Developing Best Practices

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When remixing OER, the goal is to work within the framework of the 5Rs (retain, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute) as much as possible.

That means identifying features of your original sources you’d like to remix, as well as making conscious choices during the process of your remixing.

RETAIN: Make, own, and archive your OER content

Retention is not offered by all customization platforms where you make OER, but it is possible. For example making, owning, and archiving can be supported by Lumen Learning, the OER Commons (ISKME), Rebus, and other service organizations that use the Pressbooks, or a similar, platform.

REUSE: Use OER content that exists without changing it

When reusing OER you still have to consider how you will retain it for yourself and redistribute it to others and select your platform with those considerations.

REVISE: Adapt, adjust and modify existing OER content

You may need the expertise of others to convert the OER you are using into a format that can be modified. When selecting your editing platform, keep in mind that you want to retain and  may want to redistribute your customized version as well!

REMIX: Combine original or revised content to make something new

Combining content can be a technical challenge. Platforms such as Pressbooks offer robust support for combining content, then sharing it as a coherent whole in wide choice of export formats.

REDISTRIBUTE: Share your OER with others

There are 2 aspects to sharing: 1) placing your OER in an accessible location such as an OER repository, and 2) making it available in a variety of editable formats.

Keep these 10 best practice tips in mind as you customize and integrate OER into your teaching, learning, research, and practice:

  1. Before you jump into revising and remix your OER, plan out all the learning environments in which you will be using it: LMS, face to face, blended, open web, etc.
  2. Identify the formats you will need: print, e-book, LMS modules, web pages, lab manuals, etc.
  3. Consider the merits of LTI remote integration – especially if you are using the same content across a variety of learning environments.
  4. Ask Questions! SUNY OER Services, your instructional technology support system, instructional designers and technologists, OER vendors and services, experienced colleagues, communities of practice — all can all offer insights into best practices for your discipline and/or OER needs.
  5. Identify the technology tools you think support your needs and goals and try them out with a cohort that you engage in helping you evaluate their efficacy in meeting learning outcomes as well as activities.
  6. Make customization and integration an iterative process and don’t lock into one platform or distribution method. Stay open and flexible to developing OER and learning environment technologies.
  7. Leverage the collaborative technological aspects of customization and integration to promote a shift to open pedagogy.
  8. Keep “Redistribute” in mind as your OER course matures and consider the viability of sharing your work on a wider and wider scale.
  9. Keep students and colleagues engaged in customizing your content to keep it fresh and reap the benefits of peer-review and collaboration creativity.
  10. Don’t get stuck on keeping anything “stable” because the technology supporting OER is changing rapidly.

The common theme for remixing is “usability.” Different tools have different advantages and disadvantages, but the goal is for you to be able to create the product that serves your needs most efficiently. Sometimes that might mean relying on tools you’re comfortable with and know well; other times it might mean there’s an option for a new tool that can save you a lot of work.

Consulting with others who’ve done OER work, particularly those in your same field of discipline, can be a huge time-saver in the long run.

If you’re not sure who to ask, SUNY OER Services can help identify a peer network to draw from.

Write on this Course: Concerns, Inspirations, and Insights

Hypothesis logoWhat concerns, inspirations, and insights have occurred to you about customization and integration of OER that have not been mentioned in this course so far?

You can use Hypothesis to add your answers as public annotations to this page. Comments are welcome anywhere on the page. Please use the tag #SUNYOERChat in your posts.

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