By Ann Gerrity, Kilgore College Instructor - Speech Co-presenter: Shital Chheda American Honors Instructional Designer Visit facultyconference.americanhonors.org

1. Understanding and
Incorporating OER in
the Classroom.
By: Ann Gerrity
Shital Chheda

2. Agenda
OER defined and explored
Benefits and challenges
Course Examples
Strategy Session
Questions

3. Education is evolving
• Reaching today’s tech savvy students
will draw larger numbers to institutions
utilizing innovations in education.
• Easy access to resources available
online
• The move toward OER is prevalent in
higher education students benefit from
minimal costs for course resources.
• OER allows more freedom for instructors
in developing course content.

4. What is OER
Who owns the material found on OER sites?
Are all OER free to instructors?
What about the author’s copyright protection?
How will
students
benefit
from
OER?
Will OER
be too
hard for
students
to use?
for
How do I design classroom materials
without published textbook resources
Does
the
college
have to
pay for
OER
access?
What is my intellectual
property?
What requires licensing
or permission to use?

5. OER are:
● Format: materials in any
medium, digital or otherwise
● Conditions: that either
o reside in the public
domain or
o have been released
under an open license,
● Nature: which permits its
free use and re-purposing by
others.

6. What is an open license?
However, when it comes to open educational
resources the most typical and common open
licenses used are Creative Commons Licenses

7. Creative Commons licenses(CC)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeTlXtEOplA#t=47

8. What is a public domain?
• The term of copyright for the
work has expired.
• It never had copyright
protection.
• The work was explicitly
donated to the public domain.
• The work is a work of the U.S.
Government.

10. Benefiting students through OER
• Lower cost for resources
• Access to more quality
choices
• Helps preparation for course
and retention of knowledge
after course
• Today’s students rely on
technology
• Employer’s value proficiency in
current technology
• Unique courses, designed for
them, and meeting their
learning needs

11. Benefiting faculty through OER
• Course Design Freedom
• Transform learning experience
• Allows for peer review
• Maximizes the use and increases availability of educational
materials
• Raises standard of educational resources by gathering more
contributors
• Technology applicable to student goals
• Enhances a university’s reputation as well as that of the teacher
or researcher
• Showcases research to widest possible audience

12. Challenges:
• Quality Assurance
• Sustainability of OER
• Lack of public
understanding in OER
• Non-revocable nature of
Creative Commons
licenses

13. Course Examples

14. Developed AH Public Speaking Course
for Fall
• Getting Started
• Hurdles
• Opportunities
• What I learned

15. Getting Started
•Worked with American Honors Instructional
Designer – Shital Chheda
•Finding a textbook on OER website
•OER videos
•OER activities

16. Hurdles
• No textbook related resources
• PowerPoints, test-banks, practice tests
• Some OER activities challenging
• Close captioning/copyright

17. Opportunities
• Student retention
• Student participation
• Time management – faculty and
student
• More autonomy in developing
content

18. What I learned…
• Orientation session crucial at start of course
• OER are supplemental resources
• Discussion forums like Tech Café and Ask my
Professor critical
• Showing in class how students can access OER
resources
• Very supportive verbally throughout course
• OER enriched overall course experience

19. Format of the AH course and
what worked (and didn’t) with
Public Speaking face to face
classes

20. Three classes using OER
– KC (May-Jul, 2016 ) – Ann Gerrity instructor
• May mini HS Dual Credit Course – Sabine ISD (May,
2016)
• Summer I 8 am – KC main campus (Summer I,
2016)
• Summer I 10:10 am – KC main campus(Summer I,
2016)

21. Student
Demographics
●Tech savvy millennials
●Adult Learners with little
to no tech experience
●Students used to various
Learning Management
System

22. Course Differences
● Pace
● Accelerated classes
● Overloaded classes
● Time constraints
because of public
speaking

23. Student goals/ objectives
• Dual credit
• Workforce/certification
programs
• University students taking
summer core classes close to
home

24. Questions??

25. Strategy Session

26. References:
Creative Commons. (2012). http://www.creativecommons.org.
Hylen, J. (2007) Giving knowledge for free: The emergence of open
educational resources. Paris, France: OECD.
http://www.oecd.org/dtaoecd/35/7/48654317.pdf
Olcott, Don, Jr. “Beyond open access: leveraging OER for university
teaching and learning, Distance Learning 9.3 (2012): 11+ Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 11 May 2016.
Educause (2010): 7 things that you should know about open educational
resources. Retrieved from
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELi7061.pdf
Boyoung Chae, Ph.D., Instructure training course. Open education
resources. Retrieved from
https://training.instructure.com/courses/1276118

27. Thank You!