Open Ed in a Minute ⏲ Students succeed with adoption/use of OERs

 


Welcome to our next topic in the ‘Open Ed in a Minute’ series! Today, we'll explore finding and adopting/using open educational resources (OERs) to support teaching and help your students succeed with high-quality, accessible OERs! 

About OERs

Open educational resources (OERs) are resources that reside in the public domain or have been licensed to permit free use, distribution and re-purposing by others. They: 

  • Give you the ability to adapt instructional resources to the individual needs of your students
  • Allow you to ensure that learning resources are up to date. 
  • Ensure that cost is not a barrier to learning for your students.
  • Are being used for education purposes across the globe and are becoming mainstream (used and developed) within Australian higher education. 

Steps for identifying and adopting/using OERs 

Selection and adoption/use of OERs requires pretty much the same process as selecting a traditional textbook or readings for your students. You may identify one OER that meets your needs, or you could end up using sections from multiple OERs. 

  • Decide what you need 💭 Do you want:
    • OERs with interactive elements and/or embedded multimedia (e.g., H5Ps, videos)
    • inclusion of supplementary/ancillary materials (e.g., lesson plans, slides)?
    • Australianised content (e.g., metric measurements, professional standards)?
    • accessibility features (e.g., download options, diverse perspectives)?

  • Search trusted/recommended repositories 📚 Top repositories include: 
  • Use advanced search filters 🔎 Advanced search filters will narrow down your results. Where available, filter: 
    • by publisher to limit to OERs developed by Australian universities.
    • by date for OER currency
    • for resources that have been peer-reviewed
    • for resources with a Creative Commons license that is compatible with your preferred teaching format (e.g., online, blended, or face-to-face).
    • by content type to find videos, notes, homework sets, textbooks, tutorials, etc.

  • Evaluate OERs for quality and relevance 🧐 Evaluate identified OERs as you would a traditional textbook. You could also consider whether the resources align with your learning objectives, are culturally inclusive, or can be easily adapted to meet your students' needs.

  • Integrate selected OERs thoughtfully ⚒️ Leverage OERs and develop a best practice approach supporting learning and teaching in your subject/s. 

Get the ball rolling

  1. Learn about JCU Library’s Textbook Affordability Project, 2024-2025.
  2. Check out our OER Library Guide.
  3. Ask your Liaison Librarian for help and advice.
  4. Stay up to date about textbook affordability and open education at JCU. Request to join the JCU Open Education SIG.    

We hope this has inspired you to consider adopting/using OERs to enhance student success. In the next post, we'll dive into the benefits finding and adopting/using open educational resources (OERs).  


 


"Open Ed in a Minute: Students succeed with adoption/use of OERs" is a derivative of "2.2 Discover & Integrate High-Quality OER in Your Courses" by Texas State University Libraries, used and licensed under CC BY 4.0 by Claire Ovaska.

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