Open Educational Resources: A Gateway to Inclusive Learning (Online)

Are you curious about finding open access teaching materials to support your students? Learn how Open Educational Resources (OER) can be optimized for instructional use in this interactive workshop. OER reduces the financial barrier to access materials for students while also strengthening student engagement and learning. You will be introduced to what OER is in comparison to other ‘free’ materials, unpack the meaning of Creative Commons licensing when using or creating your own OER, practice attributing open resources like images, find and assess OER that you can use in your teaching, and last discuss how you can contribute to the OER community. Explore various repositories and platforms that host a wealth of open resources. Learn the criteria for evaluating the quality and relevance of OER to ensure they meet your educational needs and standards.

By the end of the session you will:

• define open educational resources (OER)
• identify the different types of Creative Commons licenses and what each allows/does not allow for the use of an OER
• correctly attribute open resource such as images that may be used in presentations
• locate OER including open textbooks, lab/activity materials, lesson plans, lectures, and more
• discuss the challenges and benefits of using OER in your teaching