As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve grown fond of open educational practice (OEP) recently. It stems directly from listening to colleagues speak so passionately about it, combined with various research and professional development experiences which have engaged with OEP. I’m so much more comfortable with the concept than I would have been previously. While I have started to add Creative Commons licenses to resources I develop, I recently remixed, or adapted, an open educational resource (OER). It was experience I had to capture as it was such a positive experience and in a strange way, quite liberating!
The opportunity arose during an initiative I’m currently working on with a few colleagues, one focusing on open educational resources (OER). We were keen to develop a support, or guide, to help people make their resources more accessible. I initially started down my normal path, starting a mindmap, looking at what else was out there as guides in this space, sketching some mock ups etc. I had come across many supports via webinars, websites, my Twitter network and from speaking to colleagues and students. There were some great resources available - could I adapt or re-use one that was already out there, one with a Creative Commons license? Would I find one? Would it be of good enough quality? Could I embrace OEP?!
Below is my ten step guide for remixing a CC licenses OER
I hope it helps someone else!
A helpful template to use when adding your license with remixing - just edit the text in CAPS. coming from the National Forum's Choosing an Open License guide.
Bonus points if you link the license to the relevant page, and link the original resource name to where it exists online. Hyperlinking is not always possible depending on the media format (e.g. JPEG image), but important to consider.
"This work “INSERT TITLE OF YOUR REMIXED/ADAPTED OER” is an adaptation of INSERT TITLE OF ORIGINAL CC LICENSED OER by INSERT CREATORS/DEPARTMENT/ORGANISATION OF ORIGINAL OER, used under INSERT CC LICENSE OF ORIGINAL OER. “INSERT TITLE OF YOUR REMIXED/ADAPTED OER” is licensed under INSERT CC LICENSE OF YOUR OER by INSERT YOUR NAME/DEPARTMENT/ORGANISATION."
The experience in my case was one of growth, again doing something I hadn’t done before. The icing on the cake was when the original creators responded to my e mail with happiness about their OER being complemented, considered and adapted. As I mentioned to them, I was "standing on the shoulders of giants"!
UPDATE - Oct 2021: ⬇️⬇️⬇️
The open education practice continues to grow...continuing to share Tracy and Jen's excellent accessibility framework.
But, and this is probably the most important point....the creators of the original OER commenting below how
"this is what #OER is all about"
I have a background in science research, a field where work you are focused on developing or discovering a novel finding or understanding. It’s exciting when this happens, an amazing feeling when months or years of work on a certain project accumulate to become a novel finding, and something potentially publishable. As soon as this occurs (and it’s worth pointing out, there is never a guarantee it will), your goal becomes to try and publish as soon as possible so as not to get “scooped” by another lab. The concept of another lab many miles away working on the same protein, or even possibly the same exact region of the same protein, may sound impossible, but I’ve seen it happen on more than a few occasions. Hence, it is not abnormal for many to keep their cards close to their chest with regard to recent exciting results coming out the lab, speaking in more general terms about their work. Meanwhile, researcher presentations at International conferences regularly centre on research that has already been completed, with the paper already accepted at a journal, but perhaps the issue would not yet be released. Hence, with no fear of being ‘scooped’ at this point, you can be more open and the conference can provide an ideal avenue to present and potentially build collaborations. You need to earn the trust of another laboratory in order to collaborate, and once this occurs, you can reap the benefits of openly sharing ideas, exchange visits, different viewpoints, access to new equipment and so on. I’ve been fortunate to have been involved in several fruitful international collaborations that all yielded opportunities and outputs, so I have witnessed the benefit of openly sharing in situations like this. When it comes to publishing your work, the aim is often for a journal with as high an ‘impact factor’ as possible. Many of these journals can exist behind paywalls, requiring paid subscriptions, sometimes covered by your institution. I can clearly remember during my postgrad hearing about PLOS, the Public Library of Science initiative, a concept around making science open access to ensure research findings were free to all, available to everyone. It was big news, and gathered a lot of attention. In fact, 34,000 scientists from 180 countries signed the founders’ (Harold Varmus, Patrick Brown and Michael Eisen) open letter back in 2000 about PLOS. In 2003, ‘PLOS Biology’ went on to publish its first article – and it had 500,000 visitors….within a few hours of publishing! It has since grown from strength to strength and added new discipline specific journals and applies a CC-BY attribution license to everything it publishes. In fact, now, it even offers to share aspects of the peer-review process, with author and reviewer permission. In Teaching and Learning, I have become much more aware of openness on many levels. Sharing practice, resources and research openly is important for everyone’s success. There are so many people currently doubling up on efforts, and there is potential to ensure that knowledge is freely accessible and available to all. Even when you think of science research above, it would be great to have your work read by as wide an audience as possible, however the impact factor league table will always play a role here, especially as it may impact future funding opportunities. In T&L, there is a global movement towards ‘open’, but a change in mindsets and practice can take time. In fact many conferences at national and European levels can be focused primarily on open education, with guest speakers from other parts of the world ‘zoom’ing in to inform, guide and support this concept. Since its establishment in 2009, Ireland’s All Ireland Journal of Higher Education (AISHE-J) has always been an open access journal, ensuring that all research, reflections and developments in the space are free to all, immediately following publication. Across Ireland, the National Forum's has prioritised open education. You can read more about this on the National Forum's site linked here with guides, toolkits and webinars available. So from reading this piece, you may have gained an insight to the science world, one that is often guarded to protect discovery and potential intellectual property, and the changes that have occurred around open research publications such as that outlined with PLoS and its many associated journals. Personally, I feel that I’m currently navigating through a more broad transition to open, and as every week passes and I reflect on my meetings, my notes (I’m a notetaker!), conversations and webinars, I am noticing the word ‘open’ has been popping up more and more ovr time. I look forward to developing this open approach more in the coming weeks, be it around open education practice, open education research and open education resources. |
Ronan BreeEducation Developer,Science Lecturer, Archives
March 2023
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Any opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.
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