Adoption of OER materials presents unique challenges for courses that rely heavily on images and videos for the conveyance of complex concepts, as these materials may be lacking in these areas. A challenge that is not unique to this course is increasing student engagement. In order to tackle these challenges simultaneously, we sought to implement the use of two types of digital reusable assignments in the Principles of Human Physiology course. The initial assignments were designed, in part, to have the students identify videos and images under a Creative Commons (CC) license that illustrate major course themes. Specifically, core topics that students typically struggle with and are difficult to convey without visual aids. In the second digital reusable assignment, students worked in groups to generate their own media resource on a specific topic. Students were allowed to choose the format of their resource. Media modalities included, songs, comics, graphics, posters, podcasts, videos, etc.. For both assignments, these media could be pooled and used to augment the teaching resources provided with the OER textbook. We hoped that this would improve the available teaching resources and give students a feeling of investment in the course and permanence to their work. To educate students about copyright and their rights as authors, the librarian assigned to the course visited the class at the beginning of the semester to share an online guide explaining how to find and identify open access resources, including videos. Later on, the librarian offered a required workshop where students rights as authors were discussed and where they were offered the opportunity to sign a release form for their final exercise assigning a CC license to their work. Students’ decisions were kept in sealed envelopes until grading was finished, and only then shared with the professor. Links to the course guide and release form will be shared during the presentation, as well as examples of student work with assigned CC licenses.
Learning Outcomes: After viewing this lighting talk viewers will be able to: Create an assignment that allows students to identify open access images and videos that facilitate understanding of complex topics. Create an assignment that allows students to create open educational resources that could be incorporated into future iterations of the course. Plan how to address authors rights and FERPA permissions with students. Access examples of students work and an example FERPA permission form.
