Implementing Open Educational Resources (OER) into Your Course

This article is the third part in our series on OER. You can read more about Open Educational Resources and Affordable Educational Resources in part one and two alternative models for textbooks, Inclusive Access and Equitable Access, in part two.

I’m ready to adopt an Open Educational Resource (OER) – how do I find a text?

First, realize that OER don’t have to be a formal textbook, although often they are. OER can be pieces of textbooks that you use in conjunction with each other. They can be a Canvas course, a module, or a series of resources that meet your learning outcomes and the topics you need to ensure your students are meeting the learning outcomes. They could even be podcasts, films, and websites. This broadens the field of where to find OER. So where do you start?

  • Start with the librarians on your campus. Librarians are experts in locating materials and can make the search easier.
  • Use the libguide created by the library about materials you already have access to that can be used as part of an OER course.
  • Use one of the many repositories available online that offer the distinct types of resources mentioned above. College of the Canyons maintains an up-to-date OER/Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Repository which is a good jumping-off point.

Can I create my own OER?

An option for integrating OER into your course is creating your own materials. Creating your own materials doesn’t necessarily mean writing a textbook. Open Educational Resources can be any of the items below or some combination thereof.

  1. Written textbook
  2. Videos
  3. Curated articles that are openly licensed
  4. Podcasts
  5. Curated textbook chapters taken from openly licensed books
  6. Media you create yourself

As you begin searching, you may decide you want help creating and licensing your materials. As mentioned earlier, the library is a great place to start. The library may be able to offer significant resources to help you create your OER, so be sure to reach out and see what support is available.

Ready to get started?

If you’re interested in getting started on creating low or no-cost resources for your class or just want to get some more information, you can reach out to Carli Reinecke, the OER Librarian to get started with your project.

Resources

Inclusive and Equitable Access Models for Course Materials: Comparisons with OER and AER

This article is the second part to our post about Open Educational Resources and Affordable Educational Resources.

It is important to acknowledge a few other contenders in the push to lower textbook costs for students: Equitable Access and Inclusive Access. Equitable access replaces the costs of textbooks with a fee added to students’ tuition at the beginning of a term that covers the cost of all course materials for that semester, no matter the discipline. Students have the option to opt out and can apply their financial aid. The cost is the same for every student, which creates some concerns when you consider the cost difference between a low-material-cost humanities course and a science course with books that may cost hundreds of dollars. There is an expected course savings with this, as deals have been negotiated between the publishers, the bookstore, and the university. This is a textbook system that is becoming more popular with universities.

Inclusive Access is more common, as it focuses on just one or a few courses instead of all the courses a student is taking. Like Equitable Access, it is a service provided by publishers and college bookstores, marketed as a tool to lower costs for students. Inclusive Access involves a plan to provide eBooks to students for an entire course section, course, or department, depending on the agreements entered into by the publisher and a bookstore. The selected text is provided to all students by the first day of class and is typically paid for as a registration fee instead of a separate textbook cost. This can provide significant savings to students who would be likely to buy a new copy of the textbook, but savings are debatable for those who would acquire their texts by other means. Students can normally opt out, but penalties could arise for departments that sign on and don’t end up with enough student participation.

Please note that there are certain concerns with both the EA and IA models. The cost savings suggested for both models are often based on the difference between students participating in the program or students buying full-price textbooks, which is the only option available to students. There have also been concerns about the issue of these programs being opt-out instead of opt-in for students. The Department of Education is presently reviewing whether financial aid will cover these programs if they are opt-out only.

Similarities and differences between OER, AER, IA, and EA
Conditions OER AER IA EA
Free to students yes possibly no no
Free to university yes possibly yes** yes
Low cost yes yes possibly possibly
Copyright applies no possibly yes yes
Reduces equity gaps yes yes possibly possibly
Open to share with others yes no no no
Able to be remixed yes no no no
Available on the first day of class yes yes yes no
Potential for hidden fees no no yes yes
Students can get a hard copy of the book possibly possibly possibly possibly
Students can get a digital copy of the book yes yes yes yes
Students get their books at the bookstore possibly possibly yes yes
Ability to make modifications to the materials yes no no no
Might include scholarly articles found in the library databases no yes no no
Who benefits from the use students students publishers publishers

** Free as long as certain conditions are met.

The table above presents in tabular format the distinctions between OER, AER, EA, and IA throughout this toolbox article. It highlights how materials can be shared, how costs are passed on, and who benefits from the specific textbook arrangement.

Resources

Intro to Open Educational Resources and Affordable Educational Resources

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

You will find multiple definitions of OER, but for our use, we will focus on the 2017 definition from UNESCO, Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.” While OER used to be difficult to find and were only available for the most common general education courses, more and more professors are creating the materials they would like for their classes and then offering those resources to other educators at no cost.

For materials to be considered Open Educational Resources, there is no cost to use the materials — either for the student, the faculty member, or the university involved. There is an alternative to this model, Affordable Educational Resources, which will be discussed below. Ideally, Open Educational Resources will have an open license. An open license has a 5Rs framework, as proposed by David Wiley. A completely open license allows the user to do all of the following:

  • Reuse: Share content as-is
  • Revise: Content can be adapted, revised, or modified
  • Remix: Content can be combined with other material to create new content
  • Redistribute: Share the original, revised, or remixed versions with others
  • Retain: the right to make, own, and control copies of the content

While open licenses are ideal, many faculty creators choose a Creative Commons license which offers some rights to those who choose to adopt the OER. Creative Commons licenses work alongside copyright, where it makes transparent to the user how they can use, modify, or distribute the work.

Why choose OER?

The most obvious reason for making the choice to switch to OER is the cost savings to students. As of Spring 2024, UWGB instructors have saved 1957 students $240,442. This represents 34 instructors who have participated in the formal OER program. In addition to this obvious benefit to students, the reasons instructors choose to use OER can be any or all of the following:

  • Increase equity
  • Allow for customization
  • Improve access to information
  • Avoid copyright issues
  • Increase representation and diversity in course resources
  • Meet changing learning outcomes

What’s the difference between OER and AER?

Open Educational Resources are explained in detail in the previous section. What we have not explored yet are Affordable Educational Resources (AER). Many of the textbooks our students are asked to purchase for their classes cost in the hundreds of dollars. Because of limited resources or lack of financial aid, students may attempt to take the course without purchasing the text or might not be able to get the text until weeks into the course. While affordable educational resources might have a cost associated, it is a much more manageable cost. AER means something different at every university. At UWGB, the cost is $50 or less for the total cost of resources purchased by the student for one class. There are other distinctions between OER and AER. This video explains them succinctly.

Want more information? Contact the UWGB OER librarian, Carli Reinecke.

Event Follow-Up: Improving Accessibility in Learning Materials

On Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2024, CATL teamed up with Assistant Professor of Humanities, Kristopher Purzycki, for a workshop on improving the accessibility of educational resources shared in courses and on campus. This session explored common accessibility pitfalls in crafting digital learning materials, covering tasks like creating and sharing PowerPoint presentations, PDFS, and Canvas elements such as media and syllabi. As a continuation of this workshop, we’ve complied practical accessibility tips and demonstrations for instructors to incorporate when creating learning materials.

Prioritizing Accessibility Matters for Student Success

Meeting certain accessibility standards is not just about compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; it is also crucial for enhancing student success and engagement. Accessibility (specifically digital accessibility) proactively eliminates barriers during the design and creation phase of materials.

In cases where accessibility measures still pose challenges for learners, students can work with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to seek formal accommodations and instructors will work with SAS to fulfill the accommodation request. Many students may not disclose their disabilities to their university or face other obstacles hindering them from receiving formal accommodation. Consequently, academic success often relies on students’ individual efforts and faculty commitment to accessible learning materials. While not proposing a complete overhaul of course materials, CATL hopes to promote simple steps to enhance the accessibility of educational learning materials, all in the pursuit of student success.

  • Make course changes based on level of seriousness.
  • Learn and adapt based on experiences and student feedback.
  • Use the UWGB library as a resource to help refresh and update your class materials/readings.
  • Use the Accessibility Checkers available to you in Microsoft Office (like Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and Canvas). 

Canvas Accessibility Tools to Help Review Your Course

Expand the titles below to learn how to use the accessibility tools and checks available to you in Canvas.

How to Use the Canvas Accessibility Checker – Video Demo

Validate Links in Your Canvas Course – Video Demo

Note: This video is demonstration is from Arizona State University Learning Experience (LX) and displays their specific instance of Canvas. While UWGB’s Canvas may operate and look different, the validate course link application works the same. Need more? View the Instructor (Canvas) guide on Validating Links in Canvas.

 

Using the Canvas Course Accessibility Checker UDOIT – Video Overview

Learn even more with UWGB's Knowledgebase guide on using the UDOIT Cloud Accessibility tool to check your Canvas course accessibility.

Video Accessibility with Kaltura My Media and Automatic Closed Captions

Expand the titles below to learn how to upload your own course videos or YouTube finds to Kaltura My Media. This allows for automatic closed captioning, caption editing, and transcription addition for videos in your Canvas courses or those shared with students.

How to Upload Videos and Add Captions with Kaltura My Media – Video Demo 

How to Embed Videos and Add Transcripts with Kaltura My Media – Video Demo

Tip: You can adjust the max embed size of your video under the Embed Settings option. Feel free to use this to adjust the size of your video display in your Canvas course. 

PDF Accessibility with Adobe Acrobat – Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Scanning

Expand the title below to learn how to enhance the accessibility of your PDFs by using OCR  scanning. While OCR scanning doesn’t guarantee full accessibility for assistive technologies like screen readers, Adobe Acrobat Pro offers additional tools to improve accessibility before sharing PDFs digitally.

How to Use OCR Scanning with Adobe Acrobat Pro for PDFs – Video Demo

Tip: Before creating your own PDF documents and PDF scans of readings, contact the UWGB library and ask if they already have a digital resource available.  

Image Accessibility and Informative Alt Text

Expand the title below to learn more about writing helpful alt text for images with specific examples, such as when you are creating your syllabus.

How to Add Alt Text in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint – Video Demo

A Note About Your Syllabus

Your syllabus is a great resource for our students and their first look into your class and learning environment. Because of this, your syllabus should include language that makes your desire for student success obvious. This can be done by incorporating course norms that encourage students to reach out to you if materials are not accessible for them. At UWGB instructors must include an “Accommodation Statement” on their syllabus. While not a requirement, instructors can show their commitment to accessibility and student success by including an additional accessibility statement. See an example of this type of Accessibility from Bates College below.

"Bates College is committed to creating a learning environment that meets the needs of its diverse student body. If you anticipate or experience any barriers to learning in this course, please feel welcome to discuss your concerns with me." – Bates College: Sample Syllabus Accessibility Statement

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about accessibility, we encourage you to sign up for LITE 120, a self-paced training course that covers the basics of accessibility in Canvas, as well as SAS’s training course on creating accessible documents (i.e., with Word, PowerPoint, or PDF). Plus, check out CATL’s top 10 dos and don’ts of digital accessibility for even more resources.

Related Events and Opportunities

Join us as we conclude this semester’s workshop series with a session on “Using Universal Design for Learning (UDL)to Increase Access” led by the director of UW-Green Bay’s Student Accessibility Services, Lynn Niemi, and Art and Design Professor, Alison Gates. Attendees will continue the conversation about neurodiversity and explore how to use UDL to remove barriers in course materials and increase student access. This workshop will be held virtually via Zoom on Apr. 3rd, 2024, from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. Registration for the April workshop on UDL is already open.

As always, CATL also welcomes you to connect with us if you’d like to learn more about any of these topics. Send us an email or request a consultation to get started!

 

Event Follow-Up: Students’ Experiences at UWGB via Neurodiverse Viewpoints

On Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, CATL collaborated with Assistant Vice Chancellor Stacie Christian to host a student panel on neurodiversity. Six student panelists shared their experiences as neurodiverse learners, including common barriers and misconceptions related to neurodiversity. One of the topics the panel discussed was how instructors can support them. A few common themes emerged from students’ responses so we’ve compiled them below, along with resources for ways you might implement these recommendations in your teaching.

Make Assignment Details Transparent

The student panelists shared that they find it extremely helpful when professors explain the purpose of an assignment and provide clear instructions. Their recommendation aligns with the transparency in learning and teaching (TILT) framework, a concept you may be familiar with if you’ve taken LITE 201. The TILT framework is an evidence-based approach to assignment design in which instructors demystify activities by explaining their purpose, detailing the task that students need to complete, and providing concrete grading criteria. Not sure where to start? Check out this checklist for designing transparent assignments from TILT Higher Ed. Or, for a deeper dive into the topic, consider taking a look at this webinar recording on transparent assignment design.

Explicitly Communicate Your Support

One of the “unwritten rules” of college is that students can go to their instructors when they have a question about the course or the need to connect with another institutional resource, such as tutoring or counseling. While this fact may be obvious to some students, it is not to everyone. Whether due to anxiety, trouble picking up on subtext, or unfamiliarity with the norms of higher education, some students may not ask their instructor for help unless they are given explicit permission to do so. Panelists suggested that instructors include a statement in their syllabus to remind students that they can come to the instructor if they have questions or concerns for help and/or referral to the best resource. It’s a small action but adding a statement like this can help reassure students that you care about their success and wellbeing. For more ideas on how to create a welcoming syllabus, check out this post on liquid syllabi and CATL’s liquid syllabus template. If you want to explore other ways of building trust with your students, consider creating a “getting to know you” survey, establishing class norms, or incorporating a name pronunciation activity.

Provide Alternative Formats for Information

Several student panelists emphasized the importance of providing alternate ways of communicating information whenever possible. This recommendation is not only related to “multiple means of representation” from universal design for learning (UDL) theory, but it also aligns with best practices for digital accessibility. Adding alternative means of representation doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, if you include audio or video files in your course, try to pick resources that also provide captions or a transcript. Or, if you use images, make sure you include a caption or alt text when the image is being used to convey information. If you’d like to learn more about accessibility, we encourage you to sign up for LITE 120, a self-paced training course that covers the basics of accessibility in Canvas, as well as SAS’s training course on creating accessible documents (i.e., with Word, PowerPoint, or PDF).

Related Events and Opportunities

Want to learn more about supporting diverse learners? CATL’s “Workshop Wednesday” series this semester has two upcoming sessions that may be of interest to you! First, on Wednesday, Mar. 6, we’ll take a look at how to make course materials more accessible. Then, on Wednesday, Apr. 3, we’ll explore universal design for learning (UDL) and some practical ways to apply UDL concepts in our teaching and learning. Both workshops will be from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. via Zoom. Registration for the March workshop on accessibility is already open. Stay tuned for details on registration for April’s workshop.

As always, CATL also welcomes you to connect with us if you’d like to learn more about any of these topics. Send us an email or request a consultation to get started!