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Authoring & Adoption: Types of OER: Home

Overview of Types of OER

Types of OER

Though TEXTBOOKS are a central concern, they aren't the only OER in town. ANCILLARY MATERIALS, such as quizzes, slides, and lab manuals, are as important to many instructors as the text itself. It is important to align ancillaries - which often are assessment - with course objectives and standards. Oftentimes, content for ancillaries already exists somewhere in an instructor's content they have developed over the years. Alone or with the assistance of generative AI, these materials can be quickly structured into ancillaries to fill the void of a perfect textbook that has no ancillaries.

Types of OER Topics

Ancillaries are supplementary resources designed to support primary course materials, like textbooks, by providing additional ways to engage, reinforce, and assess learning. These resources are adaptable to fit specific course needs and enhance both teaching and learning experiences. In many cases, these are designed and packaged with commercial textbooks, but with OER this is less likely.

Ancillaries 

Strategic Importance for Faculty Adoption: Ancillaries play an essential role in faculty adoption of OER, as they often simplify the teaching process by providing ready-made or easily adapted resources. Being able to offer or point faculty to high-quality ancillaries can be a deciding factor in their choice to adopt OER, as these resources often ease transitions from traditional course materials by filling in instructional gaps.

Generative AI: Using generative AI for creating OER ancillaries can speed up content development and inspire new ideas, making it an efficient tool for producing quizzes, summaries, and other materials. However, AI-generated content requires careful review by subject matter experts and instructional designers to ensure accuracy, inclusivity, and pedagogical relevance, as it may sometimes lack depth, contain biases, or present accessibility issues. Thoughtful oversight and editing by instructors are essential to maximize the benefits while minimizing the drawbacks.

 

Courseware and learning modules are structured resources designed to provide a complete learning experience, often including lessons, assessments, and interactive elements. Modular components allow educators to adopt or adapt as much or as little as needed, promoting flexible, customizable teaching.

Courseware Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits
  • Educators can adapt and modify open courseware to fit their specific curriculum needs, enhancing relevance and alignment with course objectives.
  • Open courseware encourages knowledge sharing among institutions and educators, fostering a collaborative educational community.
  • Reduces the cost of developing new course materials, as instructors can adopt or adapt existing resources.
Drawbacks
  • Some open courseware may not fully meet accessibility standards, making it difficult for students with disabilities to engage with the content.
  • Accessing open courseware may require specific software or technical setups that could present a barrier for some learners.
  • Open courseware can face funding and resource constraints, which might affect updates, improvements, or the longevity of certain materials. 
  • Producing well-documented, modular courseware aligned to learning standards is resource intensive.

Examples

  • For a model of modular OER aligned to standards, see the OER Introduction to Special Education authored by Michelle Beach, Jodi Elliott, Donna Pettit, and LeAnne Syring. It was developed by a team at the Minnesota State System.

Open pedgogy can involve students participating in the creation or co-creation of any of the previously discussed types of OER, working with editable textbooks, creating all manner of ancillary materials, and completing renewable assignments that live on as open course learning modules. Beyond these, there are some tried and true open pedagogy assignments with resulting OERs worth listing.

OER Used in Open Pedagogy 

  • collaborative syllabi
  • lesson plans
  • blogs
  • podcasts
  • zine publishing
  • Wikipedia entries and other wiki content
  • social annotation (this one is a matter of debate, but if the annotation process results in a shareable, editable, licensable entity, for instance an online annotated bibliography, it fits the bill) 

Textbooks are the "textbook" OER. They are covered extensively online. Once topics less extensively covered online are covered on this site, we will cover Textbooks as a type of OER.