Identifying and Developing Open Educational Resources (OER) for Your Class

Abstract

BRIEF SESSION DESCRIPTION:Open Educational Resources (OERs) include materials for teaching, learning, and research that may be freely used and repurposed by others, because they reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license (such as Creative Commons) that permits their use and reuse. In this session, youA¢â‚¬â„¢ll hear from participants in the OER Faculty Learning Community (FLC)A‚ on what works in incorporating OERs in online and face-to-face classrooms as well as lessons learned on how to develop and publish their own materials. Participants will also learn about opportunities to identify and adopt open textbooks as a replacement to higher cost textbooks. A‚ By the end of this session, participants will be able to: use the Mason OER Metafinder and other sources to identify OERs; explain what Creative Commons licenses are and how to use them; outline the first steps in implementing OERs in your classroom; and describe how to publish their own textbook or other materials.______________________________________________________________FULL ABTRACT:The high costs of textbooks have led universities including Mason to advance the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OERs) to reduce the cost of instruction for students. As faculty incorporate OERs into their classrooms, they have also discovered the potential of OERs to improve teaching and learning outcomes, and increase student engagement with the materials. OERs include materials for teaching, learning, and research that may be freely used and repurposed by others, because they reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license (such as Creative Commons) that permits their use and reuse.A‚ This session will provide some of the lessons learned in the OER Faculty Learning Community (OER FLC). YouA¢â‚¬â„¢ll hear from participants on what works in incorporating OERs in online and face-to-face classrooms as well as lessons on how to develop and publish their own materials. Participants will also learn about opportunities to identify and adopt open textbooks as a replacement to higher cost textbooks.A‚ By the end of this session, participants will be able to:A¢â‚¬Â¢Use the Mason OER Metafinder and other sources to identify OERsA‚ A¢â‚¬Â¢Understand Creative Commons licensesA¢â‚¬Â¢Outline the first steps in implementing OERs in your classroomA‚ A¢â‚¬Â¢Learn about opportunities to publish your own textbook or other materials