An OER is:

• Free to retain – you can make, own and control copies of the content. E.g. download, duplicate, store and manage.
• Free to reuse – you can use the content in a wide range of ways. E.g. in a class, on a website.
• Free to revise – you can adapt, modify or alter the content itself.
• Free to remix – you can combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new

• Free to redistribute – you can share copies of the original content, your revisions or your remixes with others.

OERs include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.”[2]

• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
• Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material

for any purpose, even commercial.

Speaking of colleagues, I would like to ask a couple of colleagues who have prior experience with any of this process if it’s alright for me to ask for their advice and recommendations when I have questions along the way.

I’m dividing my list of priorities into two categories: “must have” by the next time I teach this course and “nice to have” (but may have to wait until I can work on the course again). I will create a 3-month project implementation plan to complete my “must-have” items and will work on any remaining “nice to haves” in the time remaining or at a future date if I run out of time now.

“MUST HAVE”

1. Move to a blended format:
   1. Learn how to use the LMS at my college so that I can post course content, videos and OERS (including the textbook) for my students to access whenever they need to. I have not used an LMS before, so what I am able to do this time around will heavily depend on how much training I need and how much time I have for that training.
   2. Learn what types of support my students will need in a blended course using the LMS and an open textbook, and what resources are available to support them.
2. Textbook:
   1. Find an Open Textbook to replace the course-pack.
   2. Learn how to adopt and use an Open Textbook.

“NICE TO HAVE”

1. Video Demonstrations:
   Find video-based versions of the practical demonstrations my students get in-class. (Ideally, I would like to create some of my own, but I know this is out of scope in my 3-month window).
2. Quizzes:
   I really want to move my in-class quizzes online but I understand that building quiz questions in an LMS might be out of scope for me this time. I plan to at least learn how to do create quizzes in the LMS now but may not be finished this revision in 3 months. (I may have to administer quizzes through paper hand-outs in class for one more term.)
3. Copyright-clear images:
   I would like to be sure that I can upload Trades-related images and photos I find to my course LMS site, which really requires me to look for open-licensed images to replace all of the copyrighted images I currently use in my course materials. I suspect I will not have enough time to find open-licensed alternatives to all of the copyrighted images I already have, so this will be a longer-term undertaking. I will not upload any images to my new LMS course site unless I am sure they are openly-licensed.

Where do I find help at my institution for learning how to use the LMS?

(Does this support include help around incorporating selected OERs into my LMS course site?)

• I have learned that at [my college], the Teaching & Learning Centre provides support for instructors who are teaching online and using the college’s LMS.
• I have also learned that the LMS [my college] uses is D2L.

1. “What does it mean to ‘license something as open’? How do I know what I can do with an open education resource?”
   
   This page provides a quick summary of the 6 levels open licenses, as defined by the Creative Commons organization. This page will be a handy resource to have open when I am searching for OERs and wanted to confirm that a resource was open, or to look up the permissions attached to a particular license: https://open.bccampus.ca/open-textbook-101/demystifying-open-licenses/
   
2. “Are there criteria – in addition to quality of content – I should include in my review of OERs I find?”
   
   There are a number of criteria to consider when choosing any type of educational resource. This resource, presented in a checklist format, gives clear guidelines for assessing OERs in particular:
   https://open.bccampus.ca/files/2014/07/Faculty-Guide-22-Apr-15.pdf
    
   I have been looking into what colleagues consider to be the essential criteria of OERs and “accessibility” is one of the key criteria everyone lists. The BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit connects web-content accessibility standards to the requirements placed on contributors to the textbook collection. (This is very much a “how-to” type of Toolkit, so I can also refer to it when I create content for my LMS-course site and want to ensure my content is also accessible.): https://opentextbc.ca/accessibilitytoolkit/
   
3. “What are the steps I should follow when I’m ready to adopt an OER for my course?”
   
   The BC Open Textbook Adoption Guide provides greater detail than the first 2 resources, which makes it especially useful to have open when you’re ready to begin:
   https://opentextbc.ca/adoptopentextbook/

Where can I find open images that I can be sure I am allowed to post online for my students?

1. For me, the best place to start my search for an alternative textbook is in the BC Open Textbook collection:
   https://open.bccampus.ca/find-open-textbooks/
2. I am also finding the “Using an Open Textbook for Your Course” section in the BC Open Textbook Adoption Guide helpful when it comes to finding answers to my questions about distributing the textbook to my students: https://opentextbc.ca/adoptopentextbook/chapter/using-an-open-textbook-for-your-course/

I would definitely recommend that any colleagues who are searching for open-license images use this web service calledCreative Commons Search:

1. While I still needed to confirm that the images I found actually had a CC license, this service will really help me to focus my search for open-licensed images and photos to replace the ones I have been using in my PowerPoint lectures with:
   https://search.creativecommons.org/

• Make sure the course description in the college calendar tells students that the course requires they have computer & internet access. I want them to know this before they register so that they can be prepared for the technical requirements and also for the expectation that they will be completing course work outside of our face-to-face class time.
• Familiarize my students with the LMS course site by going through it with them during our first face-to-face class. My colleagues who have more experience using the LMS to teach their Trades courses have told me that this task is critical and the investment of time at the outset will help avoid stress and wasted time later. Based on their strong recommendations, I am planning to dedicate a full, in-class day to getting my students up-to-speed with the LMS.
• Create a section on the homepage of my course site with helpful resource links such as online tutorials about using our LMS and some of the college services my students should know about, including where they go for technical or academic support.

I have investigated at our college where students can get technical assistance when they are on campus, and I’ve also looked into what technical support they can get when they working in the LMS off-campus. At my college, most students on campus use the Helpdesk run by our IT Services. However, for specific assistance with the LMS, the Helpdesk often redirects students to the Teaching & Learning Centre – since they are the unit that supports the LMS.

Based on the recommendations I’ve collected from my colleagues and also from the instructional designer I’m working with, I am planning to:

• Include in the “helpful resource links” section of my LMS course site the phone number, email address and hours of operation for the college’s Teaching & Learning Centre support and also for our Helpdesk support.

I have learned that at my college, students who have a disability can connect with our “Disability Resource Centre” if they need some form of assistance or accommodation in support of their needs.

I have also learned that some students who have a learning disability are reluctant to tell their instructor due to fears of being stigmatized. I’m concerned that there might be students in my course who, due to some form of learning disability, experience challenges with the LMS or the Open Textbook and don’t tell me about this.

Based on what I have learned so far, I am planning to:

• Connect with the Disability Resource Centre at my college for their advice about what information I can and should provide to my students about what help is available and how they should seek help if they need it.
• Include in the “helpful resource links” section of my LMS course site the phone number, email address and hours of operation for the college’s Disability Resource Centre.

1. Organize her course site to support her intentions and usability for her students;
2. Organize all of her course files to support her own work with the site and make her ongoing maintenance of the site efficient and manageable;
3. Upload OER files (textbook chapters, images), as well as own PowerPoint and Word documents;
4. Create new content pages;
5. Create and deliver quizzes.

1. Found: 4 sections in the “Line C: Tools & Equipment” series;
2. Identified “Line C: Tools and Equipment Competency C-4: Describe Ladders and Work Platforms” as first textbook to use.

[Note: The ancillary resources available with the open textbook Moira adopted included demonstration videos AND a question bank to use for online “self tests”. Moira is free to use all or some of the resources as she likes, and can create new videos and new questions to add to the question bank as her time permits.]

1. Time commitment: a heads-up to students about how much time they should plan to spend on the online component that week;
2. Learning Objectives;
3. Readings (including from the Open Textbook);
4. Content (including notes from PowerPoints, images, demonstration videos,
5. Activities (including self-assessment activities to test readiness to move onto having hands-on time in the shop)

1. MS Word
2. The help of an instructional designer
   [Specific to Moira’s college; locate the teaching & learning services at your institution for suggestions]
3. Suggestions from her informal “buddy” system of 2 colleagues with prior experience.

Moira’s mock-up in Word of Module structure:

1. D2L (The LMS at Moira’s institution)

Moira’s mock-up in LMS of Module structure:

1. D2L (The LMS at Moira’s institution)
2. Selection from the BC Open Textbook Collection:
   Line C: Tools and Equipment Competency C-4: Describe Ladders and Work Platforms

Course description modified to include notifications to prospective students so that they would know:

1. The course required computer and internet access.
2. Students should expect to access all course materials online.
3. Students should expect to complete some of the required course activities online.

1. Time commitment
   In each Module, Moira included an estimate of how much time students would need to spend working through that week’s online materials and activities.
2. Learning Objectives
3. Readings
   Moira listed the Module’s required readings from the Open Textbook here. She linked the list item directly to the textbook file(s) she had uploaded to the LMS during Weeks 5-8.For some modules, Moira also had additional readings and web-based resources she wanted her students to read. She listed and linked to those readings here as well.
4. Content
   Moira used this section in her weekly Modules to add any of her own additional notes (e.g. some of the notes she used to share with her students in her PowerPoint lectures.She left spaces to insert demonstration videos into this section.
5. Activities
   Moira used this section to list any self-assessment quizzes associated with the Module. In the long-term, her plan is to convert all of her paper-based quizzes into automated quizzes in the LMS. At this point in the revisions, she was not sure if she would have time to convert ALL of them, but she still wanted her students to know that a quiz in some format is associated with the Module.

1. LMS site (D2L at Moira’s college)
2. Online Tutorials about using the LMS.
   [Specific to Moira’s college; locate the teaching & learning services at your institution for suggestions.]

Based on the recommendations and advice Moira had collected through consultations with an instructional designer, her “buddy system” and with her college’s Disability Resource Centre, Moira understands that if she follows some web accessibility guidelines, she can do a lot to make the content on her course LMS site accessible to all of her students, including students with a disability.

This section includes short descriptions and links to critical support services that were identified during the Planning stage,:

1. Technical support (with the LMS):
   Phone number, email address and hours of operation
2. Disability/Accessibility Services:
   Phone numbers, email addresses and hours of operation

1. “Course Homepage” of LMS site
2. Technical Support services & Disability Support services [Specific to Moira’s college; locate the teaching & learning services and the disability/accessibility support services at your institution for suggestions.]

During her LMS training, Moira realized that even if she did not have time to create online quizzes to replace the paper-based self-assessments she currently uses, she could at least take advantage of the Gradebook tool to keep track of her students’ progress and opportunities to move on to hands-on time in the shop.

Moira was very keen to replace her own paper-based method of tracking this information, and setting up the Gradebook was something she was going to do when she created online quizzes anyway.

1. LMS site (D2L at Moira’s college)
2. The help of an instructional designer
   [Specific to Moira’s college; locate the teaching & learning services at your institution for suggestions]

Moira selected several of the available demonstration videos (ancillary resources to the open textbook) and inserted them into the appropriate Modules.

1. more flexibility in when they can complete them,
2. immediate feedback on their responses, and
3. multiple attempts to do well,

helps her students to become better prepared for their hands-on time in the shop.

Moira will also administer quizzes through paper hand-outs in class and continue to create more of the LMS-based self-assessment quizzes whenever she has time.

• Creative Commons, “About the Licenses”
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
• Creative Commons Search
  https://search.creativecommons.org/
  

NOTE from the CC Search service:
“CC has no control over the results that are returned. Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license.

You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link…If you are in doubt you should contact the copyright holder directly, or try to contact the site where you found the content.”

1. Suggestions from her Informal “buddy” system of 2 colleagues with prior experience.
2. LMS site (D2L at Moira’s college)
3. Online Tutorials about using the LMS.
   [Specific to Moira’s college; locate the teaching & learning services at your institution for suggestions]