8 Activity: Your OER Quest
You’ve completed your training on search strategies and Creative Commons licences, which means it’s finally time for you to take the first steps on your OER Quest!
Week one was about creating an OER Vision, the map we’ll use to guide us on our quest. In weeks two and three, we’re going to take that map and translate it into a full-blown OER Action Plan, beginning with an environmental scan.
The following 3-minute screencast outlines the environmental scan process, as well as some of the paths you might take as you continue your adventures into OER.
OER Environmental Scan Process on YouTube
Transcript: OER Environmental Scan Process
Find and evaluate OER
Work through the step-by-step guide to find and evaluate OER. Use the OER Incubator Activity Sheet to keep track of your work, and notes from other activities. You can create a copy of the activity sheet for use in your own Google Drive, or download a Word version to work from.
Get Ready!
We have created an OER Curator to help you keep track of your journey, and prompt you to record important information that will save you precious time down the road!
You will be asked to record identifying information about resources so you can find them again, CC license information, your evaluation notes, and your initial thoughts about how you might be able to use each resource you discover.
- To start documenting your own journey, open this OER Curator and use the “File” tab to “make a copy” (to work online in Google Sheets) or “download” (to work on your desktop)
- Feel free to edit the evaluation criteria in your copy of the Curator to fit with your project!
Get Set!
- Review your evaluation criteria so you know what to look for when you start searching. Edit your copy of the Curator as needed!
Explore!
- To discover what open content already exists, begin a focused environmental scan using recognized OER repositories.
- It may be helpful to start with the suggested repositories in the accordion menu below.
- Remember to try several different repositories as there is no “one-stop-shop” for OERs.
- When searching for resources, look for more than one type of media.
- It is a good idea to provide information in different ways –text, audio, and video/images– as learners differ in the ways in which they perceive and comprehend information that is presented to them.
- Try out the search strategies you’ve practiced!
- Rather than just using your normal vocabulary, consider synonyms and terms other educators and experts may have used. You can refer back to the search strategies and tips we offered in the weekly overview.
- Pay close attention to which of the repositories have advanced search capabilities, and explore how you might optimize those capabilities.
- Exploring is worth the time it takes!
- It may take a while to identify a few favourite repositories, but doing so will save you a lot of time in the future.
- When you find a potential resource, add it to the Resource Information section of the OER Curator.
OER Repositories
Click to open the following accordion menu to access links to several different OER Repositories. We suggest you begin your exploration with the open textbook and large OER repositories.
Do you have a favourite repository that we missed? Please share it!
Extend!
- Once you have found several OERs, proceed to the evaluation stage of the Curator. Go through each of the evaluation criteria and jot down a few initial thoughts on your resources.
- If you can’t find any existing resources for a particular topic, think about whether you might consider creating or co-creating that content!
- Even if your goal is to transition to 100% open content, you can also integrate some free library resources if/when the need arises.
- Keep your eyes open for resource inspiration!
- As you are searching, be aware of content types, and ideas you could use for your own OER (even if the resources aren’t directly applicable).
- Use that inspiration to refine your vision and/or share that resource with others in the OER Incubator.
- We have created this Sharing Space where you can share resources, but you can also directly email a peer who might benefit from your discovery!
Reflect!
- Take some time to reflect on your OER Quest so far!
- Now that you have explored the open, has your initial OER vision changed? Have you been inspired by resources you have seen? If so, go ahead and update your vision!