Laying the Groundwork: OER for Social Justice
Itinerary
Now that you are prepared with basics in open education, copyright, and open licensing, we offer a proposed itinerary for your OER creation journey. Below are the readings and deliverables OERFSJ faculty used. The deliverables are useful tools that faculty authors used to plan and reflect upon their OERFSJ Faculty submitted completed deliverables to the OERFSJ administration to be assessed on their progress and to receive useful feedback from our team of librarians and an instructional designer. We encourage you to adapt the itinerary and tools for your OER creation and programmatic needs and timeline.
Year 1: Planting Seeds
In the first year of OERFSJ, you will survey the OER landscape to discover what opportunities are available for you to remix or adapt existing OER or to create an entirely new OER. This is an iterative process, so you do not be discouraged if you move between locating and evaluating OER several times. Your repeating these processes is an indication that you are being thorough in your work, which can save you time when creating your OER.
Select the arrow to find steps, readings, and deliverables for finding and evaluating OER.
Step 1: Locate Relevant OER
To launch your journey, you will locate existing OER using a number of directories, which catalog and make OER accessible. We want to maximize your search, so use our suggested resources for searching. Once you start fully evaluating the OER in the next steps for this year, you may find a source to be irrelevant, so we recommend finding 10 OER if possible.
Readings
All readings are from Open Voices, Just Choice: OER for Social Justice Faculty Handbook.
Deliverables
Tips
You will locate approximately 10 OER that are relevant to your course needs. Many of you will find more than 10 and others may struggle to locate half as many. Remember that OER come in all shapes and sizes, so if you can only find learning modules, that can still seed your project. Below are search tips and starting points for finding your OER, which you will evaluate in the next step.
View this short video by Abbey Elder for guidance on how to find and parse OER. A transcript is available if you watch the video on YouTube.
How to Find and Evaluate OER by Abbey Elder
Suggested OER Directories
OER directories may have a lot of overlapping but also distinct content. We recommend searching the list in the order provided. MERLOT and OER Commons also contain smaller OER, such as ancillary materials.
Step 2: Evaluate Found OER
Once you have found several OER, you will move to the evaluation stage. Here you will use a the standardized OERFSJ Rubric to identify your found source as an OER and evaluate it for its quality and relevancy to your teaching and for its alignment to social justice. You must complete a rubric for each evaluated OER. You will then summarize your findings in the OER Evaluation and Gap Analysis Worksheet. Doing so will help your team synthesize your findings and prepare for the next steps of planning for OER creation.
Deliverables
These tools will help you in your OER evaluation task and should also be submitted to your OER program coordinator. Your coordinator can provide feedback or suggest OER.
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- OERFSJ Rubric [available upon request]
- OER Evaluation and Gap Analysis Worksheet
Step 3: Plan
At the end of first year, your OER team should take time to reflect and plan for the next year. You may review your evaluated OER and list what portions you would like to adapt for your own OER in the Resource Adoption Tracker worksheet. You should also consider team roles and needs when planning for the second year of the project with the OERFSJ Project Plan Year 2 worksheet.
Deliverables
Year 2: Growing Roots
In the second year of the OERFSJ program, you will begin the creation process. While exciting, it also involves a lot of material, technicalities, and technology. To stay on track, you map your OER from the learning objectives through assessments and set a project timeline to accomplish your goals. Next, you will select and learn the authoring tools needed to build your OER and consider how to build an inclusive OER. You will finish the year reflecting on your project planning and the possible involvement of students through open pedagogy.
Select the arrow to find steps, readings, and deliverables for creating your OER content.
Step 1: Mapping Your OER Content
To kick off the second year, you will begin your OER creation from the very roots: your learning objectives. Through the backwards design process, you will outline and build an instructionally sound open textbook that makes certain content and assessments are perfectly aligned with your learning goals. You will also learn the technology needed to create your OER.
Readings
All readings are from Open Voices, Just Choice: OER for Social Justice Faculty Handbook.
Trail Wisdom: Locating Images and Figures
As part of your content mapping, you will need to locate images and figures that will illustrate key concepts and assist your students’ learning. The resources below are some of our favorite places and ways of finding images and figures.
If you need inclusive images, look in an image directory or repository, such as:
- Wikimedia
- BCCampus’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Stock Photos
- Open Oregon Educational Resources
- Free Art, Design, and Museum Sources by Nicola Andrews
- Open verse
- Google Images
- Generative AI (provide a description to your favorite tool. Just make certain to check the provenance and licensing.)
You may also use Generative AI to discover the provenance and licensing information for found images and figures
- Sample Prompt: “Find the original source of an image and provide its attribution in the TASL format” [link to, copy/paste, or drag/drop the image into the search bar]
Note: Generative AI is improving image generation tools. You may use such tools but make certain you properly acknowledge your use of AI in the creation process.
Deliverables
Remember, OER creation is an iterative process, so feel empowered to revise your OER Content and Assessment Map and OERFSJ Project Timeline throughout your project.
Step 2: Drafting an Inclusive OER: Tools and Accessibility
At this stage, you will put your OER Content and Assessment Map into action by drafting your OER. To facilitate your drafting, you will learn how to prioritize accessibility and sustainability when creating your OER with authoring tools, like Pressbooks and H5P.
Readings
All readings are from Open Voices, Just Choice: OER for Social Justice Faculty Handbook.
Step 3: Planning a Community
At the end of the second year, you will step back and take a breath. You’ve accomplished so much! Now you can consider how your students can contribute to your project, particularly through open pedagogy. You will end the year with a reflection on your progress and plan for the final leg of your race.
Readings
All readings are from Open Voices, Just Choice: OER for Social Justice Faculty Handbook.
Deliverables
- Year 2 Annual Report with Sustainability Reflection
- OER Draft (in Pressbooks)
Year 3: Blooming
You have reached the summit of your OER creation process! Now you will focus on polishing and integrating your OER into your classroom.
Select the arrow to find steps, readings, and deliverables for publishing and teaching guidance.
Step 1: Publishing and Teaching Preparation
The OERFSJ publishing review is a rigorous process designed to ensure your OER is instructionally sound, accessible, and rooted in social justice. We will also walk you through how to integrate your OER into your course LMS.
Readings
All readings are from Open Voices, Just Choice: OER for Social Justice Faculty Handbook.
- Pausing at the Lookout: Draft to Final OER
- Reaching the Summit: Publishing
- Checking Your Compass: OER Assessment
Deliverables
- Final OER for Review
- OERFSJ Publishing Review Packet
Step 2: Teaching
You are officially booked and busy teaching with your OER. Consider assessing student perspectives of your OER, and using the Teaching Plan Template to track which departmental colleagues could partner with you in this assessment. Finally, wrap up your project by looking to the future.
Readings
All readings are from Open Voices, Just Choice: OER for Social Justice Faculty Handbook.
