Welcome


This blog is dedicated to the topics of Course materials, Innovation, and Technology in Education. it is intended as an information source for the college store industry, or anyone interested in how course materials are changing. Suggestions for discussion topics or news stories are welcome.

The site uses Google's cookies to provide services and analyze traffic. Your IP address and user agent are shared with Google, along with performance and security statistics to ensure service quality, generate usage statistics, detect abuse and take action.

Monday, January 5, 2015

App Provides OER Attribution Solution

One goal of open educational resources (OER) is to make it easier for teachers to find high-quality content at lower costs than textbooks and other classroom materials. Making sure that content is properly attributed has become a roadblock for many instructors in the state of Washington.

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) developed a solution, providing users with a way to cite sources correctly through its OPEN Attribution Builder application. The app, part of the OPEN Washington site launched by the SBCTC in July, was designed to simplify the attribution process and advocates hope that will lead to an increase in OER adoption, according to a report.

Much of the OER content available is released through Creative Commons, which requires users to properly attribute the author and licensor. The app provides users with a form that automatically finds the correct attribution, along with a default attribution statement.

“We’ve found that confusion over attribution and licensing is a pain point for many in our system who otherwise want to take advantage of OER,” said Mark Jenkins, SBCTC director for e-learning and open education. “OPEN Attribution Builder solves problems for them by eliminating a barrier to using OER easily and correctly.”