Additional Resources
- Iowa OER
Iowa OER is a statewide group supporting affordable higher education in Iowa. Its website provides information about state-specific OER topics and initiatives. Here you can find OER training modules, print resources, archived webinars, and more.
-------------------- - OpenHawks OER Grant ProgramOpenHawks is a UI-based OER grant program with awards issued each spring semester to instructors who want to replace their current textbooks with open alternatives.
-------------------- - Open Education Network
The Open Education Network (OEN) provides support, education, and community for those working in the areas of OER and Open Education Practices (OEP).
-------------------- - SPARCThe Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) supports the creation and sharing of open materials used in teaching. It also supports new approaches to learning where people create and shape knowledge openly together, and promotes practices and policies that advance this vision.
-------------------- - University of Iowa Pressbooks
Pressbooks is an open-source tool for authoring OER textbooks, and is supported at UI by ITS. Sign up for an account at this link.
-------------------- - Getting Started with OER: A Guide for UI OpenHawks recipientsThis guide provides UI-specific information about using and creating OER.
The benefits of open licensing
Open licenses allow OER to be more flexible than traditional textbooks. You can tailor an open resource to fit the objectives of your course and better meet your students' needs. Perhaps you want to add local context or examples to enhance the text for your students, or combine chapters from one or more relevant OER. As long as everything is openly licensed, this is fair game!
Here are some resources and tools you can use to edit or remix OER:
- Creating a Remix on OER CommonsLearn how to create remixes on the OER Commons platform.
- LibreTexts RemixerThese tutorials provide information about how to remix textbooks using the LibreTexts platform. (Note: although these guides are housed in the LibreTexts Chemistry library, the content is relevant to remixing LibreTexts in all disciplines.)
- Modifying an OER Textbook: What You Need to KnowThis guide from the Open Education Network (OEN) walks you through the process of editing and remixing OER.
Creating OER
If you don't find enough openly licensed source material, you might consider creating your own OER. UI Libraries has support and compensation available to help fund the development of projects at several different levels. OpenHawks is an OER grant program administered by the Libraries and funded by the Provost and Libraries. Check out the program website to find out more.
There is also a wealth of guides, books, and other information from people who have the OER creation know how. Here are some examples of guides for remixing and creating OER:
- Authoring Open TextbooksThis guide is for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks in higher education and K-12. Content includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools.
- Guide to Developing Open TextbooksThis how-to guide has been developed to assist teachers, teaching support personnel, and educational technology administrators to: understand the value of open education, OER and open textbooks for teaching and learning; appreciate the potential value of developing an open textbook platform; select appropriate technology to build an open textbook platform, using either existing services offered free on the Internet or open-source tools, based on local needs and resources; and build, manage and maintain an open textbook platforms.
- A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with StudentsA handbook for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other OER.
- Modifying a Textbook: What You Need to KnowThis is a five-step guide for faculty, and those who support faculty, who want to modify an open textbook. Step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook file and platform types are included.
- The OER Starter Kit WorkbookThis project offers worksheets for teachers to reflect as they begin to explore and create their Open Educational Resources. The book has five sections: Getting Started, Copyright, Finding OER, Teaching with OER, and Creating OER.
- Open Educational PracticeThis is an OER Commons hub for professional development. From the hub site: "the goal of Open Educational Practice (OEP) is to build the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that support and improve teaching and learning. Using open educational resources (OER) presents unique affordances for educators, as the use of OER is an invitation to adapt, personalize, and add relevancy to materials that inspire and encourage deeper learning in the classroom and across institutions."
- Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far)The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far) is a living repository of collective knowledge, written to equip all those who want to publish open textbooks with the resources they need. Representing two years of collaboration, innumerable conversations and exchanges, and a wide range of collective knowledge and experience, the Guide is a book-in-progress and will evolve and grow over time. Join the project discussion and help shape its development!
- Self-Publishing GuideThe BCcampus Open Education Self-Publishing Guide is a reference for individuals or groups wanting to write and self-publish an open textbook.This guide provides details on the preparation, planning, writing, publication, and maintenance of an open textbook. Copyright, open licenses, and the differences between citation and attribution are discussed as well as the importance of copy editing and proofreading. Checklists and templates are also provided.
Making OER Accessible
To be truly open, a textbook must be accessible to all readers, and the best time to make sure your resource is truly accessible is while you're creating it. Check out the resources below to find out what you need to know as you start working with OER.
- Accessibility in Open Educational ResourcesThis guide provides information on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as it relates to OER. It includes examples of accessible OER and identifies key factors to optimize the potential of OER.
- Accessibility Toolkit - 2nd editionThe goal of this accessibility toolkit, 2nd edition, is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook—one that is free and accessible for all students. This is a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC.
- Flexible Learning for Open Education (floe)FLOE provides the resources to personalize how we each learn and to address barriers to learning. Learners learn differently, and today’s society needs diverse, self-aware, life-long learners.
- IT Accessibility at UIWithin OneIT, the IT Accessibility Group provides assistance with policy and technical guidelines, training, consultation, and advocacy for accessibility efforts at Iowa. The IT Accessibility group works closely with numerous offices and individuals on the Iowa campus to pursue equivalent opportunity and access to all.
- Making OER AccessibleThis module is from Affordable Learning Georgia's online course on creating OER, focusing specifically on accessibility.