The Center for Open and Sustainable Learning published The Open Educational Resources Handbook today on Lulu.com--the first in a three-part series.  It is available for free download, or you can purchase a black and white copy for $19.99 (color is a tad more...)  "The OER Handbook is an introductory guide for educators to the Open Education movement. The handbook is arranged along the "OER Lifecycle:" Find, Compose, Adapt, Use and Share."

The handbook opens with a discussion on the definition of what OER is and why OER is important to educators, then quickly moves to an overview of copyright--the copyright paradox--and how educators can use copyright as an advantage when sharing their work...
Why find, compose, adapt, use, and share?

"OER provide freedom of access for yourself and others. Because you can freely adapt them, OER encourage pedagogical  innovation. Because OER are available free of charge, using them can lower costs to students and organizations. You and your organization may benefit from potential publicity.
When you share OER, you are contributing to the global education community.
When you share OER, you open a new method of collaborating with your students and colleagues. Your OER may be helpful to future educators..."  and so on...

The handbook establishes the beginning of the "OER lifecycle" FIND and provides educators with place to start, explaining how to marry their own work with what may already be available on the internet--including information on how to conduct creative commons searches...The handbook lists repositories, and it even explains how individuals should save files so that they are easier to share and remix...

The handbook continues through compose, adapt, use and share...
I like the idea of using OER to create innovative learning experiences for students, and I think that this handbook clearly outlines the processes involved with creating or using OER.  Definitely worth it to download and read...


 


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