Sustaining Your OER
Updating Your OER
Karna Younger
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will
- Create a work flow for receiving reader feedback
- Establish a revising schedule for your OER
- Determine guidelines for versioning
An Ecosystem of Change
Much like a fall harvest, you are reaping the rewards of your OER. Your students are enjoying a free textbook that was custom made for them. Perhaps, though, as you are teaching and students are learning, your students are noticing little typos, or you are starting to wish you had written an entire section on succulents. Essentially, you are realizing that your OER still has some weeds to be pulled and requires further cultivation to ensure it sustains the needs of you and your students.
A benefit of creating OER in Pressbooks is that authors can immediately edit and publish changes to their textbooks. Because you and other adapters are teaching with your OER, though, you will want to remain mindful of learners, instructors, and their needs. You do not want to disrupt learner’s growth with significant changes to your OER. You also do not want to exhaust yourself by constantly pruning your OER. Below are some of our tips for cultivating a supportive ecosystem to sustain your OER.
Create a Suggestion Box
First, when teaching with your OER, you will not have time to track suggested changes, which could range from typos found by students or theoretical suggestions from faculty adapters. To gather such seeds for thought, we suggest you create a form for suggested changes.
We have adapted a feedback form for each OERFSJ team, inserting it for feedback in your “Accessibility Statement.” You should, however, feel free to place the form elsewhere in your OER or link to it on your course website within the Learning Management System (LMS).
Tips for Gathering
- Adapt a feedback form (ours is modified from one by BCcampus).
- Link to the form in your OER. Place it in prominent, easily discoverable places such as the front matter in the accessibility statement or even a page designated for feedback.
- If using a Google or similar form, utilize its automatic function to output information into a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will allow you to easily organize potential changes and track implementation.
- Encourage students to provide feedback by offering a point of extra credit for the first to report a valid error.
- Having a spreadsheet will also help you create a change log to be transparent about different versions of your OER (more below).
- Remember, these are suggestions and you are not obligated to sow seeds that do not align with your plans.
Implement Change, Build Trust
Once you have gathered suggestions, you should chart which you would like to implement and when. Being transparent with your readers about your editing process can increase their trust in your OER, assuring them that you are tending to the currency and accuracy of your OER. It may also provide reassurance that their feedback is appreciated.
Document Your Growth and Pruning
You may easily convert the suggestions from your feedback form into a change log. Especially if using a Google form synced to a spreadsheet, you can add columns to distinguish versions, publication dates, changes, and any details. The below example from BCcampus Open Education shows how to clearly communicate alterations to an OER.
There are no hard and fast rules for pruning and growing your OER. You surely will find a natural rhythm in the seasons of the academic year. It is key to communicate such alterations to reassure faculty adaptors and learners recognize that your OER is thriving.
“Updating your OER” by Karna Younger is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
