Today’s classrooms are dynamic, engaging and active learning spaces and our resources should be as well. Sadly, many of the available learning resources are too expensive or not dynamic or too broad to meet our instructional needs.   An essential skill for educators is to be able to infuse Open Educational Resources to meet the specific needs of their learners.  

This course is an introduction to learning the tools and practices for Designing Open Educational Resources (OER). The course begins with an educational system review of Open Education and how the rise in popularity of Creative Commons attribution has promoted the open sharing of instructional materials in both K-12 and higher education learning environments.  Then, learners review how to identify instructional learning gaps, explore OER repositories and evaluate existing OER to identify educational and course materials to meet their needs.  The course culminates with hands-on activities for remixing OER as well as designing OER in various digital media to publish educational materials to meet specific instructional needs. 

No previous digital design or experience is required.  All course projects and activities utilize free or shareware based online resources and applications.

This course was designed by Dr. Rand Hansen, collegiate professor and program chair at the University of Maryland University College where he leads two master’s programs; the MS in Learning Design & Technology is developing the next generation of Learning Designers to create personalized online learning experiences, and the MEd in Instructional Technology – an International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Nationally Recognized Instructional Technology program. In 2015 Dr. Hansen was selected by the Center for Digital Education’s as a Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers. In 2016, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) awarded him a 2016 Making IT Happen award.