Skip to main content
It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

OER Toolkit: Collaborating

Collaborating

Collaborating

Through alternative licensing that encourages peer contributions and sharing, OER invites collaboration among academics, students, library staff, and institutions. This module addresses the benefits and modes of collaboration, and provides examples of collaborative OER efforts to get involved in.

 

Why Collaborate on OER?

Open Education Matters Short Video

Watch this video explaining how OER enables pathways for collaboration across stakeholders, toward enhanced course materials and more equitable education for all. You can also download the Open Education Matters video transcript.

4 Reasons to Collaborate

  • Quality of Instructional MaterialsSapire and Reed’s (2001) study showed that academic collaboration on the redesign of open course materials improved the quality of instructional materials--specifically in terms of the materials' ability to scaffold student learning across knowledge domains and to offer enhanced, inquiry-based learning experiences.
  • Student Learning Azzam’s (2017) study showed that medical students’ collaborative contribution to Wikipedia articles cultivated core medical competencies, while helping students to build their identities as digital contributors and socially responsible physicians. The study also revealed how students’ engagement with the content led to improvements in the quality of health-related knowledge disseminated in the global public domain.
  • Academic LearningPetrides et al. (2011) found that collaboration with peers around the integration of an open textbook into a statistics course led academic participants to increase their collaborative practices in subsequent course planning efforts.
  • SustainabilityPetrides et al. (2008) found that when academics collaborated in the creation of OER, they were more likely to continue creating and sharing content online on a consistent and ongoing basis--suggesting that communities and collaboration play a role in sustaining OER.

Research Cited:

  • Azzam, A. (2017). Why medical schools should embrace Wikipedia: Final-year medical student contributions to Wikipedia articles for academic credit at one school. Academic Medicine, Vol. 92, No. 2.
  • Petrides, L., Jimes, C., Middleton-Detzner, C., Walling, J. and Weiss, S. (2011). Open textbook adoption and use: Implications for teachers and learners. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, Vol. 26, Issue 1: 39.
  • Petrides, L., Nguyen, L., Jimes, C., and Karaglani, A. (2008). Open educational resources: Inquiring into author use and reuse. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Education, Vol. 1, No. 1-2: 98-117.
  • Sapire, I. and Reed, Y. (2011). Collaborative design and use of open educational resources: A case study of a mathematics teacher education project in South Africa. Distance Learning, Vol 32, No. 2: 195-211.

What Students, Academics, and Library Staff Bring to OER

Listed below is the knowledge and expertise that students, academics, and library staff may bring to the development and implementation of OER.

  • Preferences for the types and formats of course materials that work best for them
  • Preferences for how they would like to access course materials
  • Opinions and feedback on the quality or effectiveness of learning materials for their own learning
  • Knowledge of how to contribute to web-based instructional materials with own content or aggregated information
  • Knowledge of course objectives
  • Understanding of student needs and learning styles
  • Expertise in evaluating resources for use and application in a course
  • Experience in constructing and authoring instructional materials
  • Expertise in various pedagogical approaches and curriculum implementation
  • Expertise in accessibility
  • Understanding of copyright and its pitfalls, and of how to select and apply open licences
  • Knowledge of how to find things and to make things discoverable by others
  • Understanding of the best way to share resources for future audiences
  • Expertise in technology for online authoring and publishing
  • Overall information literacy expertise
  • Experience with the content of college coursework

Here is an example of an OER development process. The groups (student, library staff, or academic) that are involved in each step are identified with a label at the top of the step. In some cases, they overlap across roles to support the OER process, as depicted in the diagram. Although not listed, other collaborators may also play a role in any OER process, such as curriculum advisors, accessibility services, and the campus bookstore.

  • Library

    Academics

  • Identify Learning Outcomes and Objectives

  • Library

    Academics

    Students

  • Find and Adapt Existing OER, or Create New OER

  • Library

  • Describe, Store, and Share the OER

  • Academics

    Students

  • Implement OER with Students

  • Library

    Academics

    Students

  • Evaluate and Review the OER

Tips for Getting Started on Collaborating

  • Consider collaborating.With the shared aim of meeting student learning outcomes, academics and library staff can work together on constructing searches and evaluating fit of OER.
  • Conduct your searches in recognised repositories.Search recognised OER repositories and aggregated content collections to explore what already exists.
  • Become familiar with open licensing and accessibility requirements. If you are an academic, remember that Library staff have expertise in digital accessibility and information literacy. They can review and help align your OER to accessibility requirements and information literacy learning outcomes/objectives.

How Library Can Help With OER Curation

Library staff bring specific knowledge and skills to the OER curation process, as outlined below.

What Libraries Can Do

  • Help academics identify existing OER materials, including alternatives to textbooks
  • Use advanced search skills to find exactly what academics need
  • Give options for ways that students can access resources
  • Advise on how to make resources more accessible
  • Advise on issues of copyright and fair dealing
  • Advise on use of Creative Commons licences

What Libraries (Likely) Cannot Do

  • Be completely knowledgeable of your subject area
  • Make the final call on the quality of a resource
  • Choose your textbook or course material
  • Interfere with your academic freedom

Attribution:

Text a derivative of “How Libraries can Help”, in CCCOER: Faculty and Librarians Selecting High Quality OER, by Tina Ulrich, licensed under CC BY 4.0

This webinar discusses the four key roles that libraries play in faculty adoption of OER: Researcher, curator, academic, and content creator. It also addresses the tools that library staff use in their OER-related work. You can also download The Library role in OER CCCOER webinar video transcript.

Video from CCCOER, CC BY 4.0.

Academics, are you ready to FREE the TEXTBOOK?

The flowchart outlines just one set of collaborative opportunities for library staff to support academics as they seek to identify open materials for their courses.

How to Connect

Listservs

  • The OER Digest A bi-weekly newsletter for sharing OER initiatives, updates, opportunities, and events serving the international OER community. To join the OER Digest listserv, send an email to oerdigest@googlegroups.com.
  • OOLN (Ontario Open Library Network) is a community initiative powered by eCampusOntario to steward the growth of Open Education at Ontario Colleges and Universities.
  • SPARC Libraries & OER Forum A U.S.-based public discussion list intended for academic and research librarians interested in OER. It serves as a knowledge sharing forum, a channel for communicating events, and a source of updates on OER policy, research and projects. Join SPARC Libraries & OER Forum Listserv.
  • Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) CCCOER is a consortium of community and technical colleges committed to expanding access to education and increasing student success through the adoption of open educational policy, practices, and resources. To join CCCOER Listserv, go to Community Email and click on "Join Email Group".
  • Open Textbook Network The Open Textbook Network (OTN) seeks to help institutions advance their campus open textbook initiatives, and sustain it through staff development and networking. To join Open Textbook Network Listserv, send an email to open-textbook-network@googlegroups.com.

OER Initiatives in Australia

Open Textbook Initiative seeks to partner with key learning and teaching staff to curate and review resources for inclusion into the curriculum, encourage adoption of OER, create an OER portal to facilitate access to quality materials, and ultimately create a consortium of OER librarians.

How to connect:

International OER Initiatives

The OER World Map seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of the global Open Education OER movement. Users can search by country for information on people, organisations, services, projects stories and events related to OER.

How to connect:

  • Contribute your own OER stories, events, and data to be added to the map
  • Become an editor and contribute data to the map
  • Translate map pages into other languages
  • Become a country champion

For more information visit OER World Map Contribute

The OER Knowledge Cloud provides access to knowledge and research on Open Educational Resources through a searchable, centralised database.

How to connect:

  • To submit an article, case study, or other document on your OER initiative to the Knowledge Cloud, visit Knowledge Cloud Contribute.

Canada OER Group is a BCcampus initiative comprised of members representing open education initiatives across Canada. The group seeks to ensure that provinces are openly and actively sharing ideas and supporting each other on similar projects.

How to connect:

  • Canada OER Group invites post-secondary institutions and academics to share information about their OER projects via email at canadaoer@bccampus.ca.

OER universitas (OERu) is a consortium of institutions and organisations across five continents. In Canada, OERu offers free online university courses through various institutional partnerships across provinces so that learners can gain formal credentials.

How to connect:

  • Find out if your institution is part of the OERu consortium by visiting the OERu partner page, and explore ways to assemble and add your own OER-based courses to the OERu program listing.

Tools

Open Textbook Sprint - Checklist

Below are tips on how to make open textbook sprints productive. As you set up your sprint, keep in mind that an open textbook is not meant to be just an openly-licensed conventional textbook. It is a living text that people will be able to update and adapt to their specific courses and student needs.

  • Build a Strong Team
    Focus on team composition and team building. Recruit at least six writers for the book sprint team, and a strong, impartial, facilitator who isn’t invested in your project. Ensure that the library is included and present during the sprint sessions.
  • Match Technology to Writers’ Needs
    Select your peer production platform and collaboration tools so that they are in alignment with the writers’ technological skills and practices.
  • Establish an Iterative Workflow Process
    Instill and support an iterative cycle of writing, feedback, and editing, with short feedback cycles integrated throughout.
  • Keep Assignments Small
    Break content assignments into manageable chunks to better assure completion and timeliness.
  • Seed the Sprint
    Before you start, prepare a library of openly-licensed materials that can be of immediate use during the sprint.
  • Promote Self Care
    If you have the resources, hire a massage therapist and/or a yoga instructor to help your team, because being at the keyboard for up to 14 hours a day can put a toll on the body.

Attribution:

The Open Textbook Sprint Checklist is a mashup of material from How To Turn A Great Idea Into An Open Textbook In Just Four Days, by BCcampus, licensed under CC BY 4.0, and How To Collaboratively Develop Open-Source Textbooks, by Free High School Science Texts, licensed under CC BY.

How to collaboratively develop open-source textbooks (in hindsight!)

This guide from South Africa’s Free High School Science Texts provides tips on how to set up a project to produce open textbooks collaboratively.

OER Authoring Tools

There are a few platforms on the web that seek to support post-secondary educators in the collaborative development of OER and open textbooks, including:

  • Rebus Open Textbook Community, based in Canada, is an online space to support educators in the collaborative development of open textbooks.
  • OpenStax Community Hub offers an authoring tool and workgroup structure to enable collaborative authorship by faculty around OpenStax textbooks, which span math, science, social science and the humanities.

© Western Sydney University, unless otherwise attributed.
Library guide created by Western Sydney University Library staff is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY)

UA-8856030-1