Contributed by Abbey Elder

Introduction

When an instructor assesses an open educational resource (OER), they often look for a 1-to-1 version of their current course materials. If they do consider adapting a resource, the instructor might think they need extensive time or funding to make an OER “their own.” This all-or-nothing mentality can lead them to avoid OER altogether as they may think that the investment in adapting materials is too great to take on (Jhangiani, Pitt, Hendricks, Key, & Lalonde, 2016). However, there is a better way to work with good-but-not-great OER: with an eye for practical adaptation. This blog post explores the practical adaptation mindset and how it can be cultivated in both your own instructional work and in outreach to others.

Background

When talking about adaptation for OER, there are four considerations we often see discussed:

1. licensing,
2. format adaptability (Open Textbook Network, 2016),
3. technical adaptability (Wiley, 2014), and
4. personal capacity for the work.

Fig. 1 “Can I do that?” by Abbey Elder

These four factors are brought up for a reason: they are major concerns that arise when working with OER. “Can I legally change this?” and “How do I edit a PDF?” are common refrains in OER circles and they aren’t the sort of questions that should be outright ignored. However, while these are important considerations when an adaptation is underway, they are not where an instructor should start their adaptation. An adaptation project should always start with what an instructor needs for their course and how they can meet their needs practically with the tools and support at their disposal. This is where practical adaptation begins.

What is Practical Adaptation?

Think about it this way: an open resource is a draft someone else has prepared for you, a collaborative project written with a co-author you’ve never met. They have shared their work and they want you to tweak it as much or as little as you need to. This mindset is the basis of practical adaptation. Not all instructors share their OER in the hopes that someone else will edit it–CC BY ND licenses do exist for a reason–but thinking this way can help instructors think more practically about how small tweaks can make a good resource into something great. You don’t need your adaptation to be a true 2nd edition of an open textbook. You just need the adapted resource to work for your course. As Lalonde (2013) advises, “think of the [OER] as a living resource that you can improve incrementally over time.” This is true of adapted works and of ongoing projects.

I’ve said the phrase “practical adaptation” a few times now and you may already have an idea of what that looks like in action. Practical adaptation can be done in many ways, but this type of adaptation is best described as small changes to an existing open resource that have a great impact on its usability within a course. To make things a little clearer, I’ve provided a few examples below:

●      Bolding vocabulary terms in a text to make them stand out for your students.

●      Swapping out images or names in examples to make a text more inclusive.

●      Adding videos to an open lab book to make the steps clearer for students.

●      Linking out to external resources that can be used by students as ancillary study materials.

These examples vary in their scope and difficulty, but this is the case for a reason. What is practical for you might not be practical for an instructor in a more precarious position. When considering adapting an OER for your course, starting small can make a resource that is almost perfect even better. This is true even when the changes you’re making seem inconsequential, like bolding vocabulary terms or cleaning up an image’s alt text.

Practical Adaptation in Action

Now that you have a basic idea of what practical adaptation is, let’s dive into the process. The steps outlined below are simple. They don’t ask you to follow a series of steps to adapt a resource, but to reflect on what is “practical” for you given your situation and the resources available to you. 

Reflect

First, reflect on your course and what it needs. Consider how the OER you’re interested in aligns with your course learning objectives and where it is lacking. This will provide you with a base for locating additional content or planning your own alterations.

Brainstorm

Based on your analysis of the resource you want to adapt, what changes do you think could improve it? Think big: if you had the time and resources to devote to this project full-time, what would you want it to be?

Step Back

Now that you’ve had a chance to think about this project as something more, scope your idea down to something manageable. There are a few paths you can take from here.

●      Separate your “wishlist” from your “to do list.” Think about the changes you would prioritize if you needed this resource to be ready for class in 3 months or less. Focus on those first, and then revisit your plan for the resource.

●      Supplement the resource with other open course materials. You don’t have to edit the original OER to make it better. Sometimes, adding ancillary materials you or others have created is enough. Remember: practical adaptation isn’t about having the most comprehensive resource, it’s about making the resources available work for your course.

●      Find a teammate or join an existing project. There are instructors all over the world who are trying to find affordable course materials for their students. You don’t need to make all of these edits alone. Look on forums or platforms like Rebus Community to find instructors who you can work with on your project.

Find Support

Fig.2 CC0 by @liwordson from nappy.co.

Even once you have had a chance to scope out your project, you may still feel that there is too much on your plate. At these moments, it is important to remember that you are not in this alone. Reach out to institutional, state, or national OER networks to find support for your project. Whether you need funding, professional development, or instructional design support, there are plenty of individuals out there excited to help you get started on your project.

Conclusion

Practical adaptation is nothing new. In fact, you might say that the workflow I’ve outlined here is simply adaptation done well. Still, it can help to be reminded that our work does not need to be exhausting to be valuable. Adapting OER is work. It does require reflection on licensing and format and all of the things I highlighted earlier in this post, but before you work through those topics or instruct others about them, start smaller. You can do this. You don’t have to do it all this semester and you don’t have to do it alone. Taking a practical approach to adaptation for OER can create a more caring and productive atmosphere around OER on your campus for instructors and support staff alike.

Further Reading

Aesoph, L.M. (2016). Adaptation guide. BCCampus. https://opentextbc.ca/adaptopentextbook/

Open Textbook Network. (2016). Modifying an open textbook: What you need to know. https://press.rebus.community/otnmodify/

References

 Jhangiani, R. S., Pitt, R., Hendricks, C., Key, J., & Lalonde, C.(2016). Exploring faculty use of open educational resources at British Columbia postsecondary institutions. BCCampus Research Report. BCCampus. https://open.bccampus.ca/files/2016/04/BCFacultyUseOfOER_final.pdf

Lalonde, C. (2013, August 21). Six steps to modifying an open textbook. Adapting and Adopting. https://open.bccampus.ca/2013/08/21/6-steps-to-adapting-an-open-textbook/

Open Textbook Network. (2016). Assess editability. In Modifying an open textbook: What you need to know. https://press.rebus.community/otnmodify/chapter/step-3-assess-editability/

Wiley, D. (2014). Defining the “open” in open content and open educational resources. Open Content. https://opencontent.org/definition/

Abbey K. Elder is the Open Access and Scholarly Communication Librarian at Iowa State University. In this position, she works to expand access to information by educating scholars about open access and open education. Abbey manages the open access publishing agreements at Iowa State, is a Pressbooks administrator for the Iowa State University Digital Press, and coordinates with faculty to help them find, adopt, and create OER for their courses. Her handbook for instructors, The OER Starter Kit, has been used in professional development programs around the United States.

This post is by Abbey K. Elder and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, except where otherwise indicated. Please reference OER and Beyond and use this URL when attributing this work; for more information on licensing, see our Open Access Policy.