This introduces faculty to finding, using, creating and sharing Open Education Resources (OERs). Developed for the NCSA 2014 Annual Meeting.

1. Using and Creating
Open Education
Resources (OERs)
Lynn H. Ritchey
University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash
Lynn.Ritchey@uc.edu

2. • Free Teaching and Learning Material
o Full Courses
o Textbooks
o Learning Modules
o Syllabi
o Lectures
o Homework Assignments
o Games
o Simulations
• Created by individuals and organizations that use a
Creative Commons (CC) copyright that indicates that
you can:
o Use
o Reuse
o Modified
o Share
What are Open Education
Resources?

3. What are the Benefits of OERs?
• Learners:
o No costly textbooks
o Flexibility
o Expanded access to learning
o Continually updated resources
o Increased understanding of course material (68%)
• Faculty:
o Quality supplemental learning material already available
o Increased visibility of your scholarly work
o Create your own resources
o Facilitate new ways of teaching and learning
o Greater diversity in the learning environment
o Multiple creators

4. What are the Disadvantages of
OERs?
• Uneven quality of OERs
• Some do not have a user feedback mechanism
• Quality decreases without regular updating
• May need to be adapted to specific need
• Accessibility for students with disabilities
• Resistance to sharing intellectual property
• Language/cultural barriers
• Technological Issues

5. How Can You Use OERs?
• Although many people think of OERs are for online
and hybrid/blended courses. We are using OERs in
our traditional face-to-face courses, too.
o Supplement lecture with an OER
o Locate classroom activities and demonstrations
o Free e-texts or low-cost bound copies for students
o PowerPoint presentations/Lectures
o Documentaries
o Graphics to enhance your own powerpoint/lectures
o Homework assignments that are more interactive and engaging for
students

6. How Can You Use OERs?
• All online courses and hybrid courses are using
educational resources:
o Publisher created content (high cost, created by a limited
number of people)
o Open Resources (low/no cost, created by many
individuals/organizations, modifiable)
• We can find resources to:
o Create learning modules/playlist
o E-texts
o Engage our learners
o Quizzes
o Assignments/Projects

7. Finding Quality OERs
• Guides: information on finding, creating, and
sharing OERs.
o OER Commons
o Community College Consortium for Open Education Resources
o OpenStax (Rice University)
o MIT Open Courseware
• Repositories: A collection of learning objects
o Merlot
o Project Gutenberg
• Referatory: Provides links to a variety of resources
o Creative Commons
o College Open Text Books
• Search Engines

8. Creating OERs
• After reviewing several OER creating sites. I have
decided to contribute my modules to Rice
University’s OpenStax and Merlot.
• Remember, you do not have to write a text, you
can contribute smaller modules or even a resources
from other sites that might be of interest to others.

9. Let’s Create!
• Title: What topic?
o Specific
o General
• Identify relevant concepts needed to successfully
use OER.
• What is our learning outcome? What do we want
students to know after completing our OER?
• List the tasks to use the OER effectively, including
links to appropriate OERs.
• A conclusion that helps students reflect on the OER
• Assessment/Rubric

10. Creative Commons
• As you are creating your OERs, be certain you are
aware of how you should cite the work you
use, create, and modify.
• Usually, you will want to cite:
o The creator
o The URL
o CC Licensing Type
• Share away!