^{"Using Language OER" by OPENLang Network is licensed under CC BY 4.0}

As you have studied in the previous modules there are various OER repositories as well as specific tools and platforms that can help you discover an appropriate language OER for your classroom. Once you have finally found the language OER that you were searching for you can start using it as it is, or you can modify it.

In order to do so, ensure you have stated all the needs and the goals predetermined (Shank, 2014). Some tips on how you can use OER in your language classroom include: 

• Find the most appropriate OER for your lessons.
• Integrate an OER into the whole learning setting. 
• Use an OER in a collaborative way. 
• Allow room for collaborative activities within the curriculum. 
• Create novel forms of learning within the OERs and provide learning experiences that stimulate personal development and success. 
• Consider giving a study guide to your students on how to integrate the specific OER into the classroom. 
• Use a learner-centered approach.
• The OER material that you use should be aligned to students’ needs, and respond to the challenges they face and/or will face.

You can also check the TIPS Framework version 2.0. (Kawachi, 2014), which includes the following criteria for teachers on how to use OER:

• Consider providing an instruction guide for your OER
• Use a learner-centred approach
• Use the latest effectively-proven pedagogy approaches
• Clearly state the needs and goals your language OER aims to attend
• Align it according to the culture of your specific audience
• Support learner autonomy, independence, and self-reliance
• Don't use difficult or complex language
• Include learning activities which recycle new information
• Say why any task-work is needed
• Monitor the completion rate, student satisfaction
• Include a variety of self-assessments
• Receive feedback and suggestions from students and colleagues
• Try to offer learning support

Learning Activity 1

Reflect on Kawachi’s (2014) proposal for teachers on how to use OERs and think if you agree and if there are more criteria that you could add in the proposed criteria list.

Additional Resources

Watch the following video in which Dr. Bruce Wilson discusses the benefits of implementing Open Education Resources (OER) in the online classroom. Through collaboration with CDL instructional designers, Dr. Wilson has been able to utilize OER to deliver a more accessible, affordable, and seamless learning experience to his students.

Click here to download the video transcript (PDF) (29.2 KB)

Watch also the professional webinar “OER 101: Finding and Using Free Resources in your Classroom” organised by the CALL Interest Section - TESOL, in which Christine Sabieh, Nellie Deutsch, Charity Davenport, and Sharon Tjaden-Glass discuss how to discover and use language OER.

References

Kawachi, P. (2014). Quality assurance guidelines for Open Educational Resources: TIPS Framework, Version-2.0. Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia New Delhi. Retrieved from http://oasis.col.org/bitstream/handle/11599/562/TIPSFramework_Version%202%5b1%5d%20Copy.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Shank, J. D. (2014). Interactive open educational resources: A guide to finding, choosing, and using what's out there to transform college teaching. Retrieved from: https://open.bccampus.ca/files/2014/07/Faculty-Guide-29-mar-15.pdf