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.”