We want to share with you the information we’ve amassed about open educational resources through years of experience and cooperation with teachers and specialists from different fields.
The course is based on materials created through EduCoop, as well as Centrum Cyfrowe’s other projects.
An important tenet of open education is sharing and using existing resources; it’s part of the cycle of information, which is why we gladly turn to materials already available on the Internet, and encourage you to read, download, and remix resources for you own needs as well.

The course contents are available to all interested, without the need to register. The course contains quizzes and tests.

 

Course subject matter:

We want this course to support the creation of additional open educational resources, as well as to present a new approach to education. When it came to building an online course and designing EduCoop’s purpose and purview, the most important quality for us was teamwork and collaboration. This is why we focus not only on resources, but also on the method of their creation. We care about creating a pleasant process that encourages personal development and feelings of satisfaction.

 

Course target audience:

The course is first and foremost designed for K-12 teachers, but it can be useful for those in other professions, as well as students, university-level professors, and librarians.

 

Time:

The course is designed to be completed over six weeks. Reading and completing the assignments in a module shouldn’t take more than three hours (the assignment in module 5 may be more time consuming than the rest).

 

Structure:

The course is divided into six modules. The first and last modules are organizational in nature. The other content-driven modules contain an optional assignment. After the last module, the assignment is to create your own open educational resource.

 

Skills gained:

• learn how to recognize and fully utilize open educational resources;
• learn which tools are important for creating OERs;
• familiarize yourself with the Design Thinking method, and learn how to maintain and expand the availability of open educational resources;
• understand the basics of copyright law and open licenses, and how to use them in creating OERs;
• discover best practices for teamwork, including creating engagement even in remote work and between members from different backgrounds;
• learn about present trends in open education.

 

Assignments:

After each module, there will be some suggested tasks, or questions to tackle. If you want, you can send your projects to the EduCoop email: spoled@centrumcyfrowe.pl . We’re always happy to hear when people make use of our course.

 

Course structure:

1. Introduction – what is Educoop, what is Centrum Cyfrowe’s purpose, about the course and its creators.
2. Open Education – collaboration in education, contemporary educational trends, finding satisfaction in your work, new technology in education, accessibility in education.
3. Open Educational Resources – what they are, where to find them, how to tell the quality of a resource.
4. Creating open resources – licenses, public domain and fair use, designing and preparing materials for digital upload, introduction to design thinking, examples of educational methods – inspirations, openness checklist.
5. Promotion and publication – where to upload your materials and how to promote them.
6. Summary.

 

The entirety of the course and code are available on GitHub to use freely.