10
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Download an OER from the UH OER Repository
- Assess the technical openness of an OER (ALMS framework)
Introduction
It is often said that OER are, “free like puppies,” implying that there may be no up front costs, but that OER require care and attention to be happy. We can safely assume that having some knowledge pet care would help us better care for our puppy. Analogies aside, your effectiveness working with OER and advising others in their work will depend on having basic knowledge of common instructional design practices and being able to work with digital media files.
This section will offer basic guidance in understanding the technical side and workflow processes for developing OER.
The ALMS framework
As David Wiley explains on the opencontent.org definition page, CC licenses give us permissions to exercise the 5 R’s (reuse, revise, remix, redistribute, retain), but poor technical choices can make open content less open (and thus, harder to work with).
The ALMS Framework provides a way of thinking about those technical choices and understanding the degree to which they enable or impede a user’s ability to engage in the 5R activities permitted by open licenses.
The framework includes four buckets (or whichever your preferred container is) that questions about the technical openness of an OER likely fit into. Here are the descriptions of each bucket.
(This material is based on original writing by David Wiley, which was published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at http://opencontent.org/definition/)
Access to Editing Tools
Is the open content published in a format that can only be revised or remixed using tools that are extremely expensive (e.g., 3DS MAX)? Is the open content published in an exotic format that can only be revised or remixed using tools that run on an obscure or discontinued platform (e.g., OS/2)? Is the open content published in a format that can be revised or remixed using tools that are freely available and run on all major platforms (e.g., OpenOffice)?
Takeaway: Can you edit the OER without the need for specialized or expensive tools?
Level of Expertise Required
Is the open content published in a format that requires a significant amount technical expertise to revise or remix (e.g., Blender)? Is the open content published in a format that requires a minimum level of technical expertise to revise or remix (e.g., Word)?
Takeaway: Would most faculty be able to edit the OER at their current skill level?
Meaningfully Editable
Is the open content published in a manner that makes its content essentially impossible to revise or remix (e.g., a scanned image of a handwritten document)? Is the open content published in a manner making its content easy to revise or remix (e.g., a text file)?
Takeaway: Can all parts of the OER be edited?
Self-Sourced
It the format preferred for consuming the open content the same format preferred for revising