4.5 How can I share my resources with others?

So far this course has considered how to create an open resource and which open licence would be most appropriate. But although open resources are not necessarily available online or in digital format, it is important to think about how to share the resource appropriately to facilitate reuse.

If your resource is for a particular subject, you might want to share it back on an appropriate subject-orientated repository. Or if you take a photo or other resource from a website, let the author know how you reused it by commenting on it and providing a URL. If you remixed a resource using existing content, you might want to share it back to the same site as you found the original resource upon which it is based.

Section 3.2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]   looked at different places to find OER. Many of these repositories and sites are also places to share your open materials, or enable you to openly license your content as part of the upload process (e.g. YouTube and Flickr). For example:

Described image
Figure 4.7 ‘Open access buttons’ (h_pampel, CC-BY SA 2.0 Generic)

Many repositories such as OpenStax CNX (formerly Connexions) and OpenLearn Works have been developed so that they showcase not only the original resource but also additional assets or modified versions of original course materials that have been created by others. This enables you to see how a resource has developed, as well as potentially saving time by being able to reuse a version that may be more appropriate for your own setting than the original. Concise information so that people can review your resource quickly and a less restrictive licence that enables creative reuse help to facilitate this process.

In some instances, sharing materials has resulted in communities being developed around a resource, with people contributing add-on materials to a core resource. One good example of this is the open textbook Introductory Statistics, which one of its co-authors, Barbara Illowsky, described as becoming a ‘community’ resource, as so many people using it have contributed suggestions, additional examples and test banks, etc., to it. You can read more about the textbook and the backstory to its creation in this interview.

Other open textbooks have been collaboratively created, for example by using the ‘sprint’ method, where colleagues in the Canadian province of British Columbia created a Geography textbook during a period of four days as part of their Open Textbook project. The educational technology organisation Siyavula in South Africa adopted a similar approach when creating materials.

Activity 4D

Do you have particular websites or repositories where you share materials openly with others (e.g. Flickr or Slideshare)? Do you have any recommendations for places or ways to share? To help us crowdsource ideas, share your suggestions on the OEPS course community forum.

Now take a moment to review your table from Activity 4C and, if you haven’t already done so or want to add further suggestions, note down some ideas about how you would share your resource.

Now try the Section 4 quiz to consolidate your knowledge and understanding from this section. Completing the quizzes is part of gaining the statement of participation and/or the digital badge, as explained in the Course and badge information.

4.4 What licence should I choose?

4.6 If you want to know more ...