#OER17: Communicating "Open"

COMMUNICATING
“OPEN”
Nicole Allen, SPARC
April 5, 2017 • #OER17 • London, UK

@txtbks
www.slideshare.com/txtbks
www.sparcopen.org
except where otherwise noted

@txtbks | sparcopen.org
Defining “open”
Communicating effectively
Being responsive
What We’ll Cover

OPEN =
Free + Permissions
Retain
Reuse
Revise
Remix
Redistribute
5Rs

OPEN =
Permissions.
(Free + 5Rs)

Open Educational Resources
are teaching, learning, and research
resources that reside in the public domain
or have been released under an
intellectual property license that permits
their free use and re-purposing by others.
Hewlett Definition

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.
UNESCO Definition

are educational materials that are distributed
at no cost with legal permission for the
public to freely use, share, and build upon
the content.
(something simpler)

are freely available, high-quality learning
materials that can be downloaded, edited,
and shared to better serve all students.
(something even simpler)

communicating
effectively

1. Know your audience
Students
Faculty
Administrators
Policymakers

2. Have a message, and repeat it
• Open = Free + 5Rs
• Empowers educators
• Better for students

3. Focus on why, not just what
Open in order to…

4. Avoid jargon
CC BYCC BY-SACC BY-SA-WTF

4. Avoid jargon
5. Show, don’t just tell

tcc.edu/academics/degrees/textbook-free
By using OER in every
course, the Z-degree
reduces the cost of a 2-year
degree by 20%

“Thanks to the Z-Degree program
I didn’t have to choose between
continuing my education or getting
braces for my daughter”
- Melissa Koch, TCC Student

being
responsive

“The reality is that there are
simply no open resources that are
as flexible, reliable or impactful as
the newest generation of
education resources."
Ex #1

“…carefully conducted research
supports it: studies have
repeatedly shown that students
who use digitally personalized
learning tools are more likely to do
better in class”

“Note: This bio has been updated
to note the author's connection to
a publisher.”

let facts speak
for themselves

when the news
gives you lemons,
make lemonade

State’s $300,000 e-textbooks flunk out with critics
Laura Berman, The Detroit News 11:32 p.m. EDT October 12, 2015
The first batch of textbooks commissioned under a $600,000 state
Department of Education grant is online and ready for Michigan social
studies teachers and students with one catch: Some textbook experts and
educators around the state are so disturbed by factual inaccuracies, poor
grammar, overgeneralizations, clumsy word choices and cultural
insensitivity, they are recommending teachers not use them in their
classrooms.
Released in August, the first four books produced in the Michigan Open
Book Project were written by Michigan social studies teachers. Their
mission was to produce “dream” resources that teachers around the state
could download to iPads and other electronic devices at no cost.Ex #2

“My elementary teachers who are using it
absolutely love it. Is it perfect? No, it is
not, but if my district wanted to buy new
[traditionally published] social studies
textbooks, they would not be error free
either and a social studies text is out of date
the day it is purchased.”
- School Superintendent

Rapid Response Talking Points
• It’s a fact of life that errors happen. That’s true of
traditional materials as well as OER. What matters
is how errors are addressed.
• With traditional materials, it takes years for
corrections to be made. Because this material is
OER, the correction was made in 48 hours.
• The benefits of OER go beyond just fixing errors.
OER can be used and shared freely, and updated
and improved in real time to better serve students.

don’t let open
take the blame

By Mary Jo Madda Feb 24, 2016
Do you remember how it felt when you first read what would eventually
become your favorite book? For many students, that’s a feeling that’s hard
to come by—books aren’t always cheap or easily accessible, especially
when school budgets are stretched thin.
However, the government is hoping to help schools save money and time
by offering thousands of popular and award-winning titles—$250 million
worth of books, in fact—to Title I, military base and special education
teachers and librarians, and by extension, students. How, exactly?
“Today’s launch furthers the
White House’s efforts to push
for more OER.”
Ex #3

fight back against
openwashing

By Mary Jo Madda Feb 24, 2016
Do you remember how it felt when you first read what would eventually
become your favorite book? For many students, that’s a feeling that’s hard
to come by—books aren’t always cheap or easily accessible, especially
when school budgets are stretched thin.
However, the government is hoping to help schools save money and time
by offering thousands of popular and award-winning titles—$250 million
worth of books, in fact—to Title I, military base and special education
teachers and librarians, and by extension, students. How, exactly?
“While this effort is separate
from the administration's OER
work (in that Open eBooks is
primarily composed of
copyrighted materials), today’s
launch is complementary…”

communicating effectively is
the
first line of defense

summing up

Nicole Allen
nicole@sparcopen.org
@txtbks | @sparc_na
www.sparcopen.org

#OER17: Communicating "Open"

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