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OER Toolkit: Creating

Creating

Creating

Whether working alone or as a team, this module provides information and tools to aid academics in authoring new and adapted OER for teaching and learning.

 

OER Design Tips

Consider this list of design tips to create sharable, reusable OER - and get help from the library along the way

  • Start with what’s thereLook to existing collections with quality resources such as eCampus Ontario’s Open Textbook Library. Also consider materials that you've created, which may be available offline.
  • Make it accessibleIt's important to ensure that the resources you create are accessible to all learners. Note that it is more work to make existing OER accessible than it is to create an accessible OER from the start. Use the accessibility checklist to guide your work.
  • Make it adaptableThe more modular your content is, the easier it is for future users to reuse it. If you’re working on an open textbook, separate your content by chapter and subchapter. If possible, provide a version of your resource in an editable format, such as .docx or Google Docs.
  • Make it openSelect and clearly display the Creative Commons licence for your resource. If you integrate other materials into your resource, select those that are open. See the Licensing Module in this toolkit for information on choosing an open licence, or contact your library for help.
  • Make it discoverableWork with library staff to determine the best platform for sharing the resource with others. Library staff can also advise you on adding appropriate descriptors that make your OER discoverable.

Additional Information:

Designing OER

When designing OER and using CC Licences, it is best to use material that:

  • is original and created by the team.
  • the University holds copyright for the text and images used.
  • has a CC license.
  • is Open Access.
  • is out of copyright or has no known copyright issues.
  • you have permission from the copyright holder to share their material.
  • for a website or electronic resource, the terms of use clearly state that their material can be shared.

Accessibility

Besides their general quality, the accessibility of OER is also an important factor to consider, especially in light of the online nature of most OER. Information about creating and evaluating the accessibility of OER is listed below. 

Created from Open Educational Resources by Iowa State University Library. Available: https://instr.iastate.libguides.com/oer/evaluate

OERs

Why Create OER?

  • Assures academic freedom to add content to your specifications
  • Extends your academic profile
  • Provides more relevant and engaging materials for students
  • Reduces costs for students

Attribution:

Text a derivative of BCOER Poster, by BCcampus, licensed under CC BY 4.0

 

Examples of OER Creation

Creating OER and Combining Licenses Part 1.

In this animated video, Michelle develops a chapter on metabolism for an open textbook. She uses her teaching notes for the text of the chapter, and finds openly licensed images and exercises to accompany the text. She also determines which Creative Commons licence to assign to her finished chapter before sharing it.

Creating OER and Combining Licenses Part 1 video transcript.

Putting Public Back in Public Higher Education

Watch Robin DeRosa describe how her students at Plymouth State helped create their own course materials from the public domain while dramatically reducing their costs.

Putting Public Back in Public Higher Education video transcript

Note: For more information on choosing an open licence for material you create, see the Licensing Module in this toolkit, or contact your library for help.

OER Authoring Guides

Accessibility Checklist

Western Sydney University strongly supports the aims and provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) and Disability Discrimination Act Education Standards (2005). Our latest Accessibility Action Plan 2018-2020 therefore articulates the active measures the University will take to prevent disability discrimination across the institution and the Greater Western Sydney region.

The University’s Disability Policy states our commitment to provide reasonable adjustments wherever possible to students and staff to accommodate disability-related needs. There are no specific guidelines for what is accessible—other than it must meet the need of the student requesting the accessible format. However, as educators, we a have ethical obligations to ensure that courses are fully accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities.

Unless carefully chosen with accessibility in mind, instructional resources can erect barriers that make learning difficult or impossible. Use the materials below to ensure that the resources you create are accessible to all learners.

Accessibility Toolkit

Authoring and Hosting Tools

Some OER authoring tools are free, and others require payment. Also, be aware that some tools require users to actively change their sharing settings to make resources public, or they may only allow sharing with other registered users and not the wider public.

Free Tools

Measuring OER Impact

There are several ways to measure the impact of textbooks. Authors and publishers of traditional textbooks track certain metrics like books sales, royalties, course adoptions, and e-book downloads. Creators of open educational resources often have different goals in mind than commercial publishers and may want to consider alternative types of metrics. For example, the author of an open textbook might be more concerned with the amount of savings to students rather than book sales. Deciding which metrics are important to track should not be a last minute decision. Instead, it is important to consider metrics closer to the beginning of a project as authors and publishers might not be interested in the same metrics e.g. an author may be more concerned with the success and adoption of their individual textbook, while a publisher may be more concerned with the overall sustainability and success of their program. Also, authors are better positioned to collect certain metrics while publishers and libraries are better positioned to collect others.

Metrics Resources

36 Indicators of OER Impact

Attribution:

36 Indicators of OER Impact by Janet Swatscheno, licensed CC BY 4.0. This graphic is adapted from 56 Indicators of Impact by Holbrook, J Britt, Kelli R. Barr, and Keith Wayne Brown. 2013. Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.707081.v3. Licensed under CC BY 4.0

© 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)

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