Hey, @feb21-cohort! I’m so looking forward to connecting with you all tomorrow to chat about post-release considerations (maintenance, tracking versioning history, etc.), adoptions, and adaptations.
As usual, here are the materials for the session:
In addition, we will be gathering specific questions from you all tomorrow to address in the Session 12, so please do bring any you may have.
I have a crazy day tomorrow. I will have to arrive late (10:30) and leave by 11:10. So sorry…
Sounds like a busy day, Niki! Drop-in when you can. @me.monicabrown and I are always around if you have questions about today’s topic whenever you get a chance to review the materials.
@febcohort21 Thanks for another great session, everyone! Please feel free to share responses to those reflection questions as you think more about the topics we discussed today.
As always, here is the link to the chat transcript. I’ve compiled a list of the resources shared:
OER Conferences:
Additional Resources:
Session Recap
OERs are living documents that tend to change and evolve over time — to better respond to the needs of you and others who are using it. As the resource takes on a slightly different shape, so will your role as creator. An adopted resource is one that has been assigned (in part or in full) as part of the materials for a given course. Adoptions can have significant value because they are one of the ways to measure the impact of your book. Adopters can also reach out to find more information about the broader impact of your book on withdrawal rates, student savings, degree completion, and more.
Given the digital first nature of OER, it’s not as easy to track when and how an OER is being used. Start by polling your team members to see who is using the book. As you broaden the net, encourage adopters to self-report via a simple adoption form. Be clear in the form too why you are collecting the data that you are, and what you intend to do with it — information collection should be transparent and consensual. Make sure you link to this form from your book homepage and all other communications during the book’s release. Adopters are part of the book’s growing community so connect them with one another and provide multiple lines of communication between the users of the book to share their feedback or coordinate on improvements.
Maintaining your resource and keeping it up-to-date will ensure its continued relevance and ongoing adoptions of your book, year after year. Anyone invested in the value of the resource has an incentive to contribute to maintaining and updating it — so be public about the work you’re doing on the book. This will let people know when to expect changes and how to offer their support. More significant changes should be made outside of academic sessions so as not to disrupt students. Keep a record of edits and updates in the book’s Version History.
There might be people who come across your work and decide to complete a new OER project incorporating or using your resource. Adaptations and spin-offs are a great way to see the contributions of your book to your discipline and to see content crafted to better suit others’ needs. It’s also an opportunity to generate additional value around the book and increase the community around it. It’s much easier to create a new resource based on one that exists. So if you’re creating a book, it’s important to make sure to set it up for easy adaptation: select an open license, provide an editable format, create modular content, and list information for adopters in the book’s back-matter.
The life after release is an exciting period to show the support that the community has towards the book and to see your hard work pay off. What starts out as just a project team in the scoping phase turns into what we think of as the ‘community of practice’ around your book, including adopters, adapters, readers, and more, all around the world. Behold the power of collaboration and open education!
Thanks, Monica!
A few follow-ups from my end:
@harriet.fayne or @naliza.sadik — could you both please remind me whether you’d like to go ahead with a blog post for your project this month? Or is this something you’d prefer to wait on for a bit longer?
Hi, Apurva:
We should have a blog post to share with you by Monday, 5/17.
Thanks for your patience.
Niki
Great, thanks for letting me know. I’ll keep an eye out for it then!
Hey all!
I had a question about adoptions forms and feedback surveys to put in the back matter of the resource. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to start on a survey?
Thanks in advance and have a wonderful evening 
Kaitlin
Hi Kaitlin, these may be a few good places to start:
I think for your OER, a feedback survey may be more valuable — you can take a look at the links collated in the “classroom review” section in our review and feedback handout. The pre and post-surveys (especially the qualitative questions) from the Textbook Evaluation Toolkit may offer some inspiration as you’re putting something together.
@oerteachered-team — I know you are also putting together a survey to share with your focus groups. Is that, or a draft of it ready yet? That may also be useful for @kaitlin to look at if it is!