Going OER: Eliminate Boundaries in Teaching and Learning – Faculty are continuously searching for textbooks and materials that fit course requirements and their teaching style. Before the availability of open educational resources (OER), faculty were restricted to commercial publications designed for broad audiences with general theories and concepts across a wide array of topics. Though these resources offer relevant information and supplemental materials, they do not always meet the needs and interests of faculty and students. Adopting and creating free, openly licensed resources (OER) offers faculty the freedom to reuse and remix materials that complement their teaching style and approach based on their discipline training, expertise, and knowledge of their students. In this webinar, faculty will learn about free open educational resources, benefits of going OER, and ideas on their use and application.

1. Going OER
Eliminate Boundaries inTeaching and Learning

2. Welcome
• Faculty,West HillsCollege Lemoore
• #OERevolution since 2013
 OER Co-chair,WHCL
 Curriculum Chair,WHCL (5 years)
 Reviewer, Cool4Ed
 Sociology Editorial Board, Merlot
 Published SOC 1 and EDUC 5 course shells
 Author, CriticalThinking about Social Problems (Kendall Hunt)
 Author, Beyond Race: Cultural Influences on Human Social Life (WHCL)

3. What is OER?

4. How is OER customized for your class?
• Open educational resources are freely shared through open licenses
which facilitate use, revision, translation, improvement and sharing by
anyone.
 This means faculty and students have the power and freedom to:
 evaluate, analyze, and critique
 revise or rewrite
 include our narratives, perspectives, and examples
 publish and share
This image 'To deposit or not to deposit, that is the question" by
Roche D.G., et al. is licensed under CC BY 4.0

5. Benefits of Going OER
1. Quality, peer-reviewed sources
2. Support and funding opportunities
3. Re-design courses and instructional approaches
• Faculty and learner freedom
• Living, open-ended courses
 Flexibility to modify/adapt
• Applied experiences
• Improves quality of curriculum and instruction
4. Community Support
• Visit the homepage and select “Get Involved”
 Click “Community Email” to join network

6. Using and Applying OER
• Quantitative and Qualitative Study (AY 16-17)
 Quality
 Access
 Challenges
• Survey (n=175)
 15 questions
• Video testimonials (n=36)
 7 questions

7. From Adoption to Re-design
• Phase 1
 Use course objectives to guide curriculum and instruction
 Focus on major concepts
 Emphasize core competencies
 Meet transfer requirements
• Phase 2
 Select and revise OER materials
 Develop a conceptual framework and foundation of knowledge
 Core terms, concepts, and theories
 Supplemental perspectives, arguments, and approaches
 Audio/visual aids
Develop 3-5 learning
objectives per module or
section.
Identify 1 to 3 core sources
and 1 to 5 supplemental
materials per module or
section.

8. From Adoption to Re-design
• Phase 3
 Develop authentic experiences
 Provide students with options
• Menu of topics, approaches, and applications
 Insist on active learning and exploration
 Alter parameters
• Individual and team based learning experiences
• Reuse and remix of materials
 Require peer review and self-critique
• Explore cultural bias
 Expect further inquiry
• Scaffolding
• Higher order questions
• Phase 4
 Ask open-ended critical thinking questions
 General to specific
 Reframe questions to assess comprehension
 Invest time on exploring learning challenges
Construct a few mini
conceptual assignments or
1 overarching project
based assessment.
Create instructional
materials addressing
student challenges.

9. From Adoption to Re-design
• Phase 5
 Monitor progress and provide support
 Ask for challenges
 Focus on problem solving
 Encourage group and class discussion
 Provide a roadmap for learning
• Remix and reuse
• Diverse assessments
 Acknowledge successes
• Minor and major
• Individual, group, and class
• Phase 6
 Showcase student work
 Create opportunities to share
• Pairs, teams, class, college, or community
• Publish student work (e.g., print and media)
 Provide opportunities for course feedback
• Conduct process and outcome evaluations
• Survey and video testimonials
Redesign class meetings
into learning labs.
Invent publication and
presentation opportunities
and design evaluation
tools.

10. WebinarTake-away
OER provides opportunities to:
• re-design courses and instructional approach
• customize topic, materials, and content to your discipline and class
• focus on student learning outcomes and concept-based learning
• incrementally transition from commercial based materials to 100% OER
• work with other faculty through online networks

11. Contact Information
Vera Kennedy
Sociology & Education Instructor
West Hills College Lemoore
(559) 925-3696
verakennedy@whccd.edu
This course content is offered under a CC-BY Attribution license. Content can be considered under this license unless otherwise noted.