Inspire Blog Tag: OER

Creating Open Textbooks for Language Learners: A Guide for Getting Started

Subject matter experts in many fields have embarked on authoring projects with the goal of replacing traditional published texts or customizing content for specific learners’ needs, yet large-scale creation of open textbooks or series designed for language learners has been slower to gain traction (Blyth and Thoms, 2021). Efforts in this area have largely been limited to adapting existing OER materials (5R activities) for specific learning contexts or piecemeal creation of online activities to provide reinforcement of isolated language skills. Part 1 in this series outlines the potential benefits, limitations, and challenges that programs and instructors face when undertaking large-scale authoring projects to address the needs of language learners. The purpose of this second post is to offer guidance for … Creating Open Textbooks for Language Learners: A Guide for Getting Started
by · January 18, 2022

OSU Open Textbook Network Workshop (Key Takeaways)

Recently, I attended an open textbook network workshop, hosted by Oregon State University and sponsored by Open Oregon Educational Resources and OSU’s Affordable Learning Initiative. If you are an instructor or a faculty administrator who cares about the impact of textbook costs on our students and want to learn what you can do about it, I would highly recommend to continue reading. Key Takeaways The Concept of Open Textbooks: Open textbooks are textbooks that are free and can be used either in whole or in part at no cost. They are often written by experts, scholars, and professors in their respective fields and are edited and published in the same matter as commercial textbooks. Open textbooks are licensed with an … OSU Open Textbook Network Workshop (Key Takeaways)
by · May 25, 2018

On the Hunt for OER (Open Educational Resources)

Who doesn’t like free stuff? But in the field of education finding free materials that fulfill your needs often proves difficult. In this blog post, I have annotated a short list of websites that provide free resources that can be used by anyone (instructional designer, teacher or student) and for any purpose from a personal or professional website to a multimedia presentation to an online course or assignment. Pixabay What is great about Pixabay is that not only can you use these images, but you can modify them to suit your needs and even use them for commercial purposes without having to pay any fees. Nearly all are free of copyrights, which means attribution is NOT required…so no need to worry about citing sources … On the Hunt for OER (Open Educational Resources)
by · December 23, 2016