Gather your stuff

Getting your stuff

Pulling together resources can take a little time and thought. It's all about context. We recommend going through another challenge at P2PU on how to Teach Someone Something with Open Content. This challenge gets you thinking about the process of helping someone learn while using open materials from the start.

As you're gathering the resources that you would like to share, seperate all the pieces of these resources (text, images, audio, video) into two piles:

Stuff that you created
Stuff that others created

See task 4 for licensing the stuff that you created

See task 5 for assessing the stuff that others created.

And don't forget: when you're grabbing all these resources from the web (or books), don't forget to bring along the attribution and source information! Keep track of where everything came from. You'll need this information later on. Questions? Post 'em in the discussion.

* Tool tips

Ensure that all materials are in their native file formats, e.g. MS PowerPoint (.ppt), MS Word (.doc), OpenOffice.org Writer (.odt). This means you and others you’re working with can easily make any necessary edits (removing copyrighted content you don't have permission to share) and additions (attribution info) to the content.

When you're ready to publish your OER, you’ll also want to convert .pdf documents and uncommon file types into formats you and others can easily edit (remix).

Online collaborative working spaces like Google Docs and EtherPads are great for building documents or presentations as a group. These can then be exported in a variety of editable formats or even shared directly online with the public.

Task Discussion

Jade Feb. 21, 2013, 12:30 p.m.

I think anything that you believe would be a valuable resource to any community should be shared: whether it be something as small as how to bake cookies to something like lectures and a way to better understand a subject. If you have a talent/resource, share it. I think it would be great for students to share notes or ideas on specific projects.

I think a problem with OER would be the attribution. Some people might think that with a resource like this where everything is out in the open and ready to use and remix, the need to attribute the original to the creator isn't first priority. Why attribute it when you have your information naked and for the world to use as it may? In a class, you have teachers reminding you constantly, cite your work, include source information! But with OER, it might be hard to regulate that.
Anonym Jan. 25, 2013, 9:57 p.m.

As a college student, I believe it would be extremely valuable for both instructors and students to be able to share information with one another via OER. This being said, I would like to see instructor and student notes, projects, thesis papers etc… I would like to see OER used for educational purposes to improve student research. One of the main benefits of OER, in my opinion, is that it is able to expose students and instructors to a wider base of research and material.

A concern I have for OER is providing information that may be peer reviewed. When I go to a website or course to look for information, I want to make sure that the information I am receiving is up to date, as well as accredited. My concern for OER is its similarities to that of Wikipedia, where information may easily be manipulated to represent what each individual believes. This being said, I believe it would be extremely important to manage each source provided through OER in specific categories: peer reviewed, licensed, unlicensed, etc…
malicke Oct. 24, 2012, 11:21 a.m.

Thoughts for an image that can be used here: Show two piles of stuff; and highlight different editable file formats and attributions. Can someone create this image for us?
malicke Oct. 4, 2012, 11:24 a.m.

basic learning goals:

- deciding what to share

- getting it, either by creating it, or by finding something that exists.

- then knowing that the stuff should be sorted into two piles, licensed and not licensed for reuse.

- where to find open stuff

advanced/tips:

- editable file formats, paying attention to attribution/sources...
malicke Oct. 3, 2012, 11:18 a.m.

couple questions to think about...

What do you want to share, and why? where did it come from? is it impotant to know where it came from? What is your goal for sharing it? How will you share it? Did you create it, or find it somewhere online?
Emily Puckett Rodgers Nov. 16, 2012, 1:46 p.m.
In Reply To: malicke Oct. 3, 2012, 11:18 a.m.

I like these questions. Let's put them in "Learn the Basics" or encourage the School of Open to adopt these as new challenge.