“Let's #GoOpen! The

Potential Power of Open

Educational Resources”

Bradley Landis

Assistant Executive Director

Jeff Rothenberger

Program Administrator- Office of Professional Learning

What one word comes to mind when you hear the term

“Open Educational Resources?”

Go to www.menti.com and use code 62 51 75

The goals for today’s

session are:

● Overview of OER and how they can be used in our schools.

● Develop understanding of Creative Commons Licenses.

● Review of the #GoOpen movement.

● Identify tools and resources for finding and vetting OER.

● Discuss Pennsylvania’s entry into OER Commons and how Educational

Service Agencies can support their schools integrating OER into their

educational ecosystems.

What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?

Open educational resources (OER) 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.

OER include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming

videos, photographs, sound files, tests, software, and any other tools,

materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.

OERs exist in many formats, allowing educators to

maximize student engagement and meet individual needs.

OERs can be harvested from a countless number of sources.

WHY OERs?

• Supports Universal Design for Learning

• Information is Current, Relevant

• Interactive and Engaging Resources

• Personalize Teaching and Learning, Adapt Instructional Resources

• Collaboration & Connect Globally With Other Teachers

• Anytime, Anywhere

• Cost Savings

• Other (Turn & Talk)

What is the difference between “free” and “open” resources?

Open educational resources are and

always will be free in digital form,

but not all free resources are OER.

Free resources may be temporarily

free or may be restricted from use at

some time in the future (including by

the addition of fees to access those

resources).

Moreover, free resources which may

not be modified, adapted or

redistributed without express

permissions from the copyright

holder are not OER.

Are all OER digital?

Like most educational resources these days, most OER

are “born” digital. But like traditional resources, they

can be made available to students in both digital and

printed formats (including in the form of a traditional

‘textbook’).

Digital OER are easier to share, modify, and redistribute,

but being digital is not what makes something an OER

or not.

How do I know if an educational resource is an OER?

The key distinguishing characteristic of OER is its intellectual

property license and the freedoms the license grants to others to

share and adapt it.

If a lesson plan or activity is not clearly tagged or marked as being

in the public domain or having an open license, it is not OER.

While custom copyright licenses can be developed to facilitate the

development and use of OER, often it can be easier to apply free-to-

use standardized licenses developed specifically for that purpose,

such as those developed by Creative Commons or – for software –

those approved by the Open Source Initiative.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons Movement

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and

use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.

Features free, easy-to-use copyright licenses that provide a simple,

standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your

creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily

change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to

“some rights reserved.”

Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work

alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best

suit your needs.

Creative Common Licenses (Video)

Creative Commons Licenses

https://stateof.creativecommons.org/2015/

Using Google Advanced Search to Find OER

Settings

Advanced Search

Usage Rights

Image source: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/blogbasics/6.2

OER are connecting educators around the globe.

Mrs. Jones designs

an OER on atoms.

Mr. Lin uses the OER as

a bell-ringer.

Ms. Brown uses the

OER as a remedial

activity. Mr. Green uses the OER

for group work.

Mr. Jay uses the OER in

his flipped classroom

model.

Miss Henderson modifies

the OER and uses it as an

anticipatory set.

Miss Mack uses the

OER as part of her

lesson.

This background image is released to the public domain at this site.

5 R’s- Retain – Reuse – Revise – Remix – Redistribute

Background on

OER

Case Studies

Implementation

Strategies

Best Practices

20 #GoOpen States(as of November 2017)

Arizona

California

Connecticut

Delaware

Georgia

Illonois

Indiana

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

North Carolina

Oklahoma

Oregon

Rhode Island

Tennessee

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

#GoOpen State Commitments

• Adopt/Implement a statewide technology strategy that includes the

use of openly licensed resources as a central component

• Develop (if not already created) and maintain a statewide repository

solution for openly licensed resources.

• Develop the technical capability to publish OER to the Learning

Registry

• Participate in a community of practice with other #GoOpen states

and districts to share learning resources and professional development

resources

• Create a section on your website (e.g. www.yourwebsite.gov/open or

similar) to share your commitment to #GoOpen and document your

state’s progress

#GoOpen District Commitments

#GoOpen Launch Districts:

• Identify a district #GoOpen team who will work to develop a strategy

for the implementation of openly-licensed educational materials.

• Commit to replace at least one textbook with openly-licensed

educational materials in the next year.

• Document and share their implementation process.

#GoOpen Ambassador Districts:

• Mentor #GoOpen Launch Districts as they design and implement

their strategy for transitioning to openly licensed educational resources.

• Share the openly licensed materials they’ve created.

PAIU OER Hub: Collections

Integrating OER into the Educational Ecosystem

Sample Lesson Algebra I Learning Path

Guide to Quality Instructional Materials

Resources

Where can I learn more about OER?

● Edutopia Shared Google Sheet of Resources

● OER 101 http://bit.ly/OERresources (definition, FAQ, case studies,

Creative Commons licenses)

What’s #GoOpen?

● Office of Educational Technology #GoOpen Landing Page:

https://tech.ed.gov/open/

● #GoOpen District Launch Packet:

https://tech.ed.gov/open/districts/launch/

● Office of Education Technology Story Engine

https://tech.ed.gov/stories/story_tag/openly-licensed-educational-

resources/

The goals for today’s session are:

● Overview of OER and how they can be used in our schools.

● Develop understanding of Creative Commons Licenses.

● Review of the #GoOpen movement.

● Identify tools and resources for finding and vetting OER.

● Discuss Pennsylvania’s entry into OER Commons and how

Educational Service Agencies can support their schools integrating

OER into their educational ecosystems.

REFLECTIONS/QUESTIONS?

Bradley Landis

blandis@mciu.org

Jeff Rothenberger

jroth@mciu.org