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Open Educational Resources

Faculty guide to Open Educational Resources, Open Pedagogy, and Creative Commons.

Definitions

ICC Open Educational Resource (OER), Textbook, and Technology Definitions

These terms have been defined in order to create a shared language at ICC, thus allowing partners who aren't a part of the OER/Textbook Committee to understand the "why" and maybe even begin the "how" to allow our future communication or training processes to be well received. 


CARLI SCOERS Grant

  • Grant designed to support the creation and use of OER in high demand health care and human development courses. ICC successfully applied for the grant and developed OER materials for the CNA program.

Consumable Course Materials

  • Course materials considered consumable include, but are not limited to, calculators, lab supplies/fees, art supplies, uniforms, and resources pertaining to college-wide initiatives.

Course Material Selection Rubric

Courseware

  • A Web-based software program used for online delivery of individual course content and communications, organizational materials, and resources. Sometimes referred to as an LMS, although "courseware application" includes other forms. Courseware Application examples: D2L/Brightspace, Moodle, Canvas, Prosci, Google applications, Coursera, elearning.com, etc.

Creative Commons License

  • According to creativecommons.org, “Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the user’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question,  "What can I do with this work?” Creative Commons employs six types of OER licenses. (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/ See also the 5 Rs of Openness)

Digital/eTextbook

  • An electronic form of a traditional printed textbook.

Equitable Access

  • Companies unethically are using this term to refer to automatic textbook billing, implemented college wide.

First-Day Readiness

  • To optimize academic success, students should have access to the required materials starting with the first day of class.

Five Rs of Openness

  • The 5 Rs of Openness refer to broad ways to use OER material. The Creative Commons License (See also Creative Commons License) assigned to an OER may limit a user’s ability to modify or share OER content. opencontent.org describes the 5 Rs as follows:
    1. Retain – make, own, and control a copy of the resource (e.g., download and keep your own copy)
    2. Revise – edit, adapt, and modify your copy of the resource (e.g., translate into another language)
    3. Remix – combine your original or revised copy of the resource with other existing material to create something new (e.g., make a mashup)
    4. Reuse – use your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource publicly (e.g., on a website, in a presentation, in a class)
    5. Redistribute – share copies of your original, revised, or remixed copy of the resource with others (e.g., post a copy online or give one to a friend)

ICC Reading List

  • ICC Reading Lists (currently using the Leganto management system) serve as apossible repository for OER materials. (https://library.icc.edu/iccreadinglist) An available service through reading lists is digitization of course materials within copyright limits.

Inclusive Access

  • Inclusive Access, also known as automatic textbook billing, is a sales model for college textbooks. This publisher-pricing model embeds course material costs into tuition or fees. Digital content is delivered to students by the first day of class, often through a learning management system. Students have a period to “opt out” before they are billed through their tuition and fees. By automatically charging students for digital texts, Inclusive Access makes it harder for students to save on used books, print rentals, or borrowed copies. (inclusiveaccess.org)

    Ideally, this model ensures that students have digital access to course materials the first day of class. Typically, this is a non-OER model that uses traditional publisher materials.

Intellectual Property License

  • An intellectual property licensing agreement typically occurs between an IP rights owner (“licensor”) and someone who is authorized to use the rights (“licensee”) in exchange for monetary value in the form of a fee or a royalty, or both. (metispartners.com)

    The key distinguishing characteristic of OER is its intellectual property license and the freedoms the license grants to others to share and adapt it. If a lesson plan or activity is not clearly tagged or marked as being in the public domain or having an open license, it is not OER. (oercommons.org)

Learning Management Systems

  • A software application designed to support and manage the delivery of educational content and services to learners, faculty, and staff in higher education institutions. Learning Management Systems (LMS) examples: Canvas, Blackboard

Low-Cost Courses at ICC

  • Public terminology as designated by the Open Educational Resources (OER) at Illinois Central College - Low Cost: Course materials cost $40 or less.

    Consumable materials are not included in the cost calculation for low-cost and no-cost courses.

No-Cost Courses at ICC

  • Public terminology as designated by the Open Educational Resources (OER) at Illinois Central College - No Cost: Course materials cost $0

    Consumable materials are not included in the cost calculation for low-cost and no-cost courses.

Non-Consumable Course Materials

  • Non-Consumable Course Materials include, but are not limited to, textbooks, lab manuals, workbooks, websites, and videos.

Open Educational Resource (OER)

  • Can be broadly defined as “teaching, learning and research materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions” (Hewlett Foundation). Examples of OER can include: Textbooks, Lecture Slides, Podcasts, Online courses, Videos, & Quizzes

    OER materials are not simply free textbooks—they encompass materials beyond the traditional textbook and must carry legal permissions for use and adaptation to truly be considered open. These materials are becoming increasingly available and have gained popularity among instructors in recent years are the cost of textbooks has made education inaccessible for many and has impacted the grades of many more. (NIU CITL Task Force Website) The ICC Faculty Forum Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 26, Section G indicates ICC defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as follows: 
    • All course materials* (textbooks, lab manuals, workbooks, websites, videos, and the like) require no additional costs for ICC students. SEE ALSO Consumable & Non-consumable materials
    • All OER developed by ICC faculty will be shared with all ICC faculty as per Article 10 (Ownership of Materials).

Open Pedagogy

Open Education Practice (OEP)

  • The move to open education practice (OEP) is more than a shift in content, it is an immersive experience in collaborative teaching and learning. OEP leverages open education resources (OER) to expand the role of educators, allowing teachers to become curators, curriculum designers, and content creators. In sharing teaching tools and strategies, educators network their strengths and improve the quality of education for their students. (oercommons.org/about)

Pressbooks

  • Pressbooks is an open book creation platform that ICC employees may use to generate open content. See: https://pressbooks.com/

Textbook Rental

  • Textbooks are rented at a fraction of the selling price and returned at the end of the semester. Options for rental are typically available through the bookstore, but there are also rental companies online.

Universal Learning

  • Content procurement and provisioning model where content is packaged with enrollment in a class, and there is a set per student fee per course. With Universal Learning, course materials like e-textbooks are digitally distributed through learning management systems (LMS). Students enrolling in a course automatically gain access to the digital materials at no extra cost or a reduced cost on day one of class. For students, Universal Learning delivers a significant reduction in course material expenses: cost savings can range from 30 to 50 percent. This is different from Inclusive Access (i.e.-There is no opt-out feature).

    Universal Learning provides access to a wide range of content — enabling academic freedom for faculty. (bibliu.com)

Z-Course or Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC)

  • A Z-course is a section of a course where there is no required purchase of a textbook; in Z-courses, instructors provide textbook instructional materials electronically. (montgomerycollege.edu)

    ZTC course may include OER materials, as well as library materials or materials provided for free within copyright by the instructor, or simply be a course that does not have a textbook assigned. (CUNY study)

    Consumable materials are not included in the cost calculation for low-cost and no-cost courses.

Z-Degree

  • A Z-degree is a degree that can be completed without required textbook purchases. The charge is to look at certificates as well as traditional degree programs.

    Consumable materials are not included in the cost calculation for low-cost and no-cost courses.