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Tues - Finding OER

Day's Objectives

Identify criteria for a good resource
Find OER

Guest Speaker: Ross Higa

Ross Higa, Business Management Coordinator will share his experience after the first year of teaching with an open textbook. He will answer questions such as:

- Why did you adopt an open textbook?
- What was the adoption process like?
- What lessons can you share in adopting an open textbook?
- How have your students responded to the open textbook?
- What challenges did you have to overcome during the process?
- How did the quality of open textbooks compare to the publisher textbook you were using previously?
- What are your next steps, moving beyond open textbook adoption?

Activity: Sorting Resources By Rights of Use

First, in teams, you will be sorting different types of resources into public domain, copyright, or Creative Commons categories.
We will share our findings and discuss as a group.

Resource Evaluation Criteria

The following sets of evaluation criteria will be used for your upcoming resource review:

The Open Textbooks Review Criteria was developed at BCcampus, a major OER initiative in British Columbia, Canada.
The Interactive Learning Materials Criteria was developed to evaluate materials with higher levels of student engagement than traditional textbooks.

Go to the OER Review Criteria Template to view both criteria.

Consider the following questions as you examine the criteria:

Are the criteria relevant to your subject area or needs?
Does it cover all aspects for evaluating teaching materials in your area?
Is it necessary to modify the criteria to better suit your needs?

The BCcampus also developed a faculty guide for evaluating OER in a checklist format for ease of use.

Faculty Guide for Evaluating Open Education Resources Checklist

Activity: Open Textbook Library Review

The Open Textbooks Library is a catalog of free, peer-reviewed, openly-licensed textbooks supported by the Open Textbooks Network, a growing network of higher-education institutions across the U.S. supporting the adoption of open textbooks. The Open Textbook Library uses the Open Textbooks Review Criteria for its textbook reviews.

Go to the Open Textbooks Library and browse their catalog. Look for a peer-reviewed title, preferably in your subject area, and read one or two of the reviews. Then briefly browse the textbook.

Consider the following questions: