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Actually, the UNESCO Recommendation Makes Most OER Impossible

Iterating Toward Openness

In this first bite-sized installment I’m going to address the major flaw in the OER definition provided as part of the recent UNESCO OER Recommendation. For a license to be “open,” it must grant the following permissions: “no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation, and redistribution by others.”

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Some Very Bad News about the UNESCO OER Recommendation

Iterating Toward Openness

I recently wrote a brief essay about the wonderful new UNESCO OER Recommendation. For those of you who don’t want to read the full analysis below, here’s the key takeaway: Imagine what would happen if making copies of OER was illegal. Under the definition of OER now adopted unanimously by UNESCO member states, it can be.

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Using open educational resources to empower differentiated instruction

Hapara

Open educational resources, also known as OER, provide a great way to supplement curriculum to differentiate instruction and better meet each learner’s needs in your classroom. This use case is the perfect example of when OER can come to the rescue. So what does that mean? What is differentiation? Addressing reading levels.

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OER Had Its Breakthrough in 2017. Next Year, It Will Become an Essential Teaching Tool

Edsurge

Open educational resources (OER) have long been touted as “the next big thing” in higher education, but the drawn-out hype has led many educators and administrators to wonder if it would ever live up to its expectations. Those days are over: 2017 was OER’s breakthrough year. That happened in 2017. Ohio University is doing the same.

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On the Relationship Between OER Adoption Initiatives and Libraries

Iterating Toward Openness

When we exercise that right and explain an idea in our own words (and perhaps other media), we then hold the copyright to our explanations of those ideas. Whenever it is impossible to replace commercial materials with OER for these reasons, we find ourselves in a situation where commercial materials must be used in the course.

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How to use digital textbooks in the K-12 classroom

Hapara

They come from sources such as the Michigan Open Book Project, Core Knowledge, CK-12, OpenStax and OER Commons. It offers a range of writing exercises specifically written for high school. para Student Dashboard Digital Backpack gives learners one-click access to digital textbooks and other learning resources.

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Thoughts on Cengage’s MindTap ACE

Iterating Toward Openness

Cengage recently announced a new offering called MindTap ACE that includes OER and is now available in pilot. I haven’t had access to review the offering yet, but you can see some screenshots in the video linked above. The video clearly shows Cengage content listed for each topic, followed by some OER.

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