10 Tools and techniques for working with OER
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Provide examples of tools and techniques for guiding you through the process of adopting, adapting and creating OER
- Identify OER adaptation and creation tools and sources of OER-enriching content
OER production workflow phases
A production workflow can be used when undertaking an OER adoption, adaption or creation project, as the workflow will outline all the important steps you need to be aware of throughout the process. There are a number of workflows and frameworks you can choose from, and we will introduce some examples shortly. However, they all tend to cover the five following phases:
1. Research phase
At this step, you should ask yourself a few key questions to gauge your OER knowledge and skills before taking on a project. Have you explored OER content in your subject area before? Have you had any training to work with OER in the past? If you think you might need some training or advice, contact relevant colleagues to receive any assistance you might need before you start your OER work.
2. Pre-production phase
This phase involves the curation of existing OER resources that may be suitable for adoption, as well as planning the general design of the project. No new content should be adapted in this step, but a skeleton outline and other time- and task-based project management documents should be prepared. Having an OER consultation with an expert at this time is encouraged.
3. Design phase
This step is the last planning phase before work on the actual OER content begins. For projects adopting OER as-is, this may be the final step apart from preparing instructional documents. During this phase, project outlines and skeleton documents are fleshed out, and existing OER are fit into places where they are believed to be applicable. Any visual/graphic design work or curriculum development activities that require assistance from an instructional designer should be included here.
4. Development phase
This phase is where the most time is spent on OER projects that require building new materials. Existing OER that are being adapted or modified go through revision and review until they are in a place where they require only minor changes or copyedits. Checks for intellectual property (which CC license is on the content, and have we appropriately attributed everything?) are done, as well as checks for accessibility (is content formatted semantically, do images include alt-text, etc)? At this stage, content is typically drafted in Google Docs or another rich content editor (Word, OpenOffice) and is then ported into the publishing platform (e.g. Canvas, Pressbooks).
5. Publication phase
The final phase involves publishing and sharing the content that has been created. This includes creating export versions, archiving editable files for instructors who might wish to edit your work (.doc, .xml, etc), and considering where to publish any ancil