Adopting OER
Easy Steps to Get Started with OER:
- Search for and select a textbook in your discipline, using this guide or consulting with your Liaison Librarian.
- Mixing different resources together might be the best option for creating the perfect text. A Librarian will be happy to assist!
- Review and evaluate available options based on the content and whether it suits your teaching style and your students.
- Decide if you want to use the textbook as is, edit, or modify the contents. One of the benefits of open textbooks is flexibility to customize them for specific course designs as much or as little as you desire. If you want to make edits or append content, make sure the licensing allows that. Different repositories will have different options for editing and publishing revised copies.
- Make sure your text is accessible to all students by making it available in several formats. Again, a Librarian can help.
- Share your work with others by uploading your remixed work onto an OER website for others to benefit from.
Evaluating OER
As faculty, you assess textbooks against a set of criteria that reflects your long experience and knowledge of student needs. You do the same with Open Textbooks, but there are a few additional considerations.
* Content
Accuracy of material, Richness, Depth, Breadth, Timeliness, Cultural context
* Presentation
Writing quality and tone, Reading level, Organization, Visual presentation, Hierarchy of information, Collateral materials
Additional Criteria
* Accessibility online - Are the web pages for the textbook accessible?
* Production options - Is the book available in more than one format? Printed? Bound? PDF?
* Platform compatibility - Is the textbook viewable and usable on both MAC's and PC's?
* Delivery options - Is a bound copy available at a very low price? Will your bookstore be able to carry the printed version?
* Interactivity - If the online version includes interactive software or multi-media files, are they accessible and cross platform?
* Consistency between online and printed presentation - Are the online and printed versions comparable in organization and basic appearance? Will you be able to identify locations in either with minimal confusion for students?
* Collateral material - If there are test banks, interactive modules, or other enrichment materials, are they in a format you can use? Are they accessible? Are they free or very inexpensive?
Student Feedback
The final piece of evaluation is to consider how your students felt about it once the course is complete. Consider collecting student feedback with this Creative Commons Student Evaluation Checklist. Edit it, modify it, print it out and pass it out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Featured Resources
- Accessibility Toolkit byThe goal of the Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd Edition is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students.
- Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational ResourcesThis document is intended to support authors, teachers, professors, librarians, and all open educators in evaluating when and how they can incorporate third party copyright materials into Open Educational Resources to meet their pedagogical goals.
- The OER Starter Kit by
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This starter kit has been created to provide instructors with an introduction to the use and creation of open educational resources (OER). The text is broken into five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER. Although some chapters contain more advanced content, the starter kit is primarily intended for users who are entirely new to Open Education. - Preparing for a More Inclusive Course byTeaching to Promote Inclusion and Celebrate Diversity
- Trans Inclusion in OER byWith knowledge and intention, those involved in the creation, adaptation, and use of OER can find and incorporate materials that center trans and gender diverse people. Doing this is essential for supporting trans and gender diverse students and educating everyone about these identities. This resource is a guide on how to make OER more inclusive and representative of trans and gender diverse people. It is intended to be easily incorporated into a scholarly communications course, while also being valuable to faculty and others interested in learning about the topic and how to make changes to their own course materials.
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) project was a collaboration between 10 universities and colleges across Ontario to develop a 6-module open educational resource for post-secondary educators to help them understand their responsibilities under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). It will help instructors and others to incorporate principles of UDL and considerations of EDI and Indigenisation in their learning environments.
Open Textbook Adoption
- Worksheet - Open Text AdoptionThe Open Text Adoption Worksheet from the Community College Consortium for Open Education Resources provides an excellent step by step walk through.
- Quick Guide to AdoptionThis Open Textbook Adoption Quick Guide site provides a detailed outline for adoptiong open textbooks in your course.
- Guidelines for OER in Higher EducationUNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) have developed these Guidelines to support governments, higher education institutions, academics, student bodies and quality assurance/accreditation bodies.
"Six Steps to OER" by Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) Librarians, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License / Modified text from original.
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