Pre-Workshop

Complete by 2/4/22

Activity 1 - Post an Introduction

We will start with an ice-breaker in Slack [New Window]. The ice-breaker intends to foster sharing and openness, hoping that this will lead to interacting and bonding with your fellow participants. This is an important part of the overall workshop experience because we will be learning with and from each other.

1. Join our Slack Workspace

You should have received an email from Junie Hayashi inviting you to join the OER 101 (FEB 22) workspace [New Window] workspace on Slack. Please be sure you accept the invitation to Join Now. Once you select Join Now, you will be on the Slack platform.


  • Enter your Full name, Display name, and create a password.

Once you are in the OER 101 workspace, please personalize your profile (upload a profile photo, add any pertinent information you would like to share).

2. Introduction Posting

Go to Channels and select #1-introduction [New Window]. Start your introductory post. To add text and a photo, type your introduction in the message box and select the paperclip to add your photo.

By selecting "Return" or "Enter," you will be uploading your post. If you wish to edit your post, please mouse over your post until you see an icon menu.

Screenshot of Slack icon menu

Select the last icon circled in red, and select "Edit message" to edit your post.

Helpful tip: To start a new line or paragraph in your post, press Shift and Enter.

Please include the following in your post:

  1. Post a meaningful photograph of yourself. It can be a favorite vacation, family, or work photo. Next, write a little about yourself. You can share why the photo is meaningful.

  2. Share what you currently know about Open Educational Resources. If you know nothing about OER, that's fine. Share that. We are starting right where you are.

  3. Share what your motivation is for taking this workshop.

Readings and Videos (complete by Friday, 2/4/22)

Textbook Affordability: It's a Problem

"Textbooks are too expensive, and have been for a very long time. Little competition in the college publishing industry- and therefore little consumer choice – has contributed to the cost of course materials increasing at three times the rate of inflation since the 1970s. While the curve has plateaued the past couple of years, there has been little change in student experience. Students have continued to skip buying assigned course materials due to cost at similar rates." Continue reading [New Window]

Image of rise in college textbook prices

Why Open?

Watch Password: OER and OA & OER videos

Read this Piktochart presentation

Why Open? presentation by Wayde Oshiro is CC BY 4.0 (http://go.hawaii.edu/Atp)

OA & OER by Junie Hayashi is CC BY 4.0


While Open Educational Resources have been around for over ten years, awareness of their existence and importance has started to surface more and more as a topic of discussion in the education community. But what exactly is OER?

What is OER?

The Hewlett Foundation [New Window] defines it as


Open Educational Resources (OERs) are teaching, learning, and research resources released under an open license that permits their free use and repurposing by others. OERs can be textbooks, full courses, lesson plans, videos, tests, software, or any other tool, material, or technique that supports access to knowledge.


UNESCO [New Window] defines it this way


Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt, and re-share them.


What do these definitions have in common?


As you will soon learn, the key characteristic of OERs is openness. "Open" means a lot of things depending on the context in which the term is used. For this workshop, the "Open" in Open Educational Resources refers to the set of permissions attached to content by the author or creator that gives others the right to use it without seeking permission to do so. The concept of sharing is at the core of OER, and an understanding of the system developed for sharing is one of the main objectives of this workshop.


"Open education is really about intent. The philosophy of openness is about sharing. It's about collaboration. It's about transparency and accountability." - Jhangiani


In order to understand how OERs are created, it is important to learn a little about copyright. Please review the following mini-presentation in preparation to discuss more about copyright in session 1.

Copyright...A Brief Primer

Copyright & Public Domain presentation by Wayde Oshiro is CC BY 4.0 (http://go.hawaii.edu/ztA)

Open Pedagogy and Open Educational Practices

One of the dynamic advocates of OER and student-centered pedagogies is Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani [New Window], Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia. Rajiv is the co-editor of the open access book Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science [New Window].

Watch Enhancing Pedagogy via Open Educational Practices

OER and the Pandemic

Read the following article:

Awareness of Open Educational Resources Grows, but Adoption Doesn't [New Window]

As COVID-19 forced professors to embrace digital texts, they were likelier to know about -- but not to use -- free, openly licensed materials. Progress was greatest at colleges that promoted OER, especially minority-serving ones transition to OER, adoptions of those materials remained static.


Listen to the following podcast:

The Pandemic's Impact on Open Educational Resources (OER) [New Window], listen between time: 02:36 - 13:30

The use of free, openly licensed textbooks and other curricular materials have been on the rise amid growing concerns about college affordability. But uptake stalled in 2020 as professors and students struggled with the transition to digital learning and the tumult of their lives, a new annual report on usage of OER finds.

Activity 2 - Post a Response

Select one of the questions below and post your response on Slack OER 101 #2-reading-response [New Window] channel

  • Question 1 - Rajiv Jhangiani states, "Open education is really about intent. The philosophy of openness is about sharing. It's about collaboration. It's about transparency and accountability." What is your response to his statement?

  • Question 2 - Given the college affordability crisis and the changes to higher education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please reflect on how this concept of openness and sharing impacts the way you teach.

Checklist - Due by Friday 2/4/22

Additional Reading (optional)

Resources