Open Educational ResourcesSample Communications Slides for Educators and Administrators

 

CC BY Achieve 2015

Using These Slides

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These slides are intended to be used by educators, administrators, policymakers and others who seek to learn more about or advocate for the use of Open Educational Resources (OER).

These slides could be used to inform any of the stakeholder groups listed above, along with parents, community groups or business groups.

You are welcome and encouraged to modify these slides to suit your needs, including removing information or adding state- or district-specific information.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license. These resources may be used free of charge, distributed without restriction and modified without permission.

OER range from small-scale learning objects, such as classroom activities, to full lessons, units and textbooks.

Open Educational Resources (OER) Definition

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Importance of Communicating About OER

In Achieve’s work with educators regarding OER, one of the most frequently cited barriers to using OER in the classroom is lack of knowledge among educators about OER.

Developing messages and communication strategies about OER can support the use of OER by disseminating knowledge.

Benefits of OER

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Source: Wiley, David. Defining the “Open” in Open Content. http://opencontent.org/definition/.

As states implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), they have the opportunity to leverage the “common” in the CCSS by sharing exemplary tools, resources and practices. Educators can leverage the larger scale created by common standards by sharing OER aligned to the CCSS.

Educators can engage with OER in the following ways:

Retain — The right to make, own and control copies of the content (e.g., download, duplicate, store and manage)

Revise — Adapt and improve OER so that they better meet the needs of teachers and students

Remix — Combine OER to produce new open materials

Reuse — Use the original or new versions of OER in different contexts

Redistribute — Make copies and share the original OER or new versions, free of traditional copyright restrictions

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Online Resources vs. OER

Online Resources

Available only digitally on the Internet

May or may not contain an open license that allows for their free sharing and reuse

May have a traditional copyright license

OER

May be available online or in a nondigital format (such as a printed, open textbook)

Must contain open licenses that allow for their free sharing and reuse

Key Messages About OER

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You should be able to boil down what you want to communicate to your target audience to three central messages — the “key three.”

Sample key three messages about OER:

Message 1: Define the Issue — As states and districts transition to new college- and career-ready standards, teachers need access to instructional materials that are high quality, aligned to standards and adaptable to support use in a variety of classrooms

Message 2: Outline the Problem — States and districts need ways to ensure that instructional materials, in whatever format they are available, are quality and aligned to standards. Copyright restrictions on traditional instructional materials can keep teachers from adapting and sharing quality resources that best suit their instructional needs

Message 3: Explain the Solution — The use of a blended approach to instructional materials that includes traditional, digital and open educational resources offers teachers the opportunity to use, freely share and adapt quality,standards-aligned resources to meet the needs of classrooms

Guidance on developing key messages about OER is available at www.achieve.org/oer-rubrics.

Determining the Quality and Alignment of OER

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A second barrier to using OER is questions about the quality of OER and where to find quality OER.

Achieve created a set of rubrics and an online tool to evaluate the quality and alignment of OER: www.achieve.org/oer-rubrics

• Rubrics are embedded into an online evaluation tool used to evaluate resources on OER Commons: www.oercommons.org

For lesson- or unit-length OER, educators can use the EQuIP rubrics for ELA/literacy and mathematics: www.achieve.org/equip

Achieve is developing guidance for using each of the above measures of quality, both separately and together in a quality review process

Example of an OER on OER Commons

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Available at www.oercommons.org/courses/alex-lesson-plan-fractions-on-a-number-line

Resource RatingsLicensing

Gauging Awareness and Creating Feedback Loops

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A survey can be a good way to learn more about OER efforts currently under way in your state, region or district and to gauge awareness about OER.

Surveys can accomplish the following objectives:

Assess respondents’ awareness and support of OER

Gauge respondents’ understanding of OER

Assess the reach of and satisfaction with OER that have been provided

Identify effective communication and outreach mechanisms

Identify challenges to implementation and potential solutions

Establish feedback loops about the use of OER in CCSS implementation

A template online survey and survey guidance document are available at www.achieve.org/oer-rubrics.