Why OER preso transcript
From OER Commons
Contents |
Why OER?
Transcript of Presentation
This is a transcript of the introductory presentation created for ISKME’s international pilot project. The presentation may be viewed online at http://www.iskme.org/what-we-do/projects/why-oer/WhyOER_en.htm. More information on the pilot project is available at http://wiki.oercommons.org/mediawiki/index.php/International_OER_Exchange_Pilot. General information about ISKME and its programs is available at http://www.iskme.org/. OER Commons is online at http://www.oercommons.org/
Slide 1
Hello. Thanks for viewing and listening to this presentation about Open Educational Resources for Teaching and Learning. My name is Mark Basnage and I am working with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, also known as ISKME, on their OER International Pilot Project.
We’ve got a great group of teachers and researchers from four countries–Italy, Estonia, Chile, and the US working together for the next few months.
Today we’re going to get an overview of Open Educational Resources, what they are, how they’re produced, and why you might want to know more. You will hear me call both the resources and the process used to create and share them by the abbreviation, OER.
Slide 2
So, why OER? Why do they exist, and why should you care?
Slide 3
Let’s think of several scenarios. Maybe you have the chance to teach your class about climate change, but there’s not much information in the textbooks. Or maybe there is some information in the textbooks you have, but it’s dry and would not allow the students to actually get their hands on real data or experiments.
So you go looking for some curricula online, and as you browse a big collection of curricula you find an inspiring laboratory activity that might work, given a few changes.
You see that its licensing allows you to make copies, and necessary modifications, so you download it and make the changes, to make it work with the students in your class.
Slide 4
Or maybe you have a good lesson already. But now you really wish you had a video clip of some science content. For instance, maybe you wish you could show the collapse of an ice shelf in the Antarctic. Or you wish you could get the students to visualize the interactions of carbon molecules in the atmosphere.
Or maybe the students are working on presentations based on their own research, and are looking for photographs they can use to communicate their findings to the audience.
Slide 5.
Or perhaps you are doing fieldwork with your class in your local environment, and gathering lots of interesting data. You might think, “I wish we could compare our results with other schools in other cities or other countries. We’d be happy to share what we’ve learned with many other schools, then we could make even bigger comparisons.”
Slide 6.
All of these scenarios show the benefits of working with open educational resources.
OER means that the educational content, whether an entire curriculum or just a module, or even an illustration, are open for you to use, reuse, and adapt.
As you can tell from some of the examples, OER also represents a better process for developing content. The improvement comes because OER is open to the many little improvements of everyone who touches the resource.
Slide 7.
Among the many advantages of working with open resources is the fact OER gives you a vast new selection of learning and teaching materials. Unlike what you might find at the library or at your school, OER collections are constantly growing, and being added to by people around the world.
Open resources are economical. No heavy, expensive textbooks or packages of limited value. When you find a resource you like, you only have to use the part you like. And licensing of OER encourages you to use it for your class, without complicated royalty payments or use fees.
OER are also extremely adaptable. If you need to update something, you can. If you want to adapt for a new age-level, you can do that too. All kinds of other adaptations are encouraged as well -- modifying a lesson plan for one particular kind of learner, or localizing for your own place, or just substituting one illustration for another.
Finally, OER is like the real world-- allowing you to work together with colleagues in the next classroom or across the globe. OER is also dynamic-- changing as the world changes. You don’t have to wait for the “next edition” of the textbook to come out.
Slide 8.
Now let’s look at how OER get made, changed, and used. First we will think about what it looks like in the abstract, and then talk about how it works using ISKME’s OER Commons website and tools.
You might come into the process of OER at any of the steps on this diagram. For instance, you may decide to visit an OER repository to select some curricula. After you find a resource that looks helpful, you can not only put it to use, but make adaptations to it to make it fit your own classroom, curricular goals, and pedagogical understanding.
Having made your modifications, you now have something unique. While derived from another resource, you have created something new.
You can also add descriptive metadata, and contextual information to resources. For instance, you might add notes to a resource about what conditions are necessary to make a piece of curriculum work; or you might add comments about what you changed, or the level of the students you work with.
You can then take your modified resource and offer it to others, for them to use and adapt as well.
Again, it is important to remember that this process can begin at any stage. You might begin with a piece of curriculum or another resource that you have designed, and offer it to the OER Community.
Now let’s take a look at how this process works in the context of ISKME’s OER Commons.
Slide 9.
When you go to www.oercommons.org, you can see that it has been built to support the OER process we just talked about. Finding and selecting resources is easy with the search tools on the site. You can see here the search box on the top right of the screen. You can get started by simply entering in some keywords for the kind of resource you are looking for.
Slide 10.
Search results in OER Commons bring a list of relevant curriculum resources from OER Commons many partnering organizations and individuals. When you select an individual resource, you will first see an overview about the resource-- an abstract that describes the resource in some detail, and much additional information to let you know its relevance - and its open licensing status. Click on the link marked “View Item” near the eye on the top of the screen to launch a new browser window with the actual resource.
Slide 11.
Creating your own resources that draw on OER can be done using the tools at Lemill. Here we can see just a bit of the Atmospheric Processes unit that Anna Di Tonno and Palmira Ronchi have made, using the template available in the Pilot International OER Exchange area. For all the participants in our Pilot OER exchange, this is where you can share the curriculum you are working on with your students this spring. We have already provided the template for you to fill in.
Slide 12.
Adding context to a resource you find on OER Commons is easy with the rating and commenting tools. You can click on “Review Item" to write a short descriptive review of how you used the materials, what adaptations you made, or would make, and more. OER Commons even provides you with some helpful questions to prompt your responses.
As you can see in the upper right-hand corner, you can also rate the resource with a simple star rating. You are likely familiar with this kind of rating system, and how it gives you a quick way to see how prior visitors have reviewed a given resource.
Slide 13.
Finally, OER Commons provides a way for you to share your own material and knowledge. You can share a particular curriculum or course material, or an entire library or collection of materials. You can also recommend materials from another source to be added to the OER Commons site.
Slide 14.
This has been just a brief introduction to OER and the specific tools and materials available to everyone at OER Commons. The good news is that the tools we have been talking about are easy to use. Thank you for watching. We look forward to seeing your contributions and hearing about your experiences with OER.
