Looking for people who use OER content at work

amended post 07.04.2023

So, I need your help, all of you! I am looking for content designers who actually use OER learning content as their base, and then adapt it ~ do you do this or know someone who has done this?

Lots of academic institutions and global associations are actively creating lots of new learning content and making this available as OER for wider distribution and eventual use by learners.

My private research interest is in how academic faculty/educators, corporate trainers, learning facilitators etc… actually use content produced as OER to improve their own learning content design offering. I particularly want to discover more private industry examples as well as academic educational ones. My feeling is that the private sector either doesn’t know about OER or they use others material but outside of the ethical use of OER and CC guidelines, and then market it as their own work commercially. I am quite happy to be proven wrong in this assumption, in fact, I am desperate to be proven wrong.

In my case, I work part time in a University in UK, and am both a faculty educator, and also working in the Vice-Chancellors office on some new curriculum development change plans for AY 2023-2024. At present I am leading on a brand new initiative creating 70 short academic modules (10 credits at levels 4 and 5) that will help young university learners transition between traditional academic study and more vocational industry-relevant learning. The subject matter needs to be of value to them so that they can become better prepared to enter the world of work. Some of the modules have been designed by various faculty members, including myself. I intend to take this further and create some new modules that utilise OER content but with an adaptation so that it is fit for our contextual use in the UK. As part of my plan there are a few things that I am eager to find out more about, and this is where all of you come in.

Can you answer any of these questions here in this thread?

  1. Who else do you know that has done this and adapted OER content in their institution?
  2. What are the key quality indicators you/they looked for when selecting OER content?
  3. What did you/they do with the adaptation e.g. how was it used?
  4. What value did the OER content bring to the pedagogical process, if any?
  5. In hindsight, what would you/they do differently in the way they handled OER content?
  6. Is there any perceived shame in an educator using OER content?
  7. What examples do you know of ethical practice and use of OER in the private industry sector?

I would like to offer my huge thanks in advance of your answers. I will of course share back here how I eventually used OER in my project Opportunity Modules over the coming months as I need to have the first 40 modules for Level 4 fully written and ready for delivery by September 2023.

Józefa

1 Like

Wonder if the team behind GCshare (OERs in the Government of Canada) is tracking use, at this point.
GCshare – Public Service Open Educational Resource Library (csps-efpc.gc.ca)
@Ksenia_C ?

1 Like

I loathe to recommend likely what you know about, but there must be much in OpenLearn as I recall from the podcast we did with Patrina Law that this was the sort of rapid work they did in the early pandemic times.

Maybe also something from the OERu? Free Online Courses | OERu

These are rather broad suggestions, not direct experiences I can share! Hope others can add in.

1 Like

Thank you @cogdog yes, I have a long list of OpenLearn courses, and some from OERu, however, I am eager to hear from people who have USED OER content and adapted it and the value it gave them, if any

I realised that I have phrased my question incorrectly, how on earth do I edit my original post please @cogdog or can you do it for me as admin? The edit button has disappeared from my post

I should have said …

So, I need your help, all of you! I am looking for content designers who actually use OER learning content as their base, and then adapt it ~ do you do this or know someone who has done this?

REPOSTING CORRECTLY THIS TIME

So, I need your help, all of you! I am looking for content designers who actually use OER learning content as their base, and then adapt it ~ do you you do this or know someone who has done this?

So many people are creating new OER content, but I want to find some people that regularly adapt OER content and have found it very useful, or can cite interesting results from doing so. I guess what I am looking for is ‘proof of concept’.

Huge thanks. I hope that it is clearer now. I must have had some ‘brain fog’ when I first posted.

Józefa

The original question is updated now. There is a feature of this platform that elevates your capabilities as you participate, so the feature to edit your own post was not available (now it will be I boosted your powers).

No worries on the brain fog, mine does so on a daily basis. This makes sense now, get some experience from people who have used the OER, not just some person like me who does a quick search :wink:

Hi Józefa,

At BCcampus we have funded numerous adaptation specific projects where OER’s (most often in the form of open textbooks) are adapted and revised. We are based in Canada and have often done regional adaptation projects of US open textbooks to make them more relevant for Canadian educators. For example, we adapted an Introduction to Sociology textbook that was created by OpenStax in the US and created a Canadian version of it that is well adopted in our system.

We have also done numerous adaptation project for open textbooks where our adaptation is to add interactive activities to the original textbook again to make it more attractive for adoption. Here is an example where we took the original OpenStax Psychology textbook and adapted the textbook to create a new Psychology textbook that included H5P interactive activities.

Hope this is useful!
Clint

Hi Clint, this is exactly what I am looking for and will look at your links as great examples of use of OER content from a pedagogical perspective as opposed to an end-user/learner perspective. You will see that I now have rights to update my original post, and have done so with 7 questions. Any additional information you can give me against those questions?

Huge thanks. Loving this community already.

Józefa

I really like the Canadian Version and have assigned some of it as reading in a first-year ESL academic reading course for students in the CLIL to EMI program where I teach. Other localized editions would be great following your lead. In the back of my mind has been a similar Asian edition… Have to get to grips with PressBooks first and then, time!

Sorry Józefa, I don’t personally know anyone who has yet to adopt and modify OER content in their courses. I can ask around my campus. May I use your questions?

Yes please use my questions, thank you.

Józefa

Józefa-

I have recently conducted a qualitative study with US-based higher ed faculty who create and use their own OER. Many of them commented that they have shared, collaborated, and adopted/adapted OER from others in their network in production of content and I will respond from their experiences to your questions below. I am also a learning and development manager at a private business and we’ve begun to build an intranet of sorts. We’re using the Google Workspace to produce OER-of-sorts in production of manuals, SOPs, knowledge bases, training, tutorials, etc., where my team partners with operations, sales, back office, marketing, etc., as SMEs to produce increasingly higher quality products. I’ll answer some of your questions below from my experience in my current role as well.

1. Who else do you know that has done this and adapted OER content in their institution?
As far as private industry in the US, OER/CC production isn’t thought of from my experience. Instead, those who want to share do so via social media (e.g. LinkedIn) or post on non-protected pages (such as those that appear in Google Searches for templates or examples). In discussing OER/CC with academics who have business/industry experience (which is a very small sample size), the notion is that you find what you can on the internet, through industry manuals, or through your network, adapt it to your own team’s needs and use materials, procedures, templates, processes, etc., in that way. It’s sharing-ish, but not CC licensed and wouldn’t be considered OER.

2. What are the key quality indicators you/they looked for when selecting OER content?
Many academics I have had the pleasure of speaking to have commented that key quality indicators are difficult to skim. OER that may look appeals via design and graphics may not have the best content and great content may come in a less appealing look. Many have commented that they either trust a source that they know (i.e. a colleague in their network) or through a repository (such as OpenStax or LibreTexts). Some institutions have used rubrics, which vary in their aim - some are looking for accessibility (e.g. contrast, font size, reading level) or content type (such as content, supplemental, and assessment, or a combination). It may be helpful to adopt a rubric from another institution or create your own as a verification.

3. What did you/they do with the adaptation e.g. how was it used?
Mostly used as a base to be added. Some have commented that they began with an OER text or resource, then added their own materials, student materials/editing, and/or other OER to build a customized material set for their demographic and their course. Many OER are at the introductory level that are widely available, and customization may be necessary over time to have a stronger resource.

4. What value did the OER content bring to the pedagogical process, if any?
Accessibility and affordability means that all students can engage in content day 1. Using OER means the resources can be interacted with fully, with students being able to edit, highlight, add to, and retain copies of the resources. OER can be used as a facilitator to bring about critical thinking, problem solving, and student ownership via co-creation. Essentially, the vulnerability of the facilitator and the materials to co-create with students goes hand-in-hand - the learning process is less about knowledge transference (i.e. gatekept information in the form of textbook and digital platform access) and more about how to use content collaboratively in higher levels of application (e.g. Bloom’s Taxonomy or Webb’s Depth of Knowledge). I think OER is the key to develop a learner-centered environment, where the course is less about getting knowledge and more about applying it. (This is a topic that I absolutely love and would be happy to continue discussion about!)

5. In hindsight, what would you/they do differently in the way they handled OER content?
Responses that I’ve encountered is more of a familiarity and comfort with handling the technical side of a repository, ebook, or other tech platform. Those who created OER in docs, pdf, or other common programs had difficulties converting them into an online platform later and commented on the hours of work it took to do so. When looking to use and house OER, it would be a good idea to have a digital platform in mind to build inside the tech as opposed to converting it later if possible.

6. Is there any perceived shame in an educator using OER content?
I’ve encountered this more with those who have NOT used OER than those who have. Shame isn’t necessarily the descriptor here that I’ve heard used, but more of being scared of a perceived loss of status, tenure opportunity, advancement in general, etc. Those who have engaged in OER that I have talked to have raved about the benefits but have all commented on the time commitment that it does take to develop (especially those who do it solo). Many have commented that their students have engaged more with them when they know the professor is using an OER as a vehicle of caring for the students. Some commented that students have not liked the OER or viewed it as less authoritative, but many reported there is a high satisfaction among students.

7. What examples do you know of ethical practice and use of OER in the private industry sector?
As commented above, I have yet to see this used in private industry. My own experience in using OER-ish materials has been limited to an intranet because we’ve wanted to keep proprietary information and procedures to ourselves as a competitive advantage. If our mid-sized company was a global leader, that may be a different story, but for now, we do not release anything to the public.

If you’d like to see more about my dissertation study on OER/OEP, please click on the link below. If you’d like to follow up with me, send me an email - alex.wanstrath@gmail.com.
Wanstrath OER/OEP Dissertation

1 Like

@wanstratha what an amazing answer thank you so so much. A lot of what you have written resonates with my thoughts and I would be delighted to keep this conversation going with you. I am not surprised with your answer to Q7, we have a long way to go in this sector, mainly for the reasons you state i.e. keeping proprietary information and knowledge close to the business for competitive advantage. I would love to see your dissertation study on OER/OEP. Will click as requested, and thank you again.