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Faculty Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER): Create OER

How do I create OER?

Institutional Support

The following individuals and departments can provide you with some support.

Course design and planning -- Rebekah Wright, Ed.D., Instructional Design

Finding OER -- Library Liaisons

Accessibility -- Library Liaisons

Instructional Technology -- Cheyne Murray, ITS

Adapting/Creating OER & DOI assignment -- Paige Mann, Scholarly Communications

Copyright & Licensing -- Library Liaisons

Sharing Your OER -- Paige Mann, Scholarly Communications

 

 

 

 

Create, Adapt, Share OER

Whether you're at the idea stage, want to adapt an existing OER, or have already created educational resources, work with your colleagues through the following steps.

  1. Create -- consider accessibility, share-ability, and any relevant programming languages and file types.
  2. Assign a license -- clearly communicates what you do and don't permit people to do with your work.
  3. Make discoverable -- to maximize discoverability and adoption of your OER.

 

 

Authoring Resources

 

 

 

BCcampus Open Education Accessibility Toolkit

The goal of the Accessibility Toolkit is to provide the resources needed to create a truly open and accessible textbook. An open textbook that is free and accessible for all students.The Accessibility Toolkit has also been translated into French.

A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students

A handbook for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other Open Educational Resources. This is a first edition, compiled by Rebus Community, and we welcome feedback and ideas to expand the text.

Authoring Open Textbooks

This guide is for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks in higher education and K-12. Content includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools.

book cover for The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far)

The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far)

The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far) is a living repository of collective knowledge, written to equip all those who want to publish open textbooks with the resources they need. Representing two years of collaboration, innumerable conversations and exchanges, and a wide range of collective knowledge and experience, the Guide is a book-in-progress and will evolve and grow over time.

Self-Publishing Guide: A BCcampus Open Education reference for writing and self-publishing an open textbook

The BCcampus Open Education Self-Publishing Guide is a reference for individuals or groups wanting to write and self-publish an open textbook. This guide provides details on the preparation, planning, writing, publication, and maintenance of an open textbook.

Book cover of a red apple surrounded by swirls on a blue background

Open Pedagogy Approaches: Faculty, Library, and Student Collaborations

This book is meant to serve educators with varying levels of “open” experience and knowledge, whether one is starting small with a single assignment, radically revamping one’s course design, or simply interested in learning about new pedagogical approaches. The OER case studies bring together different approaches to open pedagogy, and as such, each chapter is quite different from the next.

Need Images?

Schistosomiasis Japonicum

With image libraries becoming increasingly popular, it can be challenging to know where to search and to run multiple searches. We recommend the following strategies.

  1. Search across collections for images expected to have a CC license. Do a Google Image search. Click Tools > Usage Rights > Creative Commons Licenses.

  2. Search across collections for images expected to be in the public domain or w/out a CC license yet may allow for educational use. Do a Google image search and add site:.gov to the end of your search terms. This will search government websites which are likely to have add their images to the public domain. Replace .gov with either .edu or .org to expand your search.

  3. Scan for relevant image libraries or websites. Use Google's image search to identify specific sites that you may want to search directly. Examples include Wellcome Collection, Library of Congress, open access journals, OER)

  4. Always check for and follow the license or terms of use. Don't assume you can use it, but don't assume you can't either! Want to learn how to properly give attribution?

  5. Exercise your fair use rights. Even if the license won't permit your use, can you make a fair use argument? Is it even under copyright? Sometimes publishers will claim the copyright for a chart of table, but if it's just presenting facts (e.g., the temperature was 104) in a straightforward way, it may not qualify for copyright protection.

Reach out to a librarian with any questions.