We still have the momentum from the first cohort of RLOE and discussions of open! Tonight, I watched another Open Ed 2021 session entitled “Access For All With Offline OER Solutions” and presented by Amanda Coolidge, director of Open Education BC Campus, and Carolee Clyne, Open Education Advisor BC Campus. They shared the slides at: bit.ly/OfflineOERSlides. In their introductions, both Coolidge and Clyne described themselves for those unable to see them and acknowledged their work on the lands of indigenous nations. I admire how seamless they make their introductions seem! They spoke about the development of OpenEd and Open Textbook Collections as part of the BC Campus and Canadian investment in open. Coolidge mentioned that since 2003 they have saved students $27 million and have 43 campuses.
Clyne mentioned that “OER should be portable for where students are and available in multiple ways.” They presented a map of Canada and connectivity in the BC province. I didn’t realize that there is a significant portion of BC that is not well connected. Clyne cited data from a Pew study emphasizing the digital divide in the US and the number of households with limited access. The goal of this project was to “design to margins to serve all (UDL)” and explained their question: how can we make H5P and other resources work offline? This work would support rural/remote use of OER, innovate in the field of OER, and enables student success by improving access. Coolidge mentioned that they have improved the guidelines for Print-on-demand OER and training. Clyne mentioned the KOLIBRI product intended for offline teaching and learning. Rachel-plus is a device that can be taken and used to access educational content. I am curious how both of these systems work. Coolidge mentioned working on providing audiobooks and more interactive eBooks. They shared a document: bit.ly/OfflineOERConversation. Though the document didn’t have too many responses, the questions raised are thought-provoking and make me think about options for students in the courses we teach. I have been working with a group on podcasts but haven’t considered audiobook versions of the materials. Hmmm.
