Case Studies

Valuing OER in the Tenure, Promotion, and Reappointment Process (CC BY 4.0)

This book of case studies is meant to aid faculty, librarians, administrators, and staff members as they attempt to make their work or others’ work on Open Educational Resources (OER) matter in the tenure, promotion, and reappointment process at their institutions.

Guides

Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources (CC BY 4.0)

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources: A Guide for Authors, Adapters & Adopters of Openly Licensed Teaching and Learning Materials in Canada was adapted from its U.S. counterpart, the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources. The authors of the Canadian Code are indebted to the work of our U.S. colleagues and those who contributed to their process. While the Canadian Code has adopted the formatting and style of the U.S. version and is similar in scope and purpose, significant changes were necessary in order to address the Canadian legislative and legal context. As a result, the Canadian version is more than an adaptation, it is a new work that owes its underlying context and inspiration to the U.S. version.

A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students (CC BY)

A handbook for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other Open Educational Resources.

Zero Textbook Cost Degree Toolkit (CC BY)

A resource that provides an introduction of how to create a zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) program in Canada.

Monographs

Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice (CC BY-NC)

This book explores the opportunities and challenges of moving the discussion about open educational resources (OER) beyond affordability to address structural inequities found throughout academia and scholarly publishing. OER have the potential to celebrate research done by marginalized populations in the context of their own communities, to amplify the voices of those who have the knowledge but have been excluded from formal prestige networks, and to engage students as co-creators of learning content that is relevant and respectful of their cultural contexts. This book takes a multidisciplinary approach and is filled with examples of the ways OER and open pedagogy can be used to support social justice in education. It covers a wide range of topics from theoretical critiques to multidisciplinary examples of OER development in practice to examinations of institutional support for OER development. The five sections of this book talk about theory and problematizing; open praxis; decolonizing learning in the Global South; scaling up with institutional policies (approaches); and building and decolonizing OER platforms. This book has print copies available for purchase, as well as a free digital edition.

Supplemental Resources

Open Education Leadership Essentials Workshop-in-a-Box (CC BY 4.0)

In January 2020, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries’ Open Education Working Group (CARL OEWG) held a two-day in-person Open Education Leadership Essentials workshop. This event brought together academic librarians from across Canada for an opportunity to build their open education leadership skills.

The CARL OEWG has repurposed the training materials and created the Open Education Leadership Essentials Workshop-in-a-Box (OeLE WIAB). This openly-licensed curriculum can be adapted in whole or in part at the regional or institutional level.

The OeLE WIAB’s learning materials currently exist on Google Drive to allow librarians and library workers to easily create copies and adapt the resources. The OeLE WIAB includes:

• A facilitator’s guide
• Slides
• Worksheets
• Detailed teaching plans that cover in-person & virtual synchronous delivery of the materials
• And additional resources to support practitioners in replicating a virtual or in-person OeLE at their institutions.

The topics covered by the OeLE WIAB include:

• Primer for Open Education
• Stakeholder Engagement and Developing Teams
• Communications and Institutional Change
• Critical Conversations in Open Education
• Supporting Open Education Projects and Programs
• Open Education Advocacy
• Setting up a Lightning Talk Session

Textbooks

Open Textbook Toolkit (CC BY)

This toolkit is a living document designed to support university and college faculty in Ontario who would like to create their first open textbook. Key sections in this toolkit are organized in an FAQ format and include information related to stakeholders, technology, copyright, accessibility, and more general production and classroom-use workflows of an open textbook.

Videos and Webinars

How to Create Inclusive and Accessible OER (CC BY)

This webinar looks at how to design OER so they are more inclusive and accessible for all students. This includes an overview of the technical considerations of digital accessibility. For example, what are the minimum technical requirements that ensure students with print disabilities can access and navigate through the resource? We will also look at how inclusive design practices can help us create educational materials that are more versatile and useful for students. For example, what does an accessible resource look like for a student with no personal computer? Or a student with a learning disability that makes reading difficult? Ultimately, students can be very different from each other, and what may work for one student may not work for another. But by designing for those differences, we can create educational materials that are more useful, powerful, and accessible to all.

Introduction to Canadian Copyright and Open Licensing for OER (CC BY)

What do you need to know about copyright and open licensing when using or building OER? For example, what exactly can you do with existing OER? When do librarians and instructors need to ask permission to use someone else’s images, text, or video in new OER? Where does fair dealing “fit” in the OER landscape?

Making Open Textbooks: A Video Guide (CC BY)

A video series created by the Rebus Community about publishing open textbooks, with collaboration at the heart of a collective, open process of creation.