How to Maximize the Use of Open Educational Resources

Dr. Rory McGreal, UNESCO/ICDE Chair in Oopen Educational Resources will speak about maximizing the use of OER in courses, faculty can begin by identifying reputable OER repositories, such as BCcampus, OpenStax, MERLOT, and OER Commons, to locate relevant textbooks, multimedia, and interactive content. Curating and adapting these resources to align with course objectives ensures they meet specific educational needs. AI-generated lessons and courses can also be an important source of customizable lessons, lesson plans, quizzes and related content. All AI-generated content resides in the public domain and so can be included as OER. Educators must critically evaluate AI-generated content for accuracy before integration. Collaboration with peers through OER platforms fosters resource sharing and continuous improvement. Incorporating student feedback further refines OER effectiveness, ensuring materials remain engaging and accessible. By adopting open licenses (e.g., Creative Commons), instructors can also create specific lessons and courses, contributing them back to the OER community, sustaining a cycle of innovation. Ultimately, strategic OER adoption promotes equitable access, fosters pedagogical flexibility, and supports dynamic, cost-effective education.

Presenter bio: Prof. Rory McGreal is the UNESCO//International Council for Open and Distance Education Chair in Open Educational Resources (OER) at Athabasca University, Canada. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of IRRODL (International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning), the highest ranked open access journal in the field of Educational Technology. He is also the founder of the OER Knowledge Cloud, a repository of research articles on OER. Previous positions include Assoc. VP Research, at Athabasca University, and founder of TeleEducation NB, the first Canadian province-wide elearning network. He is also the recipient of several national and international awards for open and distance learning; and has conducted workshops or been an invited speaker in more than sixty countries.