Lending OER's and Learning Objects

Registrants will receive viewing information before the conference.

Open Educational Resources (OERs) can be defined as static and/or interactive learning objects – such as born-digital texts, documents, and visual/audio media. OERs can be accessed, adapted, and distributed for instructional use in a variety of educational settings. We, as technical services librarians, have become key contributors to OER/learning object development/ integration/distribution processes. First, we help locate existing OERs/learning objects, curating and repurposing as needed. Second, we assist in identifying optimal OER/learning object access and instructional inclusion practices. Third, we coordinate the evaluation of current OER/learning object use data to highlight important trends for strategic planning purposes. Finally, we work collaboratively with stakeholders (students, faculty, administration) to review OER/learning object specifications/access/use/IP rights information, including OER metadata. The goal of this session is to look at where OER collection management is today and where it is going -- both short and long-term. We will highlight existing OER/ learning object content curation and management best practices, with a focus on OER/learning object metadata acquisition, evaluation, and distribution workflows and strategies. We will explore how OER best practices and technologies, as well as emphasizing semantic web/library linked data solutions, can optimize OER/learning object utilization -- at the lesson, unit, and/or course delivery levels. We will also better understand the power of OER versioning and encourage additional OER/learning object modification — creating new versions of the original OER/learning objects that have the potential to be curated and widely distributed in their new, modified forms.