Open Educational Resources
Miley Grandjean & Jed Duggan
Online Course Improvement Program
Feb. 7, 2014
Open Education Matters: Why is it
important to share content?
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Write down 2-3 things about OER that
you feel are positive.
Write down at least one challenge or
issue you still seem to have about OER.
Open Education Resources
“Open educational resources provide a learnercentered platform that authentically marries
technology with education and provides access
and equity to education resources for all.”
-Lisa Petrides from Web Computing
What is OER?
Are free
 Openly licensed
 Accessible
 Educational materials that can be used for
teaching, learning, research, and other
purposes
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What do OER’s Include?
Courses
 Course materials
 Content modules
 Learning objects
 Collections
 Journals
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OERs and Tools
OERs also comprise tools for delivering
educational content
 Software that supports the creation, delivery,
use and improvement of open learning
content
 Searching and organization of content
 Content and learning management systems
 Content development tools
 On-line learning communities
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History of OERs
The term learning object was coined in
1994 by Wayne Hodgins
 Shared the idea that digital materials can
be designed to allow easy reuse in a wide
range of teaching and learning situations
 Term was adopted by educators and
instructional designers
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History of OERs
Movement originated from developments
in open and distance learning (ODL)
 Culture of open knowledge and open
source
 Believes in free sharing and peer
collaboration
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Creative Commons
Creative Commons licensing provides a
framework to provide guidelines for the
“4 Rs” of sharing resources:
 Reuse: copying verbatim with attribution
 Redistribution: sharing with others
 Revision: adapting and reusing
 Remixing: combining with other
resources
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Creative Commons
Today’s Session
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Resources and links for today’s session
can be found on◦ Pinterest
◦ Learni.st
◦ OCIP Resource Wiki
A follow-up email will be sent to you with
links to resources from this
presentation.
Miley and Jed’s Top Picks
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OER Commons
Open Course Ware (OCW)
Merlot II
Khan Academy
Open Learning Initiative (OLI)
Connexions
Diigo
Twitter
Youtube
Facebook
OER Commons
http://www.oercommons.org/
OER Commons Details
Across all subject areas
 Lots of different resource types
 Flexible search features
 Quality rating system
 Clearly labeled ‘Conditions of Use’
 Short abstract
 Review resource
 Variety of actions
 Easy to curate resources in account
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Open Course Ware(OCW) Search
http://www.ocwsearch.com
OCW Details
Search in a variety of ways
 Helpful example searches
 Advanced Search-customized search with
operators
 Link to web-based course OR zip file
 Download – full course load access via
index.html
 Do you want all materials on your
desktop/laptop?
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MERLOT II
http://www.merlot.org
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MERLOT Details
• Online learning materials in different
disciplines
• Peer review opportunities – can review,
create, and add to the content collection
• Awards – submitted content is review and
can be recognized by consortium
• Translation variety languages
• Guest Speakers – content specialists are
available for guest speaking to your students
Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/
Khan Academy Details
Instruction – math, science, some
humanities, test prep
 Practice - materials provided for student
practice with feedback
 Teacher/Coach - teachers can be associated
with their students to monitor progress or
completion
 Assessment – quizzes and tests provided
 Collaborative opportunities- teachers are
invited to add and improve the collection
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Open Learning Initiative http://oli.cmu.edu/
OLI Details
Students use independently, choose level
of access – register or not
 Textbook independent, embedded
practice questions, hands on practice,
virtual labs, videos
 Faculty create custom courses using OLI
materials
 Learning Dashboard tracks student
progress
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Connexions
Connexions Details
Diigo
Diigo Details
Twitter
Twitter Details
YouTube
Youtube Details
Facebook
Facebook Details
Desktop Share
Hold on while we share our desktop!
OER Challenges
Quality
 Accuracy
 Potential use restrictions
 Availability in particular disciplines
 Time
 Management multiple accounts
 Competition faculty textbook income
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OER Benefits
Wide variety of resources
 Free
 High quality
 Open access
 Savings on course materials
 Course enhancement
 User communities
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Where you should start!
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Academic Earth http://academicearth.org
Connexions http://cnx.org
Coursera https://www.coursera.org/
Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/
iTunesU http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u
Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org
Merlot http://www.merlot.org
MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
National Academies Press http://www.nap.edu
Where you should start!
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OCW Search http://www.ocwsearch.com/
OER Commons http://www.oercommons.org/
Open Courseware Consortium
http://www.ocwconsortium.org
Open Culture http://www.openculture.com/
Open Learning Initiative http://oli.cmu.edu/
(Carnegie Mellon)
Peer to Peer University https://p2pu.org/en/
PHET http://phet.colorado.edu
Udacity http://www.udacity.com/
Wiki Books http://en.wikibooks.org