This month’s TOPkit Digest is brought to you by James R. Paradiso (james.paradiso@ucf.edu), Associate Instructional Designer, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida. He discusses OER: Finding a ‘local’ solution to a ‘global’ problem.

This video illustrates how Open Educational Resources (OERs) provide a revolutionary means of democratizing access to education and creating a new, more adaptable educational system that responds to our dynamic economy—suggesting that equal access to knowledge leads to equal opportunities in life, and in such a world, success depends solely on the individual. This, it asserts, is the true meaning of freedom.

Note: This summary (based on the video transcript) contains a mixture of text by ChatGPT 3.5 and Copilot (then modified by James R. Paradiso) on 04/17/24.

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The phrase ‘Open Educational Resources (OER)’ has been defined (in long- and short-form) by a number of organizations (e.g., UNESCO, SPARC, Hewlett Foundation) and convened around internationally at small and large events—ranging from the historically significant 2007 Cape Town meeting (entitled Open Sourcing Education) of which emerged the Cape Town Open Education Declaration (cf. CPT+10) to more recent discussions occurring yearly at the Open Education Conference and during Open Education Week, where innovative practices on the topic of open education are shared on a global scale. (cf. #OpenEd23 Sessions / OE Week 2023 Resources).

Although open educational practices cover a multitude of topics across a variety of global contexts, the following tips are designed to provide you with clear strategies on how to ‘localize’ OER—independent of the content origin, intent, or license type—through utilizing the 5Rs of openness (cf. Wiley, 2014).

#1 You can reuse OER. This affordance permits OER to be used in multiple ways. For example, you can reuse some or all of an OER to develop your course assignments, quizzes, videos, or lectures.

#2 You can revise OER. This affordance permits OER content to be altered. For example, you can change the format, language, and tone of an OER to fit your local audience. 

#3 You can remix OER. This affordance permits multiple OER to be combined and even interwoven with your own (original) content if desired. For example, you might work with a faculty member who teaches multiple dialects of a foreign language over a single-semester course, so you can grab relevant materials from independently written OER for each dialect and meld them together to provide a cohesive learning experience across otherwise disassociated areas of study.

#4 You can redistribute OER. This affordance permits original or remixed versions of OER to be shared with your colleagues, students, friends, et al. For example, you find an OER entitled How to Design an Impeccable Learning Experience and share the link to it with your colleagues so they can read it before the next team-building event.

#5 You can retain OER. This affordance permits OER to be accessed perpetually. For example, you develop a new assignment for your faculty development programming that prompts participants to create an openly licensed ePortfolio. However, instead of having them upload an ePortfolio file into the learning management system (LMS), you can have them submit the URL to an online, public-facing version of the project that they can license, own, and continue to exercise the 5Rs on over time.

A note on Creative Commons license types: Content with a non-derivative ND designation is not considered OER, as it does not permit exercising ALL of the 5Rs. (cf. Creative Commons Copyright Spectrum)

Summary

By having a clear understanding of how OER is defined and the license types that help govern its usage, you are now prepared to leverage the 5Rs in your professional and/or personal endeavors, allowing you to truly customize a content experience for your ‘local context,’ which over time, could spread to various places ‘across the globe’ (think ‘butterfly effect’).

Sample Course

Two downloadable sample course cartridges for an online faculty development course.

Checklists and Rubrics

Checklists, rubrics, and guidelines for evaluating online programs and course quality.

We invite you to share a model, practice, or an approach to faculty development. Your content contribution will be featured on the TOPkit website and promoted through social media. For topic ideas, view examples on Planning, Developing, and Evaluating. Call for contributions is open!

When we encourage affordable content within our teams or more broadly across our institutions, keep in mind that the benefits of OER go well beyond cost savings—largely due to the ability to exercise the 5Rs (as noted above). In a truly ‘open’ model of education, the physical or virtual classroom can be transformed from a passive, content consumer model to an active, content producer model. Students’ static assignments can be fed back into the course curriculum or leveraged for professional or academic goals beyond that individual course (cf. Cespedes & Paradiso, 2023). OER also has a certain level of advocacy baked in on account of it being highly ideological and favorable towards matters of social justice, so you might consider how OER (and open education more broadly) aligns with existing student organizations (e.g., Wiki Knights) and student success initiatives at your institution.

Explore how OER is situated within affordability initiatives across the state colleges and universities of Florida

See works referenced or cited →

Bren Bedford, MNM, SFC®, Web Project Analyst II, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida

Florence Williams, Ph.D., Associate Instructional Designer, Center for Distributed Learning, University of Central Florida