Charting Your Route: Mapping and Planning
Content Mapping
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to
- Create an objective-aligned map and plan for your OER content
- Identify objective-aligned content to use or remix
- Create a working To Do list for finding or creating content
Designing the Route
Trail architects do not just assume the best route from one destination to the next. Rather, they carefully consider the terrain and what would be the most natural progression through the land. For example, they might design a trail to begin with a level stretch that allows hikers to warm up before a steeper climb. The plan might include shaded rest points or account for narrow switchbacks where hikers naturally slow down. It could include shorter or more accessible paths alongside the longer, more technical routes.
Similarly, OER architects sequence their objectives intentionally, starting with foundational concepts before moving to applying those concepts. They scaffold difficulty by offering brief, low-stakes interactive practices with feedback before moving on to new concepts. They pace content and assessments through thoughtful chapter and interface design, avoiding sudden cognitive “climbs” that leave learners struggling to keep up.
Strong trails are designed with purpose. Each element serves the route and protects the flow of movement from trailhead to destination.
Why This Matters
Effective design of your OER begins by clarifying what students should understand and be able to do, then determining how that learning will be assessed before planning the instructional experiences that support those outcomes[1]. Mapping makes this process visible. By laying out your objectives, assessments, and content in relation to one another, you can ensure that each element of your OER supports a clear, intentional learning route rather than asking students to navigate disconnected pieces on their own.
Building the Trail
In the last three chapters, you clarified your course outcomes, identified key destinations through measurable objectives, and aligned assessments that mark arrival at those destinations. Now it is time to build the trail itself. The content you create, or remix, becomes the path learners walk to reach each objective. Just as a well-designed trail guides hikers steadily toward a summit, your content should intentionally lead learners from foundational understanding to demonstrated mastery.
Let the Objectives Lead
Once again, those measurable, student-centered objectives you worked on in Writing Measurable, Student-Centered Objectives give us helpful guidance in identifying our content.
Find Your Footing
We already learned that the action verb clarifies the assessment we will need to provide, but it also tells us what content you need to provide (create or remix) for your students.
Trails, like content, come in many varieties, and a good trail system blends materials and trail types intentionally based on who the hikers are, the landscape conditions, and what the trail should accomplish. For example, paved trails might be used in wetland environments or to provide accessibility to hikers. Gravel trails might be ideal for steeper climbs where water may need to be filtered off. Steps might be placed to navigate steep switchbacks. Similarly, your content can and should vary. Your content might come in the form of text, embedded videos, images, graphs, infographics, case studies, or interactive learning objects.
While the learning objective gives you a broad idea of the concept you will need to provide for your learners, you’ll need to carefully plan how you will disseminate that concept in your OER. Effective content design requires activating learners’ prior knowledge so they can connect new ideas to what they already understand, and demonstrating new knowledge through clear examples, visuals, and narrative explanations that make abstract concepts concrete[2].
Select the arrow to see an example of concept dissemination.
Example: Objective – Content Alignment and Dissemination
Learning objective: By the end of this module, students will be able to….
Identify five persuasive writing strategies
- Everything after the action verb (“identify”) is the content you will need to provide your student in your OER.
Of course, you probably aren’t simply going to list the five strategies in the OER and leave it at that. The objective is the broad concept that the student needs. You will decide the best way to structure and share the concept. Here is some possible content you might include in the section that covers the learning objective above:
Possible Content:
- An introduction paragraph to the rationale for using persuasive strategies
- A paragraph or two about each strategy, outlining the characteristics and best practices for each
- A 1-2 minute video or audio clip of a speaker using each strategy
- Bullet points of key takeaways
Selecting Your Trail Materials
This section will guide you in planning the content of your OER. You will identify the types of content each objective requires, determine whether those materials already exist and can be reused or need to be created, and outline the specific tasks needed to build a well-designed trail for your learners.
Step 1: Identify Content Type
While the objective tells you what general concept you need to cover, it is up to you to determine what information the student would need to be able to achieve the objectives. You also need to determine the best modality for the students to receive that information.
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- What would they need to read? (text)
- What would they need to hear? (audio)
- What would they need to watch and listen to (videos)?
- What might they need to view or study? (images, graphs, infographics)
- What might they need to play with or manipulate? (interactive learning objects)
Step 2: Reuse, Remix, or Build New
Trail builders rarely start from scratch; they reuse existing paths, reinforce sections with reclaimed materials, or adapt the natural landscape when possible to conserve resources and build efficiently. Take a similar approach as an OER architect.
- Look first for existing open materials that align with your learning objectives, and if they exist, consider reusing or remixing them to fit your context.
- If you cannot find materials that meet your needs, plan to create new content that aligns with your objectives and assessments.
If you made use of the OERFSJ Resource Adaptation Tracker during your review of existing OER, you may already have identified some content that will support your objectives. As you review existing OER, ask yourself what kind of adaptation may be needed. As the KPU Open Education team explains, it can be helpful to think about adaptation in two broad ways: improvement and contextualization. Some resources need improvement, such as correcting errors, updating information, improving accessibility, or reorganizing content for clarity. Others need contextualization, such as using examples, perspectives, language, or applications that better reflect your learners and teaching context. Naming this now can help you choose whether to reuse, remix, or build new. While you won’t be remixing or creating the content yet, this design phase is the time to document what you plan to do and grab examples of what you might use or create. Additionally, leaving yourself clear notes now ensures that when it is time to construct the trail in your OER, your materials are organized and ready to go.
Trail Wisdom: When evaluating existing content to include in your OER, consider the following advice from the BCcampus OER Production Team:
- Use examples that include a variety of people, organizations, geographies, and situations.
- Use real-world scenarios that address diverse situations and contexts.
- Avoid negative stereotypes or sensitive subjects in problems and applications unless the subject matter demands it.
- Do not make assumptions about prior knowledge, especially around culturally specific examples. For example, not all students may be familiar with Western nursery rhymes or kids’ television from the 1990s.
Step 3: Draft Your Construction Checklist
You may be responsible for several sections or chapters of the OER, each requiring its own set of tasks around identifying, remixing, or creating content. During this design phase, draft a clear construction checklist: break the work into specific, actionable steps such as locating resources, requesting permissions, drafting content, or building interactive elements. A detailed task list makes it easier to return to the work later, assign responsibilities to collaborators, and schedule manageable milestones as you move into the development phase.
Select the arrow to see an example of a detailed task list
Example: Detailed Task List
By breaking down large tasks into smaller tasks, you can easily accomplish goals as you find time, rather than having to block out an entire morning to complete it all.
Instead of: Write Chapter 1, Section 2
Break it down:
- Copy “Ode to an Apple” paragraph from existing OER to Word doc.
- Revise to include annotations from last summer’s work.
- Copy into Section 2 of Chapter 1 and set headings.
In the example above, it’s difficult to gauge how long “Write Chapter 1, Section 2” will take. It could take 30 minutes or an entire morning. However, I know “Copy ‘Ode to an Apple’ to a Word doc” will likely take me less than five minutes, and I’m better able to estimate how much time “Revise last summer’s work” will take me.
Consider creating with students
When deliberating who is responsible for creating OER content, consider partnering with your students. As discussed in Hiking Together: Open Pedagogy, open pedagogy can be an equitable learning strategy for including and empowering underrepresented students in their education. For now, you might brainstorm and include in your Content Map what content would be better communicated from a student perspective or peer-to-peer learning and teaching.
Your Turn: Mapping Your Trail (Content)
In this activity, you will be completing the OER Content Map section of your OERFSJ Mapping Spreadsheet.
Returning to your Map, begin by finding one of the chapters or sections assigned to you in the Table of Contents [1].
Step 1. Identify aligned content type. In the I plan to… column [2], draft a plan of what content (information) you plan to use, adapt, or create for this section of the chapter.
- State the information you plan to cover (persuasive writing strategies).
- State the modality you’d like to use for delivering that information. Remember content can include text, videos, images, graphs, infographics, case studies, or interactive learning objects.
Step 2. Leave yourself a linked example.
- In the Sources (TASL) column, place the citation (if you plan to reference the source) or Title, Author, Source, and License (if it is an OER) for content you plan to reuse, remix, or reference that supports your plan from the I plan to… column. The Sources (TASL) column can also be used to place links of examples of things you would like to create.
- Example: Writing to Persuade – Write What Matters by Liza Long, Joel Gladd and Amy Minervini, CC BY-NC-SA
Step 3. Make a Checklist
Looking again at your plan in the I plan to… column, create a task list in the Outline/Draft column that breaks down your plan into clear, actionable steps.
Survey the Route Plan
Congratulations! You’ve now mapped out or designed your entire OER. Take a few moments, grab some trail mix or granola bar, and look over your Map. Think about the relationship of your content to the whole OER.
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- How does the content you have planned relate to other chapters or sections of the OER?
- Could there be potential overlap between your section and others?
- Does the content need to be repeated or are there things students might need to review before they come to your section?
- Looking at the assigned sections, who else might you need to talk with to ensure content isn’t duplicated but that students get the content and practice they need?
Take some time to talk to your co-authors or reflect on these questions and then make any additional tweaks to your Map. Next, we’ll cover how to keep track of the OER content you plan to reuse or remix before creating a timeline for your OER project.
