OER: Where Do I Start

As librarians, we want to help our faculty find the best access to the right resources that will help them in their teaching. Open education resources provide an economical and potentially transformable set of resources for teachers. What is an open education resource, and where do you get them? Is there only one type of resource you can use, or is there a variety? Should you use them in your classroom? If you decide to use them, how do you incorporate them into your teaching? After you have done this work, with whom do you communicate?

What Is OER?

Open education resources (OER) are resources that are freely available on the Internet. This is different than affordable resources that may cost something—i.e. the library pays for a subscription to an article or eBook database or a video database. Many open education resources allow instructors to adapt them as well.

Why Use OER?

OER are free to students. For university students and private school students, this makes them more attractive, because course material costs (mainly textbooks) continue to rise each year. The average university student in America pays close to $1,200 per year in textbook costs (College Board 2018). This eliminates one of the barriers to education that we can actually affect. OER users have the rights to reuse them, remix them, and redistribute them. This allows for transformation of a work to fit the objectives of the current situation, increasing the pedagogical value of the resources. This allows one to tailor the resources to fit the class instead of the other way around.

Where Can You Get OER?

There are a variety of places to find open resources. CK-12 (https://www.ck12.org/teacher/) is a free learning platform for students, parents and teachers. It features mainly STEM resources with some additional areas in English, history, and languages. Teachers can sign up for a free account and incorporate their CK- 12 classes into various learning management systems, such as Google Classroom, Canvas, and Blackboard.

The Open Textbook Library (https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/) is a site managed by the Open Textbook Network, an organization originating out of the University of Minnesota. The library features textbooks that have open licenses, making them free to use and adapt. They also have to be used in at least one university. Each title features faculty reviews, describing its strengths and weaknesses, lending greater credibility. The Open Textbook Library continues to add hundreds of titles each year that come from a variety of places. Some of the titles would be valuable for upper level high school classes.

Open Stax (https://openstax.org/), from Rice University, offers textbooks for lower level, large enrollment college classes. They often include ancillary materials such as instructor slides and test or quiz questions. Students can purchase print copies through Amazon or through arrangements with campus bookstores. These textbooks could be appropriate for dual enrollment or A.P. classes.

Merlot (https://www.merlot.org/) is a large repository of open materials. This site includes textbooks, classes, and even individual modules., though not everything is free. The search interface includes many facets with which to sort results, allowing a teacher to find specific content for individual units of study. Although the many facets, make it easier to narrow results, the complexity may present a challenge. Librarians could assist teachers in finding content on this site.

The OER Commons (https://www.oercommons.org/) is a large repository of open and class materials. As with Merlot, not everything is free. Some materials relate to specific classes developed for specific institutions. Virginia is developing a repository at OER Commons called VIVA Open. This will eventually feature course redesign funded through the Virtual Library of Virginia's grant program.

Other types of open content include: BCcampus Open Ed from British Columbia (https://open.bccampus.ca/), Hathi Trust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org/), and the Directory of Open Access Books (https://www.doabooks.org/). Some of repositories include open courseware, developed by universities such as Michigan, MIT, and Yale. This courseware could be adapted to fit the curricular needs of various schools.

GoOpenVA is a statewide initiative between the Virginia Department of Education and school districts with support from the public and private sectors. Its aim is to promote the use of open education resources throughout Virginia schools and make them a model for other states ("GoOpenVA" 2019).

How Can You Use OER in the Classroom?

If teachers adopt open resources, they can use articles, book chapters, or even entire books in their classes. With reuse and remix rights granted by certain Creative Commons licenses, the teacher can use all or part of an article or book chapter. Then she can add her own text or video content to a class, whether live or online. For example, if a library subscribes to the free Directory of Open Access Journals., the teacher can place open articles in a course shell without having to worry about copyright issues. Using the Directory of Open Access Books, teachers can use entire books as class textbooks or incorporate individual chapters for readings (in the original published order or not). They can rewrite portions to clarify ideas or add to incomplete sections to update them. For example, if a teacher wants to teach using an open textbook, but use the book in a different order, he can place individual chapters in a learning management system in whatever order fits his instructional needs. He can also make a video and add it to a work to expand the content. If a published video has open rights, he could use that too.

It is important for instructors to evaluate OER that they may want to use in the classroom. The Open Textbook Library has developed ten criteria for evaluating open education resources (https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/reviews/rubric). They have asked university faculty from all over the United States to use the criteria to evaluate open textbooks. This gives greater credibility to these textbooks. It also encourages the authors to make changes to their works to improve them in subsequent editions. Teachers and librarians can use these criteria to determine if an open textbook will benefit instruction.

What Resources Are Available to Help Faculty Use OER in Their Classes?

Librarians are a great resource for teachers as they investigate using OER. Librarians champion the use of open access materials in education because these resources increase the number of people who have access to certain resources, and they value access to information for everyone. Therefore librarians are happy to help teachers and administrators find and use resources, whether open or not. Librarians have developed a Checklist for Fair Use for copyrighted materials to determine if you can use them (American Library Association 2019). They have also developed library guides showcasing open resources (see for example the guide from Virginia Commonwealth University, https://guides.library.vcu.edu/oer). They can also assist with placing open resources in presentation software or learning management systems.

Grant funders are another resource for teachers as they investigate using open resources. If teachers choose to use OER, this may involve reusing, remixing, and editing materials, a costly and lengthy process. Therefore faculty often apply for grants to assist with projects, based on their length and complexity. Grants can fund materials or assist with paying additional workers to help with research or producing open or remixed content. Teachers often use their summers to update a particular class or project.

Who Do You Notify about Using OER?

If faculty choose to use OER materials, they may need to inform a variety of stakeholders. Teachers may need to communicate with principals or other administrators, so administrators can develop proper registration procedures, meet state guidelines for online education, or advertise affordable materials to parents and students. Instructors need to tell students and parents how to access the open materials, whether in print or online. Finally, teachers may need to notify other teachers in the department or grade, so they can share resources, collaborate together, or team teach.

Conclusion

Now that you know what OER are, where you can find them, and how to use them in your classrooms, locate some open resources today. Whether you use an article, a book, or a video, you can transform your teaching with resources that align with your learning objectives and state standards. Then you will be a change agent who can assist other teachers and librarians with using these flexible materials.