Why Adapt an OER?
There are several reasons you may want to adapt or curate a resource. Perhaps existing OER do not have all the content you would like to include in your course. Or there may not be any cohesive OER for your course but there may be available materials you can pick and choose from to build the perfect resource for your class.
Below are further reasons that adaptation is a good option:
- Save time and work by mixing OERs with your own material to make something richer
- Make the material more accessible
- Insert culturally specific references to make a concept easier to understand
- Translate it into another language
- Correct errors or inaccuracies
- Keep the OER up to date by adding the latest discoveries or theories
- Insert media or links to other resources
- Adapt it for a different audience or educational level
- Change the format of the OER
Things to Consider Before Adapting or Modifying
There are several factors to consider when adapting an OER. The more you want to change, expand, or edit an OER, the more time you will need. Below are some important considerations.
- How much content do you wish to change? Do you want to remove chapters, or rewrite entire chapters of content?
- What technical format is the original in? A Word document is much easier to modify than a PDF document.
- What type of license is the content released under? Does it have a Creative Commons license that allows for modification or adaptation of the content?
- How comfortable are you with using technology and creating content?
- Students prefer format flexibility with their textbooks. You may need to find additional conversion tools to convert your final textbook to a different format.
- If you wish to edit or create graphics, images, charts, and/or multimedia content, you will need to use additional, specialized tools to create these.
- Keep it simple. Think of the textbook as a living resource that you can improve incrementally over time.
Additional Resources for Adapting and Creating:
Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know
Open Textbook Authoring and Editing
Writing an Online, Open Textbook: Is It Worth It?
BC Open Textbooks Pressbook Guide
Collaboration
Looking to collaborate at your institution or with other who share a common interest or goal? OER Commons has several options Hubs and Groups. A Hub is a custom resource center on OER Commons where groups can create and share collections associated with a project or organization. Projects, institutions, states and initiatives make use of Hubs to bring groups of educators together to create, organize, and share collections that meet their common goals. Groups are created by members and are more subject based.
As the OER community grows more opportunities to collaborate are becoming available.
Attribution:
Adapted from Why remix an Open Educational Resource? , by Liam Green-Hughes, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License
Adapted from6 Steps to modifying an Open Textbook , BC Campus, OpenEd Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License