3 Activity: Create an OER Vision
What is a vision?
A vision is a way to document the high-level purpose(s) and/or goal(s) of a project. It serves as a way to inspire and re-orient you as you progress through a project and encounter rough spots. It highlights what you want to do in the long-term and why you’re doing it.
Incorporating open educational resources into your course is an exciting and empowering adventure. It is so tempting to jump right in to start searching for existing content or to begin creating content from scratch, but pausing this temptation to take the time to create an initial vision will result in a more meaningful, focused and impactful end product. Furthermore, documenting this vision will provide you with a valuable, tangible road-map to guide your efforts.
Get inspired
In the list below, you will find just a few selected OERs created by the Open Education Lab to showcase the variety of resources you can develop.
(The next time we offer this workshop, we’d love to add some of your resources to this list! :D)
Textbooks
Case Studies
Multi-Course Case Studies in Health Sciences
Guides and Workbooks
Moon of the Crusted Snow: Reading Guide
Project Management Fundamentals: Student Workbook
Interactive Activities
Interactive Activities for Human Anatomy and Physiology
Websites
Non-Violent Communication and Peace
Visioning activity
The following steps will take you through a visioning process. Work through each step, but don’t hesitate to venture beyond the prompts. Be as creative as you wish!
If you’re working with collaborators, talk about how you want to complete this activity as a team. You might decide to start by creating individual visions and then bringing those together. Alternatively, you can begin this process together.
Step 1: Document
Decide how you would like to document your vision. There are several different approaches, from free digital mind map software to the good old pencil and paper approach! Choose the approach that works best for you.
- Mindmap
- Whiteboard
- Google Jamboard
- Google Draw (functions like a whiteboard with the scribble tool!)
- Pencil & Paper
- Write or sketch your idea on a piece of paper!
Step 2: Reflect
Work through the following prompting questions and jot down your answers (using the approach you chose in step 1). As you answer these questions, you might want to include all components that would be on your wish list, and then highlight the areas that you will focus on first. Remember, your development process can occur in a step-by-step process.
Step 3: Save
For this critical step, it’s time to play by old-school RPG rules: save early; save often! Make sure you save your vision somewhere accessible so you can return to it throughout this process. Remember, your OER vision will be continually evolving and it will be important to be able to easily return to it often.
Step 4: Share
If you are comfortable sharing your vision with the other members of the OER Incubator, share your vision in whatever format it’s in (a link, a picture, a file, etc.) to the workshop Canvas course. Sharing at this stage of the process will allow you to receive feedback from peers and to potentially gain inspiration from other visions that you can use to enhance your own! (Of course, it’s also no problem if you choose to keep your vision private. It’s completely up to you!)
However, if you do choose to share your vision, don’t forget to consider sharing beyond this incubator group. You could share it with a colleague at the University, or a friend or a family member who can be a sounding board for your ideas. Sometimes, getting an outside perspective can be exactly what you need to refine your ideas!
What is your vision?
Work through the step-by-step guide to create your vision. 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.
