“Chapter 5. Adapt, Create, and Share OERs with your Students” in “OER 101: Go Open, Go Free!”
Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Adapt, Create, and Share OERs with your Students
Chapter 4 in Review
In Chapter 4 you conducted searches to identify potential OERs and used our rubric to evaluate your findings in terms of quality, usability, and accessibility.
Chapter Objectives |
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Adapting, Creating, and Sharing
In the previous modules you’ve learned a great deal about open educational resources and how they can be used as effective teaching and learning materials in your courses. You have had a chance to search, find, and evaluate them. Often times a textbook can be adopted as is. In other instances a book might be "almost perfect" or there may be two books, a few articles, and a number of exercises that would comprise a perfect course. Sometimes an instructor is trying something for which there is no precedent. For example, a textbook using a new pedagogy. In this module, you will gain experience in applying what you’ve learned to successfully adapt or create an OER. And, in keeping with those who shared their materials with the public, we will address how you can share your work with the public.
Adapting your OER
The term "adaptation" is commonly used to describe the process of making changes to an existing work. We also can replace “adapt” with revise, modify, alter, customize, mashup, or any synonym that describes the act of making a change.
Adapting a single work is a good place to start our discussion. If the license permits, you may choose to change examples or questions by using a local or Hawaiian context. You can rearrange the chapters, shorten a chapter, take out a chapter, or add chapters.
When an existing OER does not have all the content you need or there is no single OER that will work for most of your course, you can pick and choose from several OER to build the perfect resource for your class.
Below are further reasons why 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.
- Make a concept easier to understand by inserting culturally specific references.
- Help students see themselves in your content by making it more equitable, diverse, and inclusive.
- Correct errors or inaccuracies.
- Keep the content 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 an OER (e.g., Word to Google Doc, text content to video).
- Translate an OER to another language.
Things to Consider Before Adapting an OER
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 textbook in? A Word document is much easier to modify than a PDF document.
- What type of license is the content released under? Is it in the public domain or 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?
- Remember that students prefer format flexibility with their textbook. You may need to find additional conversion tools to convert your final textbook to a different format, for example from website to ePUB or print PDF.
- If you wish to edit or create graphics, images, charts, and/or multimedia content, you will need to use additional specialized tools or find a helpful colleague to create these.
- Keep it simple. Think of the textbook as a living resource that you can improve incrementally over time.
Six Steps to Adapting an Open Textbook
Step 1: Check the license
First, check the license to make sure you have the permission to adapt the contents. If the license type is ND (No Derivatives) then you can redistribute the material in any format. However, you cannot remix, transform, or build upon the material (you have to use it "as is"). If the Creative Commons license does not have a No Derivatives clause, you are able to change the contents of the resource. For more information about specific license types see the Creative Commons license page.
If you are combining several Creative Commons licensed works, it is good to do so in a way that respects the licensing wishes of the original creators. And remember, you can always contact the creator to ask for permission if the Creative Commons license is not open enough for your needs. The video below, Creating and Combining Licenses, will give you an overview of what is involved in combining openly licensed works.
Step 2: The format of the textbook
If you wish to adapt an open textbook, you need to be able to have the textbook in a format that you can work with. This usually means the original source files used to create the textbook.
Common source formats for open textbooks that you should look for are:
- HTML files (webpages)
- Word, OpenOffice, Google documents
- ePub
- LaTeX files (if the original book includes math or science formulas and equations).
What tools you will use to create your version of the textbook will depend greatly on what format you find the original textbook in and what you feel comfortable working with.
Sometimes an open textbook may only be available as a PDF document. However, PDF documents are not easily editable. If you want to adapt an open textbook that is only available in PDF format, you will need to convert the PDF document to a format that can be edited. However, before you consider converting a PDF version of the textbook, you should contact the original author to ask for a copy of the textbook source files. It can be surprising how happy academics can be with sharing their teaching materials. Converting a PDF document to an editable format is a difficult and imprecise but do-able process.
Step 3: Tools for editing an open textbook
Once you have a source format that you can edit, you can begin to adapt the textbook. What tools you will use to do this will depend greatly on what editable format you are working with, and your comfort level with working with that format. Review the Public Platforms for OER section below for ideas.
Step 4: Choosing a license
Once you have finished creating your own version of the textbook, you should decide which Creative Commons license you will use to license your book. This will depend a great deal on how the original textbook was licensed.
For example, if the original textbook was licensed with an SA (Share Alike) license, then you must release your book with the same license as the original source material to ensure it is fully compliant with the original CC terms of use. More information about licensing and marking your content can be found at the Creative Commons site and on this brief guide (pdf). If you need advice, check with your institution's OER advocates.
Step 5: Output
Students like flexibility when it comes to their textbooks. Some may prefer printed versions of the textbook, others will prefer using a website. Still others will like to use an e-reader or e-reading software. To make your book as accessible as possible, consider making your textbook available in multiple formats so students have the ability to choose the format that works for them. At the very least, it is important that there is a free online version of the textbook.
Step 6: How do my students get my textbook?
Once you have edited your version of the textbook, you will need a place to put your textbook where your students can access it. This could be as simple as a hyperlink in the course syllabus and/or in Laulima. Your campus UH bookstore or campus printshop may be able to take a PDF of your textbook and make print copies for your class. They will sell the books at a lower price to cover their costs.
For the ten institutions in the UH System, we can adopt, adapt, and create textbooks on special online e-textbook platforms called Pressbooks, UH OER Commons, and LibreTexts. Many instructors build their classes in Laulima, and there is always Google Docs and PDF. These options are discussed below in Public Platforms for OER.
The following video gives great copyright guidance on combining OER with different Creative Commons licenses. Remember, though, if the resource is in the public domain you can combine it with anything.
Videos |
Additional Resources and Guides:
- Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know
This open book focuses on the technological aspects of editing open textbooks found in the Open Textbook Library or elsewhere, and will help you assess the effort, expertise, and technical tools needed. In addition, this guide includes step-by-step instructions for importing and editing common open textbook file and platform types. Finally, this guide provides a basic overview of accessibility considerations and general guidance on where to find additional help. - BCOpen Textbook Adaptation Guide
The BCcampus Open Education Adaptation Guide is a practical guide about how to customize or adapt an open textbook so that it better fits your needs in the classroom and elsewhere. This guide defines the term "adaptation" and discusses reasons for revising a book, why this is possible with an open textbook, and the challenges involved. - Creating OER and Combining Licenses Part II
You may encounter more challenging questions about how to combine OER materials that are licensed differently. Part II of Creating OER and Combining Licenses follows the video you watched earlier in this module. In addition, this chart, Creative Commons License Compatibility, shows which Creative Commons licenses are compatible. - Culturally Responsive Teaching (pdf)
This resource presents eight core competencies in culturally responsive teaching and offers a set of reflection questions that support self-appraisal, goal setting, and critical conversations.
Creating OER
You may find that there are no OER from external sources for a specific need in your class. If that is the case, there are ways your own creations can address this need. For example:
- You may have assignments and notes that you have authored.
- You could take photographs or build a spreadsheet graph to illustrate concepts.
- You could enlist students to develop a video to help teach a concept.
- You can use popular applications to develop materials such as flash cards.
Instructors are free to create their own OER and have done so using everything from hand drawn illustrations to slideshows to short video presentations. If you aren’t sure how to start, reach out to your colleagues and instructional designers to help you learn any skills you may need. Here are just a few examples:
- A history professor created a history reader from articles that she wrote for Densho Encyclopedia (pdf).
- A chemistry professor and two librarians created a chemistry lab procedure guide and an instrument guide.
- A team of faculty and students put together nutrition videos.
You can upload your creations anywhere as long as the public can access them. This includes local OER sites such as UH OER DSpace or UH OER Commons. There are also international sites discussed in the next section entitled Redistributing = Sharing. Ask your OER college advocate for ideas.
On the other hand, you might be thinking at a course level. Perhaps you have a method of teaching a topic that you would like to share with others. For some instructors, creating larger OER projects such as an OER textbook is a good answer to the challenges of teaching a co-requisite class. The following addresses the larger projects of converting a course to OER or creating an OER textbook.
Everyone has a different style when planning and executing a plan. Below is a suggested planning checklist:
- Get to know OER: By completing this course, you are already doing this! Learning the basics of how to find information and understanding licenses is a must. If you are advising a colleague, suggest that they sign up for a UHCC or UH sponsored OER training, such as this OER course. They can also take a self-paced overview such as the one at Open Washington.
- Imagine your big picture: Try a brainstorm with a mind map. Write out your vision as a SMART, (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Specific) goal, which we reviewed in module 3. An example would be, "I will have created an OER textbook for my class XXX ### that I will use to teach next fall semester." It will help you start thinking about all the smaller SMART objectives you will need to plan out. Record the current cost of the commercial textbook and calculate the savings, using the number of students you teach each academic year. (Revisit module 3 on SMART goals and check the discussion forum.)
- Who do you need to help you or be on your team? With your SMART goal in hand, think about whether you would like to team up with anyone. Unless the OER you want to build is very focused or limited in scope, you will likely benefit from having extra help and input. Your colleagues may have diverse perspectives, complementary knowledge, and great skills that would round out a strong team and create a better learning experience. There also may be colleagues who would be good contributors for specific sections or supporters with specific tasks such as proofreading. You could think about peer reviewers. There are communities online where you can request additional members. The OER community occasionally asks for collaborators for specific projects. Students are a marvelous help as they bring unique skills and perspectives. Ask them what they would like in the class. Students can research topics, proofread your lessons, and catch errors in your quizzes. And if they have assignments, ask the students if they’d like to make the assignments OER so that the assignments will live on in your course for the benefit of future students. These partnerships with students are described in the practice of OER Pedagogy. The OER community also advocates the use of reusable assignments, which you may wish to explore further in this article by David Wiley and this article posted at the University of British Columbia website.
Draw up a letter of understanding to clarify for everyone what their role is. A copyright tip: Co-authors equally share in copyright ownership and the University of Hawaiʻi generally views faculty authors as the copyright owners of their textbooks. Make sure your team agrees on what Creative Commons license they wish to use when sharing the work. Your OER college advocate may be able to help you with questions about copyright and licensing, finding and evaluating open resources, and accessibility. Talk with your OER college advocate to get a sense of what kind of support they can provide, including connecting you with not only resources but people with information you may need. Keep in mind students own the copyright for their work unless they do it for a paying job, so check with your OER college advocate regarding permissions and Creative Commons licenses for their publishable works. In working with students, check with your campus advocate for an OER licensing form that you and your students can use.
- Deepen your sense of timeline. Guided by your SMART goal, develop a timeline for completion of the textbook. If you are working with a university-sponsored grant, ensure that the timeline for deliverables matches your timeline. Understand that OER support funding is paid with overload and not by stand-alone stipends. This brings in limitations on payments and timing constraints. If you are working in a team, make sure everyone can work with the timeline. Include time for gathering illustrations, editing, proofreading, citation work, and peer reviews. Here is an example timeline to help.
- See what you have and what you don't have. Work out the scope of your work. Write your learning outcomes, activities, and assessment plans. This will help you identify areas where you or your team may need to do more research, do more original work, or even adopt and modify from other sources. (Check back to module 3, the course design worksheets).
- How will you share? Talk with your OER college advocate about what platforms you might want for developing your work and sharing your work. In most cases we recommend you develop your drafts in Google docs, as it is the easiest to transfer to any of the platforms the University of Hawaiʻi offers. If you are working with mathematics or physics, you may prefer to work with LaTeK and share in different ways. LaTeK files can be uploaded into OER Commons and UH's OER DSpace repository. Different platforms provide varying features and have different learning curves. This might affect your timeline. See below for more information about platforms.
- How will you license your work? If the entire work is your creation or the components authored by others allow for this, you are free to choose your own Creative Commons license. You could use the Creative Commons License Beta Chooser and declare the license on your work.
Once you have a sense of the dimensions of your project, you can
- Map your path. Draft a preliminary outline of your textbook in Google Docs and modify it as you develop the textbook, adding, cutting, and editing sections. The beauty of an outline is that it helps you plan your sequence of concepts and thus plan how you scaffold your students’ learning. It is also modular, so you can move structured segments into a different sequence and see how it affects the teaching prior to and after that segment. You can develop your outline based on what topics you will address each week and the outline can become your table of contents.
- Develop your workflows and tools. Use your course plan and your source tracker (module 4). If you are using a lot of images, set up a system of tracking them on your source tracker and add information for your captions and alt-text. Here is an actual example (xls). Keep track of citations for references and quotes. If you use images, most publishers ask for a minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1200 pixels on one edge. If you teach mathematics, LaTeK might be your best drafting and production tool.
- Design the structure of your textbook. Develop your chapters and arrange them in your preferred order. Include chapter learning outcomes and content and assessments that will enable your students to achieve those outcomes. Good textbooks have consistent chapters with textbook elements such as learning outcomes, short introductions, quiz questions, and recap sections. They are presented in a consistent structured format that orients the student to a learning process that becomes familiar and supports retention. This lesson, Developing a Textbook Structure, from Open Education Network is a good summary of this principle. Look at a textbook that you like and see what repeating features are used across the chapters to keep students engaged in and practicing the material. A summary of useful pedagogical tools or textbook elements (doc) for textbooks was also developed by Open Education Network.
- Schedule dedicated writing time. If you have written a major report, thesis, or dissertation, you know what we are talking about. If not, no worries. Everyone who has written something has been in your shoes. There are many ways to support the dedicating of time to writing, including self-help books, cartoons, and writing groups. You MUST dedicate a regular time and write. There will be many unanticipated interruptions and high priority projects, so keeping to your schedule will ensure progress. As the old adage goes, “How do you eat an elephant? -- One bite at a time.”
- Celebrate your accomplishment. Write about this in your dossier or mention it in your annual evaluation. An average cost saving for each textbook for each student is $100.00. Not only are you saving your students critical funds, you are contributing to their student success and making your college proud with your contribution to the field of education! As Dr. Sheryl Shook states, “The author may be increasing a student's sense of belonging by making a resource that reflects at least some of their experiences.” Finally, ask your students how they feel about your new TXT0 class and include their appreciation in your reflection on your work.
Words of wisdom
UH OER Training - A three-part training guide for bringing higher education instructors up to speed with Open Educational Resources (OER). This book was developed to serve as a standalone guide for independent creators and to support OER training through face-to-face, online, and hybrid delivery modes.
Authoring Open Textbooks - An openly published book for faculty authors, librarians, project managers and others who are involved in the production of open textbooks in higher education and K-12. Content includes a checklist for getting started, publishing program case studies, textbook organization and elements, writing resources and an overview of useful tools.
Making Open Textbooks: A Video Guide - This video series presents a summary of The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far). Videos go over the roles, models, and guidelines that make up the process of creating and publishing open textbooks. From project conception and rounding up a team of collaborators, to creating, editing, and reviewing your content, all the way through to release, marketing, adoptions, and revisions, these videos summarize the many steps along the way.
Elements of Style - This is one of the fundamental advisories on good writing. Inexpensive, a quick read, and an essential reference. Most libraries have a copy.
Redistributing = Sharing
In terms of the 5 Rs, we're also covering redistributing, or how you will share the resources you adopted with your students. One of the most powerful and self-sustaining features of OER is the credo that creators share their OER to a public space. Our faculty depend on what others have published, and sharing our work brings recognition and honor to its creators and our academic institutions. In this section we'll be covering different places you can store and share your content.
Public Platforms for OER
There are several platforms to share works ranging from images to textbooks. This section deals with smaller items such as images, documents, videos, and sounds. The next section addresses textbooks. Popular options include:
- For images: Flickr, Wikimedia Commons/Images
- For documents: Google drive, Slideshare (slides)
- For videos: YouTube, Vimeo, Wikimedia Commons/Videos, Adobe Spark, Loom
- For sounds: Wikimedia Common/Sounds
To start using these platforms, you will need to create a user account and follow the instructions to upload your resource. Some sites such as Flickr and Wikimedia will allow you to set a Creative Commons license or public domain declaration for your resource. For other sites you can include a license in your resource so the license can be seen when the resource is used, as is done in this OER vs. IDAP vs. Cengage chart shared from a Google drive.
Public Platforms for OER Textbooks
The OER advocates and UH System have made possible a number of public platforms through which your OER may be shared. Thanks to OER Commons (see below), even your Laulima course may be shared. Your college's OER advocate may be able to help you think about your options.
- UH Pressbooks
- Pressbooks is a variation of the popular WordPress content management system, but it is different from Wordpress in that it has been set up with controls and features designed to make the publishing process easier. UH has our own self-hosted instance of Pressbooks called UH Pressbooks, so if you're interested in adapting an OER or creating one of your own, you may want to look into UH Pressbooks. Teams of authors can work on the same textbook in this system. UH Pressbooks is sponsored by UH System and managed by Outreach College at UH Mānoa. Examples include a textbook created in a multi-campus book sprint and a lab manual developed for Kapiʻolani CC and published in the textbook catalog. Here is a Math 75X final draft, not yet published. A published textbook is findable with internet searches. A draft textbook is available to those who have the link to the textbook. If you're interested, you can learn more about Pressbooks in the following resources:
- You can read about the service and request access.
- UH Pressbooks training slides
- A UH pre-publication chapter on using Pressbooks (check out the BC Campus videos at the bottom of the page)
- Pressbooks Userguide
- Getting Started with Pressbooks and Pressbooks Playlist videos
- BC Campus Guide on Adapting Open Textbooks
- OER Commons is a repository of openly licensed learning materials and UH System has developed a community within that system called UH OER Commons. Course files, textbook files, and links to resources on other platforms, such as UH Pressbooks, can be added to this repository to share with the world. There are tools to develop content in the Commons and tools that foster collaboration. The UH OER Commons site was established in February 2021 and there are regular updates in its development. Members of OER Commons can evaluate, rate, and endorse your resource. Here is an example of a Kapiolani CC textbook stored on UH Pressbooks and linked in UH OER Commons. It shows an endorsement by Open Illinois.
- OER Commons recordings of user trainings (scroll to the bottom of the OER Commons web page)
- This project started out as ChemWiki and expanded to many disciplines due to a major multi-million dollar federal grant. It harvests open educational resources from the web, has a drag and drop tool that allows authors to pull in sections of material from other open texts, makes available popular textbook templates (e.g. tables of contents), and features 3D and animated graphics. It does not have a "textbook appearance," such as what is featured in Pressbooks; it is more modular in appearance. These are examples of LibreTexts textbooks developed at Hawaiʻi CC, Maui CC, and Kapiʻolani CC.
- YouTube channel of LibreTexts lessons and meetings
- Construction guide to creating books on LibreTexts
- Math teachers demonstrate some of the abilities of LibreTexts, showing how books are structured and 3D modeling.
- Some OER may be generated in MSWord or other standalone applications, such as LaTeK. The UH OER DSpace Institutional Repository is a digital library featuring OER works from across the system. Here are a few examples from UH Mānoa, Leeward CC, Kapiʻolani CC, and Kauai CC. This repository offers download statistics that would be very helpful in dossiers. Speak with your OER college advocate for more information about adding your work to this platform, as this is done through the UH libraries.
- Other platforms include Google Drive, GitHub, & LaTeK
- There are many examples of institutions of higher education that have shared their works as MSWord and Google docs. Access to these versions can be made public on the web through UH OER Commons, UH OER DSpace, and UH Google Drive. Science, math, and computer science instructors may find using GitHub and LaTek as a great way to share their materials. Links to these assets can be provided through UH OER Commons and on OER websites at their college or university. Here is a Kapiʻolani CC example.
This is a respected referatory to which you can submit your open textbook for review and possible inclusion. A referatory does not hold the work, but it refers others to your work. As consortial members of the Open Education Network through to 2023, all ten UH institutions can apply to have original works distributed through this system. Speak with your OER college advocate for more information about adding your work to this platform.
Formats and Availability
The format of an OER may impact students' ability to access the content. You don’t want to choose formats that your students are not able to open easily. Format types are numerous and they play a crucial role in how you will share them with your students. A general best practice is to make resources available in multiple formats.
- If a resource is available in multiple formats, provide a link to where students choose a format that is best for them.
- If you are creating your own resource, consider making it available in multiple formats to allow students to choose the format that is best for them.
- Make sure students know how to access the course resources and that you inform them about their options (in-person, and/or via online communication). This will be covered in more depth later in the module, but below are some recommended practices:
- Provide links to OER textbooks in your course syllabus
- Provide links/files in Laulima
And, while there are no hard and fast rules, a good rule of thumb is to use very common, web-based, browser-ready formats. Currently that includes:
- .html / .htm
The number one example of web-appropriate content is a web page that has been created using hypertext markup language (HTML, HTML5, etc.) When possible, it is nice to provide your content in this format. The rest of the formats listed below also work nicely as included content on a web page.
- .jpg / .jpeg / .gif / .png
For image files, these four formats are excellent because any browser or image software program can display them and the file size is kept to a minimum compared to other formats.
- .mp4
Video files that end in .mp4 are generally viewable by anyone.
- .mp3
Audio formats that end in .mp3 can generally be played by anyone and provide a nice balance between file size and quality.
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) is unique in that it serves well as a print document but can also be viewed in most browsers with very little hassle.
- .epub
Book format that is pretty much readable by any e-reader program.
You may be wondering why Word or Google Docs are not listed in the table above? For Word, it is because it is a proprietary software. Meaning, if the student does not have MS Word, they will not be able to open the file. However, since many students do have Word, you may want to have a Word file as one option. As for Google Docs, this is similar to HTML. And since all of our students have a Google account and everyone with a browser can access your Google docs with your permission, it is also a good option.
If you find OER in a non-recommended format that you’d really like to use, you can always try converting it. A great place for that is Zamzar, a website which converts many different file formats freely and easily.
And don't forget about ADA compliance and accessibility. As you’re selecting content, it is important to ensure that it is either accessible or that you can make it accessible. For example, audio files are much more valued with scripts and video files that have descriptive transcripts (for example, closed captioning and explanations of the visual components of the video) can make a significant difference in your students' comprehension and retention. Images will need alternative text descriptions. If you need help, contact your college's instructional designers.
Making Your Resources Available to Students
Once you have selected or created the content you will be using for your class, the last consideration is how you will choose to provide your students with access to the course content. There are many ways to share OERs and other free resources with your students, and you will decide which way best fits you, your students, and the resources you have. In this section we'll cover several ways to provide your students access to your resources.
Email, Syllabus
One of the easiest ways to give your students access to OER content is to send the links to your course content in an email to your students. And while this is the fastest and likely the easiest method, a one time email sent to students can easily be missed. We highly recommend you choose a secondary method. For example, you can add the link to your OER content in your course syllabus. If your course syllabus is viewed online (e.g., Google Doc, PDF), students can click on it to access the resources. If your syllabus is distributed offline (e.g., you hand out paper copies, students print out the syllabus), you can provide the URLs which students can type into an internet browser to access the resources.
Laulima
Laulima is the official online collaboration and learning environment of the University of Hawai‘i system and all UH users have access to Laulima. A course site (shell) is automatically created for each CRN (course reference number) and is auto-populated with your students when they register. This means you can use Laulima for any and all of your classes...not only the completely online classes. Not very familiar with Laulima? Don't worry - we'll walk you through four Laulima tools that you can use to provide your students access to your OER course content: Overview (Course homepage), Resources, Web Content, and Lessons.
Overview (Homepage)
If you are teaching a face-to-face class and do not plan to change out the homepage message throughout the semester, you could opt to utilize this space to display your OER/free resource information. To do this:
- Go to the Overview page of your course site. The editable area is on the left hand side of the page.
- Click on the edit button in the top right corner of that area. This will open a textbox.
- Compose your content in the textbox. Do NOT use the URL box below the textbox.
- Click on the Update Content button at the bottom of the textbox to save and apply your changes.
Video demonstration for Homepage
More about using the CKEditor (Textbox)
- What is the Rich Text Editor?
- What actions can I perform using the Rich Text Editor icons?
- How do I create a link to a web site in a text box?
- How do I embed an image in a text box?
- How do I embed a linked web image in a text box?
- How do I add special characters to a text box?
- Learn more about the Rich Text Editor
Resources
Rather than use the course homepage, you can organize your OER/free resources in the Resources tool (often called the Resources folder). The Resources folder is very much like having a folder on your desktop. Within that folder you can house loose files/links, or create a folder structure within the main folder to house files and links. To create links in the Resources tool, follow the steps below:
- Go to the Resources tool in your course site. You will see one default "parent" folder for your course.
- Click on the blue Actions button to the right of the folder and choose to either Upload Files, Create Folders, or Add Web Links (URLs).
Web Content
Another option is to create a customized button in the left hand tool menu that will take students directly to a webpage. This might be a good option, if you will be using an OER textbook. You can use the Web Content tool to create a button that will take students directly to the textbook website where they can then choose their desired format and then retrieve their copy. You can also follow the steps below or view these step by step instructions to create and customize a Web Content button.
- Go to the Site Info tool in your course site. This will open a page that shows the site information and a list of site participants.
- From the buttons along the top of the page, click on Manage Tools.
- Scroll down the list of tools in the General Column along the left side, check the box for Web Content, then click on Continue at the bottom of the page.
- Enter a Title for the tool (what will be displayed in the tool list), then copy/paste in the URL to the resource, and click Continue.
- Click finish to confirm.
- Your new customized button will now be added to the bottom of the tool list. To customize location of the button, use the Tool Order feature in Site Info.
Lessons
The Lessons tool is made to deliver content to students. Which means, you can use the Lessons tool to push your OER content to your course resources. This can be especially effective if you have topic specific resources. For example, you could provide a link to (or possibly embed within) a specific chapter on each weekly lesson page.
- How do I add a website link to a Lessons page?
- How do I add a file from Resources to a Lessons page?
- How to Embed Content on a Lessons page
- Learn more about the Lessons tool
Additional Help at UH
Visit the UH OER Team page for campus contacts.
Attributions:
- Video: "Creating OER and Combining Licenses - Full" by TheOGRepository is licensed under CC BY SA 3.0.
- eBook: "Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know" by Open Education Network is licensed under CC BY 4.0, except where otherwise noted.
- eBook: "Adaptation Guide" by Lauri M. Aesoph is licensed under CC BY 4.0, except where otherwise noted.
- Some content modified from: "Using open educational resources" by Online Learning Consortium & Lumen Learning, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
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