Charting Your Route: Mapping and Planning

The Design Phase

An effective OER doesn’t emerge all at once. Like a trail system in a national park, it’s designed in layers — starting with consideration for the people who will frequent the trails, getting the lay of the land through which they will build the trail system, scouting out possible destinations, planning various routes to connect those destinations, testing the routes for failure points, and adding features that help visitors navigate with confidence. Using blueprints and maps to make their plan and rationale visible, trail architects ensure they can maintain and improve their design for the long run. Nothing is left to chance, and each layer plays a vital purpose.

As an OER architect, all of these aspects and layers of the learning journey you are creating must be considered and planned for, too. In this part, you’ll address each design layer one chapter and one step at a time. Creating a map of your OER will lay the foundation of your OER development and iteration.