procrastinate. Just do it! the public.
YOU BUY BUT YOU DON’T GETDavid Wiley CREATING, USING AND SHARING OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Creating, Using and Sharing MOOCS AND OER MORE USEFUL REPOSITORIES FURTHER REFERENCES (ALL OPENLY LICENSED) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) consist of lessons that are Academic Earth houses US college courses. SIMPLE GUIDES Open Educational Resources freely available to anyone on the Internet, and are accessed by http://academicearth.org Commonwealth of Learning & UNESCO. (2011). Guidelines for open educational large numbers of learners. They are generally not for credit and the Ariadne Finder searches a European repository that hosts content resources (OER) in higher education. Retrieved from www.col.org/ majority of participants do not commit to the full course, but instead in many languages. resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=364 participate according to their personal needs and preferences. MOOCs http://ariadne.cs.kuleuven.be/AriadneFinder Kanwar, A., Uvalić-Trumbić, S., & Butcher, N. (2011). A basic guide to open have grown out of the online learning movement, but many are not Connexions in the US has more than 20,000 OER. educational resources (OER). Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/ publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=357 quite so “open” and use closed licences. These closed xMOOCs are http://cnx.org/ typically for-profit, venture-capital-backed and characterised by OAPEN-UK. (n. d.). Creative Commons guide. Retrieved from http://oapen-uk. Curriki is a US OER repository with mainly K–12 content. their focus on knowledge transmission (e.g. video lectures) rather jiscebooks.org/ccguide/ www.curriki.org than interaction. The original cMOOCs stress connectivity and rely Open Knowledge Foundation. (n. d.). Guide to finding interesting public domain on student discoveries, discussions and the shared creation of The Federal Registry for Educational Excellence is a US government works online. Retrieved from http://publicdomainreview.org/guide-to- knowledge among participants. However, both types may or may not search engine. Many resources in this repository are public domain finding-interesting-public-domain-works-online/ use both open and closed licensed content that is freely accessible but not all. Prabhala, A. (2010). Copyright and open educational resources. Retrieved from on the Internet. http://free.ed.gov www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=323 JISC in the UK provides search advice and a list of open and free RESEARCH AND IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES repositories. Butcher, N., & Hoosen, S. (2012). Exploring the business case for open HOW TO FIND OER? A LIST www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/finding-video-audio-and-images- educational resources. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/ OF RESOURCES online/#creative-commons publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=421 OER are available in repositories on the Internet. Jorum is a UK Further and Higher Education repository of OER. Commonwealth of Learning. (2012). Fostering governmental support for OER http://www.jorum.ac.uk internationally. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/ SELECT LIST OF SPECIALISED MERLOT in the US has links to more than 40,000 resources, but some detail.aspx?PID=436 SEARCH ENGINES are subject to copyright restrictions. Dhanarajan, G., & Porter, D. (Eds.). (2013). Open educational resources: An The Commonwealth of Learning’s Directory of Open Educational www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm Asian perspective. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=441 Resources was designed to aid distance education practitioners in The National Repository of Open Educational Resources in India particular and it seeks out OER in the major repositories. contains a wide variety of OER types. Downes, S. (2011, July 18). Open educational resources: A definition. Retrieved from www.downes.ca/archive/11/07_18_news_OLDaily.htm http://doer.col.org http://nroer.in/home Glennie, B. J., Harley, K., Butcher, N., & van Wyk, T. (Eds.). (2012). Creative Commons Search is not limited to OER and contains links Open OER Knowledge Cloud is a repository of scholarly articles, research educational resources and change in higher education: Reflections from to open content of all sorts. and reports about OER. practice. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from http://search.creativecommons.org https://oerknowledgecloud.org www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=412 http://open4us.org/find-oer Siyavula houses a South African repository of K–12 books in science Hylen, J. (2007). Giving knowledge for free: The emergence of Google University Learning searches through a collection of OER and and technology. Sign-up is required. open educational resources. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/ Open Courseware sites. http://projects.siyavula.com/technology-powered-teaching dataoecd/35/7/38654317.pdf https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=00919024379268290399 Wikiversity links to wiki-based OER in several languages. McGreal, R., Kinutha, W., & Marshall, S. (Eds.). ( 2013). Open educational 0:e40rcqv1bbo www.wikiversity.org resources: Innovation, research and practice. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/ OERCommons is a large database of OER with resources suitable for A catalogue of OER repositories is available in Appendix 6 (p. 87) a variety of education environments, from K–12 to higher education. Pages/detail.aspx?PID=447 of the Commonwealth of Learning’s publication Basic Guide to OER www.oercommons.org OER Knowledge Cloud. A database of more than 600 OER related research www.col.org/PublicationDocuments/Basic-Guide-To-OER.pdf resources. Retrieved from http://oerknowledgecloud.org OER Dynamic Search Engine provides a list of websites that house Creative Commons has a page dedicated to open educational UNESCO. (2012). UNESCO Paris Declaration on Open Educational Resources. various OER. resources. Retrieved from www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/ http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/OER+Dynamic+Search+Engine http://creativecommons.org/education Events/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_01.pdf SELECT LIST OF OTHER OER Creative Commons has a page that highlights OER case studies. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/OER_Case_Studies SEARCH ENGINES CREATING, USING AND SHARING OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES KNOWLEDGE SERIES Computer Science OER Portal USEFUL TOOLS This guide was prepared by Rory McGreal, UNESCO/COL Chair in OER, as part of the http://iiscs.wssu.edu/drupal/csoer_collections CC licence chooser simplifies adding a CC licence notice to a website. UNESCO/COL Chair in OER initiative with the help of S. D’Antoni (Athabasca University), OpenTapestry is a repository of OER from Saylor.org and other OER http://creativecommons.org/choose W. Mackintosh (OER Foundation) and C. Green (Creative Commons). sites. It “also provides tools that help organizations easily adopt and Compfight allows for searching openly licences photos in Flickr. adapt open courses into existing learning management systems.” http://compfight.com The Knowledge Series is a topical, start-up guide to distance education practice and delivery. New titles are published each year. www.opentapestry.com/courses Editor: Lesley Cameron OpenAttribute consists of a suite of tools that simplifies copying/ Designer: Denise Tremblay TEMOA Knowledge Hub is a public multilingual portal searchable by pasting the correct attribution for any CC-licensed work. All Web references and links in this publication are accurate at press time. subject area or media type. It also includes social networking tools. http://openattribute.com www.temoa.info Commonwealth of Learning, 2013 Xpert can be used to search a database of open learning resources. Note that not everything is openly licensed. Commonwealth of Learning, 1055 West Hastings, Suite 1200, Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9 CANADA www.nottingham.ac.uk/xpert PH: +1.604.775.8200 | FAX: +1.604.775.8210 | E-MAIL: [email protected] | WEB: www.col.org knowledge
A TOPICAL, START-UP GUIDE TO DISTANCE EDUCATION PRACTICE AND DELIVERY
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER also available at www.col.org/knowledge S series CREATING, USING AND SHARING OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Creating, Using and Sharing MOOCS AND OER MORE USEFUL REPOSITORIES FURTHER REFERENCES (ALL OPENLY LICENSED) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) consist of lessons that are Academic Earth houses US college courses. SIMPLE GUIDES Open Educational Resources freely available to anyone on the Internet, and are accessed by http://academicearth.org Commonwealth of Learning & UNESCO. (2011). Guidelines for open educational large numbers of learners. They are generally not for credit and the Ariadne Finder searches a European repository that hosts content resources (OER) in higher education. Retrieved from www.col.org/ majority of participants do not commit to the full course, but instead in many languages. resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=364 participate according to their personal needs and preferences. MOOCs http://ariadne.cs.kuleuven.be/AriadneFinder Kanwar, A., Uvalić-Trumbić, S., & Butcher, N. (2011). A basic guide to open have grown out of the online learning movement, but many are not Connexions in the US has more than 20,000 OER. educational resources (OER). Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/ publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=357 quite so “open” and use closed licences. These closed xMOOCs are http://cnx.org/ typically for-profit, venture-capital-backed and characterised by OAPEN-UK. (n. d.). Creative Commons guide. Retrieved from http://oapen-uk. Curriki is a US OER repository with mainly K–12 content. their focus on knowledge transmission (e.g. video lectures) rather jiscebooks.org/ccguide/ www.curriki.org than interaction. The original cMOOCs stress connectivity and rely Open Knowledge Foundation. (n. d.). Guide to finding interesting public domain on student discoveries, discussions and the shared creation of The Federal Registry for Educational Excellence is a US government works online. Retrieved from http://publicdomainreview.org/guide-to- knowledge among participants. However, both types may or may not search engine. Many resources in this repository are public domain finding-interesting-public-domain-works-online/ use both open and closed licensed content that is freely accessible but not all. Prabhala, A. (2010). Copyright and open educational resources. Retrieved from on the Internet. http://free.ed.gov www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=323 JISC in the UK provides search advice and a list of open and free RESEARCH AND IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES repositories. Butcher, N., & Hoosen, S. (2012). Exploring the business case for open HOW TO FIND OER? A LIST www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/finding-video-audio-and-images- educational resources. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/ OF RESOURCES online/#creative-commons publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=421 OER are available in repositories on the Internet. Jorum is a UK Further and Higher Education repository of OER. Commonwealth of Learning. (2012). Fostering governmental support for OER http://www.jorum.ac.uk internationally. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/ SELECT LIST OF SPECIALISED MERLOT in the US has links to more than 40,000 resources, but some detail.aspx?PID=436 SEARCH ENGINES are subject to copyright restrictions. Dhanarajan, G., & Porter, D. (Eds.). (2013). Open educational resources: An The Commonwealth of Learning’s Directory of Open Educational www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm Asian perspective. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=441 Resources was designed to aid distance education practitioners in The National Repository of Open Educational Resources in India particular and it seeks out OER in the major repositories. contains a wide variety of OER types. Downes, S. (2011, July 18). Open educational resources: A definition. Retrieved from www.downes.ca/archive/11/07_18_news_OLDaily.htm http://doer.col.org http://nroer.in/home Glennie, B. J., Harley, K., Butcher, N., & van Wyk, T. (Eds.). (2012). Creative Commons Search is not limited to OER and contains links Open OER Knowledge Cloud is a repository of scholarly articles, research educational resources and change in higher education: Reflections from to open content of all sorts. and reports about OER. practice. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from http://search.creativecommons.org https://oerknowledgecloud.org www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=412 http://open4us.org/find-oer Siyavula houses a South African repository of K–12 books in science Hylen, J. (2007). Giving knowledge for free: The emergence of Google University Learning searches through a collection of OER and and technology. Sign-up is required. open educational resources. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/ Open Courseware sites. http://projects.siyavula.com/technology-powered-teaching dataoecd/35/7/38654317.pdf https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=00919024379268290399 Wikiversity links to wiki-based OER in several languages. McGreal, R., Kinutha, W., & Marshall, S. (Eds.). ( 2013). Open educational 0:e40rcqv1bbo www.wikiversity.org resources: Innovation, research and practice. Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning. Retrieved from www.col.org/resources/publications/ OERCommons is a large database of OER with resources suitable for A catalogue of OER repositories is available in Appendix 6 (p. 87) a variety of education environments, from K–12 to higher education. Pages/detail.aspx?PID=447 of the Commonwealth of Learning’s publication Basic Guide to OER www.oercommons.org OER Knowledge Cloud. A database of more than 600 OER related research www.col.org/PublicationDocuments/Basic-Guide-To-OER.pdf resources. Retrieved from http://oerknowledgecloud.org OER Dynamic Search Engine provides a list of websites that house Creative Commons has a page dedicated to open educational UNESCO. (2012). UNESCO Paris Declaration on Open Educational Resources. various OER. resources. Retrieved from www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/ http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/OER+Dynamic+Search+Engine http://creativecommons.org/education Events/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_01.pdf SELECT LIST OF OTHER OER Creative Commons has a page that highlights OER case studies. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/OER_Case_Studies SEARCH ENGINES CREATING, USING AND SHARING OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES KNOWLEDGE SERIES Computer Science OER Portal USEFUL TOOLS This guide was prepared by Rory McGreal, UNESCO/COL Chair in OER, as part of the http://iiscs.wssu.edu/drupal/csoer_collections CC licence chooser simplifies adding a CC licence notice to a website. UNESCO/COL Chair in OER initiative with the help of S. D’Antoni (Athabasca University), OpenTapestry is a repository of OER from Saylor.org and other OER http://creativecommons.org/choose W. Mackintosh (OER Foundation) and C. Green (Creative Commons). sites. It “also provides tools that help organizations easily adopt and Compfight allows for searching openly licences photos in Flickr. adapt open courses into existing learning management systems.” http://compfight.com The Knowledge Series is a topical, start-up guide to distance education practice and delivery. New titles are published each year. www.opentapestry.com/courses Editor: Lesley Cameron OpenAttribute consists of a suite of tools that simplifies copying/ Designer: Denise Tremblay TEMOA Knowledge Hub is a public multilingual portal searchable by pasting the correct attribution for any CC-licensed work. All Web references and links in this publication are accurate at press time. subject area or media type. It also includes social networking tools. http://openattribute.com www.temoa.info Commonwealth of Learning, 2013 Xpert can be used to search a database of open learning resources. Note that not everything is openly licensed. Commonwealth of Learning, 1055 West Hastings, Suite 1200, Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9 CANADA www.nottingham.ac.uk/xpert PH: +1.604.775.8200 | FAX: +1.604.775.8210 | E-MAIL: [email protected] | WEB: www.col.org knowledge
A TOPICAL, START-UP GUIDE TO DISTANCE EDUCATION PRACTICE AND DELIVERY
PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER also available at www.col.org/knowledge S series