Designing for the 5Rs

Introduction

As you learned in a previous lesson, the 5Rs are: 

• Retain - make, own, and control a copy of the resource (e.g., download and keep your own copy)

• Revise - edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (e.g., translate into another language)

• Remix - combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new (e.g., make a mashup)

• Reuse - use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (e.g., on a website, in a presentation, in a class)

• Redistribute - share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (e.g., post a copy online or give one to a friend)” (Wiley, n.d.)

As you consider designing your own OER resources, you should consider each of these components. There are many resources and technologies available to facilitate these components. Wiley (n.d.) recommends keeping the ALMS framework in mind.

The ALMS Framework

As recommended by David Wiley (n.d.), “the ALMS Framework provides a way of thinking about those technical choices and understanding the degree to which they enable or impede a user's ability to engage in the 5R activities permitted by open licenses. 

1. Access to Editing Tools:  Ensure the open content is not published in a format using tools that are expensive or run on an obscure or discontinued platform. It should be freely available and run on all major platforms.

2. Level of Expertise Required: Check whether it requires a significant amount of technical expertise. 

3. Meaningfully Editable: Review the open content before you use to determine whether it is easy to revise or remix. 

4. Self-Sourced: Check the format. Can it be consumed in the same format or not? 

Using the ALMS Framework as a guide, open content publishers can make technical choices that enable the greatest number of people possible to engage in the 5R activities. This is not an argument for "dumbing down" all open content to plain text. Rather, it is an invitation to open content publishers to be thoughtful in the technical choices they make - whether they are publishing text, images, audio, video, simulations, or other media.