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Open Educational Resources (OER): Get Started
Ole's Open TextGet OER Support
Students cannot learn from books they cannot afford. -- InclusiveAccess.org
Ole’s Open Text will support interested instructors in selecting timely, flexible, and engaging resources for students. Ole’s Open Text will promote and assist instructors in integrating appropriate library resources (including purchasing a specific ebook for your course) along with public domain, and open license materials into their courses.
Contact the library for more information on participating in Ole's Open Text
- CTS opportunities
- One-on-one support from subject librarians
- Request ebook purchase
- Training and support opportunities via the Open Education Network
OER Collections
Library Purchased Course Materials
Why Open Education Matters. David Blake. CC BY.
OER=Free
OEN member
MNOP
Librarian
Definitions
"Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions." from UNESCO
Additional definitions can be found at the Creative Commons wiki.
Important Features of Open Educational Resources:
- OER can either be in the public domain, or under a more lax intellectual property license.
- OER can be revised, remixed, added upon, translated, and then shared again to meet different needs.
- OER can take many forms, such as: syllabi, lesson plans, videos, software, tests, teaching techniques, group activities, writing prompts, textbooks, learning modules, experiments, simulations, and course designs. There are no platform restraints.
Source: The Review Project
Why consider OER?
Textbook Prices
Textbook prices continue to rise at a significant rate over inflation. Instructors can choose OER to alleviate some of the cost of higher education.
A recent survey by Florida Virtual Campus revealed the impact of the cost of course resources:
Florida Virtual Campus. (2022). 2022 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey, https://dlss.flvc.org/colleges-and-universities/research/textbooks
Student and Institution Performance
A multi-institutional study has shown that classes that employ OER have lower drop and withdrawal rates than those using traditional, costly, textbooks keeping students on track to graduate. Student performance in classes using OER has been shown to be the same as or marginally improved over that in which traditional textbooks were used.
Interest is building at Augustana
Mirror article Feb 17, 2022, by Ann Madson Professors Use Open Source Textbooks to Alleviate Student Costs
In the Spring 2020 Mikkelsen Library faculty survey, many Augustana professors indicated both knowledge of and interest in using open access or library materials in their courses
Where Do OER Come From?
OER are typically created by grant-funded academics. A portion are also created by those who do so out of their own good will or those frustrated by the limitations of traditional texts. Many of these resources are peer-reviewed and are in use at multiple institutions of higher education. Open Education Librarians make up a global network that collects, curate, preserve, and share these resources. They also work to enable faculty to adopt, adapt, and contribute to resources in the commons.
Getting Started
How Do I Get Started With OER?
- Find an OER or a combination of several that cover your subject matter needs
- Download or bookmark them
- Modify and combine them to your liking
- Distribute the result to your students via the open, unrestricted web or through an LMS such as Canvas
- Consult with the OER librarian for assistance in any of the above steps!
Resources
- OER Starter Kit IA State 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. [Version 1.1. Revised September 5th, 2019.]
- OER Starter Kit Workbook - Cuny The OER Starter Kit Workbook is a remix of the OER Starter Kit to include worksheets to help instructors practice the skills they need to confidently find, use, or even create open educational resources (OER). We welcome instructors, librarians, instructional designers, administrators, and anyone else interested in OER to explore the OER Starter Kit Workbook.
Voices of Student Success Podcast
Library Purchased Materials Icons
As part of the Ole’s Open Text Initiative, Mikkelsen Library is launching an ebook purchase program to strategically purchase titles that (1) publishers allow for library purchase, (2) are licensed for campus-wide unlimited access, and (3) are available for a reasonable price. We are excited to have Augustana Library Associates gifts available to fund this program to support learning and lower student costs.
Use these icons to give the library credit and/or to link to the text in your syllabus or Canvas!
Attribution
All original content on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. All linked content maintains its respective license.
“Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians, and Open Culture” By Creative Commons. CC by 4.0.
Open Educational Resources by The University of Oklahoma Libraries, Open Education Librarian Morgan Briles. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
"Open Access and Open Education Resource: What's the Difference" adaptation by Jean Shumway licensed CC BY 4.0.
