Snapshot of the OER Adoption Process Described in this Toolkit

Preamble | Name your Motivation. What is motivating you to incorporate an Open Education Resource (OER) into your teaching and learning practice? Integrating Open Education Resources requires time and consideration, so identifying the benefits is helpful: for example, reduced textbook costs for your students, and/or opportunity to customize a textbook for your course, and/or a chance to work more efficiently by using ancillary resources like a bank of quiz questions or demonstration videos.

Phase 1 | Take stock. How do you currently deliver your course (in the classroom, online, or a combination of the two)? What are your current course resources? (textbook(s), video(s), quiz banks, PowerPoints etc.). Making a list will help you to identify gaps and to understand the difference between a ‘must have’ and ‘nice-to-have’ OER resource. For example, you may decide that your priority is to find an OER quiz bank so you can move away from paper-based assessment.

Phase 2 | Make a plan. Integrating OER into a course can be as simple as adding some quiz questions, or as complicated as transitioning your course to an online format supported by OER resources. Decide what you want to do, and by when.

Making a plan includes asking the right questions. Where do I go in my institution to find the support/resources I need (for example, instructional designers, educational technologists, disability advisors, copyright experts, other instructors who have experience developing online courses and adopting OERs)? Making a plan also includes identifying online sites and resources that will be helpful (for example, websites that focus on, and host, open resources).

Phase 3 | Adopt and Evaluate. Integrate the OERs you have identified as being helpful into your course and keep track of how this worked for you and your students.