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Authoring & Adoption: Project Management: Home

Overview

Project Management
Institutions supporting OER vary significantly in what resources and expertise can be committed to projects. As a result, the management of those projects is extremely idiosyncratic across institutions, and can also be idiosyncratic within institutions. That said, project management as a professional set of processes and principles, with its own lingo, is well-suited to OER projects with a certain level of resourcing and number of participants, and essential readings in how project management intersects with OER publishing are included below. However, some schools have 1) few resources and/or few participants, and/or 2) poor leadership and/or poorly articulated priorities, and following a formal project management methodology can overwhelm, smother, or otherwise detract from the work that needs to be done to design, build, and publish a book. In the spirit of projects with more ad hoc organization, also included below are lists of tasks, functions, and themes that need to be completed, presented without project management-specific terminology.

Project Management Topics

Some projects are more formal than others. Some may be led by a Project Management Professional (PMP), and others by a staff member. There are numerous ways to visualize and track project tasks, budget expenditures, and licensing information. Below are some essential readings which offer different ways of looking at organizing and managing an OER authoring project. 

  1. "Chapter 20: Project Management" by Apurva Ashok and Stefanie Buck 
  2. "OER Project Management Workflow" slides and video from Module 4: Adapting and Creating Open Educational Resources of the Open Education Training Guide by Stephanie Quail; Sarah Coysh; and Hilary Barlow
  3. "A Project Management Template for OER Projects" by Cinthya Ippoliti, Kathy Essmiller, and Matt Upson
    • originally in The Scholarly Communications Cookbook edited by Brianna Buljung and Emily Bongiovanni
    • structured with a recipe metaphor, this resource provides a more or less chronological narrative overview of advice and expectations for an OER project, but doesn't actually supply a template

Here is a view of some of the commonly listed OER project tasks plotted against functional areas. Group together tasks sharing functions to get an idea of who and what to bring together for meetings and assignments:

Project Task

Project Management

Content Development

Editorial Review

Instructional Design

Accessibility Assurance

Legal & Technical Implementation

Media Creation

Community Engagement

Create project timelines and task lists.

X

              

Facilitate communication between team members, track progress and resolve roadblocks.

X

              

Reconcile and manage the budget

X

              

Outline the structure of the OER.

  

X

  

X

        

Design the learning activities and assessments, and align the content with learning objectives and standards.

  

X

  

X

    

X

  

Identify, write, adapt, or curate content.

  

X

        

X

  

Review continually for equity and inclusiveness.

X

X

X

X

      

X

Ensure accessibility, usability, and compliance with accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG).

        

X

      

Format text for readability and consistency.

    

X

  

X

X

    

Copyedit and proofread content for grammar, style, and accuracy.

  

X

X

          

Design visuals, videos, animations or audio recordings to enhance comprehension.

            

X

  

Ensure media is accessible, properly licensed, and includes alt text and transcripts.

        

X

  

X

  

Test usability for screen readers and other assistive technologies.

        

X

X

    

Execute peer review of the final product for accuracy, depth, and pedagogical quality

    

X

          

Verify Creative Commons licenses and permissions.

          

X

    

Guide copyright and intellectual property compliance.

          

X

    

Choose a platform (LMS, website, repository) for hosting.

          

X

    

Apply metadata, submit to referatories, and upload materials to repositories.

          

X

    

Troubleshoot technical issues and ensure scalability.

          

X

    

Incorporate student contributions (perspectives, examples, assignments) and feedback on usability and clarity.

X

X

X

  

X

      

Develop promotional materials (flyers, social media posts, emails).

              

X

Present the OER at workshops, conferences, or webinars, and network with educators and stakeholders to boost adoption.

              

X

Establish workflows for ongoing revisions, and train others to maintain the OER after the project ends.

X

        

X

    

Identify funding or institutional support for long-term access.

X

            

X

Here is a view of some of the commonly listed OER project tasks plotted against thematic areas. Group together tasks sharing themes to get an idea of who and what to bring together for meetings and assignments:

Task Organize & Administer Design & Build Document & Record Criticize & Review Comply & Train Publish & Broadcast Market & Network Maintain & Sustain

 

New Research on Project Management