Basics of developing open educational resources and available tools.
Lesson components
- Fast Fact
- Skill/Objective
- Success Indicators
- Introduction
- Activity
- Review questions
- Resources
Fast fact
"
Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products, communications, and the built environment more usable by as many people as possible at little or no extra cost. Universal design benefits people of all ages and abilities." -
Center for Universal Design
Skills/objectives
Learners will be able to:
- Use tools and resources to develop OER.
- Identify the requirements for OER in order to comply with ADA Section 508 requirements.
Success indicators
- OER developed by the learner added to learner's own online collection or portfolio.
Background
As noted by
Todd Richmond at a DIY Media seminar at the Annenberg Center in 2006, the
commons-based peer production or do-it-yourself shared media production aspect of OER may well be a catalyst for innovation once OER goes
viral . Several resources are available on the Internet that provide teachers with tools to share and collaborate on the development of OER for use in instruction. Some of these are: Rice Connexions, Open Learning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS), WikiEducator, and WikiBooks.
Accessibility
Certain accessibiilty requirements must be addressed when developing OER for electronic dissemination to students. By law,
ADA Section 508 , learning materials, including interfaces, images, sounds, multimedia elements, and all other forms of information, must be made available for used by anyone, regardless of disability. Detailed information about accessibility guidelines are available at
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) .
A-Prompt is an accessibility evaluation and repair tool from the University of Toronto in cooperation with the Trace Center and CAST. A demonstration version is available for download. A-Prompt lists what it considers to be errors and offers a chance to correct each one.
Utah State University, Web Accessibility in Mind (Webaim) offers various "How To" information and support on creating accessible web sites. Web authors can find a Section checklist, sample HTML markup and various articles and courses on accessible web design.
The Accessible Web Publishing Wizard simplifies the task of converting PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and (in the future) Excel spreadsheets to accessible HTML through an easy-to-use user interface and automation of many of the details of conversion.
Rice connexions
Take a
tour of Connexions . Connexions was started at Rice University in 1999 to promote innovative ways to write, edit, publish, and use textbooks and other learning materials. Connexion participants are encouraged to:
- Create educational materials and
contribute them to the repository
- Rip or copy the material and customize it
- Mix the material together into new books and courses
- Burn or create finished products such as e-learning web courses, CDroms, and even printed books
