Dr. Charlotte Russell Cox from North Carolina Central University spoke about “Free For All: OER Selection Strategies and Structure” as part of the Quality Matters QM April 2022 conference. They defined Open Educational Resource (OER) using the EDUCAUSE 2021 reference by Kimmons & Rogers: “OERs are resources that are free materials that educators can use which are not copyright restricted.” Open educational resources have open licenses for use to revise, retain, reuse, remix, and redistribute the materials.” Russell Cox referred to Quality Matters Specific Review Standard 4.1 about the instructional materials. They then reviewed the 5Rs of OER: Revise, Retain, Reuse, Remix and Redistribute. Citing Hewlett 2014, Russell Cox reviewed the use of OERs in education, including full courses, syllabi, textbooks, book chapters, videos, modules, simulations, and even assessments. Russell Cox also explained Merrill’s “First Principles of Instruction,” which are:
- Principle 1 – Problem-centered
- Problem 2 – Activation
- Problem 3 – Demonstration (Show me)
- Problem 4 – Application (Let me)
- Problem 5 – Integration (Knowledge transfer)
Assessing OER content for correctness and ease of re-use was emphasized too. Russell Cox explained how they found the Foundations of Learning and Instructional Design Technology by West 2018 and used it in a course they teach. Another educational technology resource/book Russell Cox uses is by Beatly 2019. For selecting OER, Russell Cox described the framework by Jung, Sasaki, and Latchem from 2016 is a valuable strategy. The main areas are purpose, ease of use, content, and pedagogy. For the purpose, the article has seven criteria to think about how accessible and inclusive the resource is. When considering ease of use, the four criteria provided by Jung et al. include open content license, can be reused/revised/remixed, has a clear navigation system, and presentation methods that correspond with the learner’s abilities. For content, accuracy, progression, appropriateness, and clear goals were listed. For pedagogy, there are nine categories, including structure for knowledge transfer and assessment options. Russell Cox highlighted how this framework can be used to help instructors adopt OER. they shared several OER websites including MERLOT, BC Campus Open Ed, and the Mason OER Metafinder (MOM). They also demonstrated the Open Textbook Library website and search/filtering capabilities. I have not used this site and may be able to find information for the metagenomics course and biotechnology & sustainability. The site also includes ratings and information about awards resources have received. After demonstrating the use of two more sites, Russell Cox summarized the best practices for OER implementation by mentioning the use of the framework, alignment with the course and module learning objectives, and proper attribution. Russell Cox shared an Open Stax College Success book that I didn’t know about.
