Overview
What happens when people make the tools with which they learn? The COOL Collection assignment calls upon you to do just that. The acronym is short for Crowdsourced Open Online Learning Collection.
This week you will begin to seek out, evaluate, and annotate Open Education Resources so that you can contribute to a resource that will be useful for the entire class. You are expected to do part of the assignment this week and complete it next week.
What are Open Education Resources (OERs)? According to OER Commons
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that you may freely use and reuse, without charge. That means they have been authored or created by an individual or organization that chooses to retain few, if any, ownership rights. For some of these resources, that means you can download the resource and share it with colleagues and students. For others, it may be that you can download a resource, edit it in some way, and then re-post it as a remixed work.
Post at least 2 resources by the end of Sunday, Week 2. Submit at least 5 resources (in total, including the original 2) by the end of Sunday, Week 3.
Assignment Directions
Helpful Tips
– Please note that the COOL Collection is always up-to-date because it is a Google spreadsheet that records entries as they are submitted. You can download the most recent version of the spreadsheet for offline viewing, which will allow you to sift, sort, and organize the resources for your own purposes.
– You will create a mini-MOOC for your final signature assignment, either on your own or in a team of 2-3 people of your choosing. The MOOC must incorporate open education resources. You might want to focus your OER search on resources that relate to the Mini-MOOC topics that you are considering.
Materials to Download
These rubrics provide descriptions of criteria for evaluating OERs. They informed the development of this assignment. Read them carefully, as they will help you use the form below to accurately evaluate sources
- Achieve OER Rubrics – TEMOA Rubric
- TEMOA Rubric to Evaluate OER – AchieveOERRubric
- COOL Collection Assignment Rubric
Guidelines
In this course we will use a collaborative process to create a Crowdsourced Open Online Learning collection, otherwise known as the COOL Collection.
Between Weeks 2-3 each of you will be expected to evaluate and annotate at least 5 links to sites that you believe
- are relevant to open learning, and
- could be useful to the signature assignments that your peers are developing for the class.
Process
Criteria for Excellence
– Resources and tools cited add value and are useful to the class.
– The description of each resource is succinct, well written, and provides readers with sufficient information to determine its relevance for their specific needs.
– The author contributes a mix of resources that includes: learning objects, tools, courses/tutorials, OER reviews, and topic-specific open journals/research.
– At least 5 entries submitted to the COOL Collection.
1. Carefully review the rubrics and criteria for excellence. NOTE: Points will be deducted if you include resources that are not open (such as Blackboard), so don’t just take a resource’s advertising at face value! OER have been defined in slightly different ways by different organizations. For the purposes of this course, OER exhibit the following characteristics:
- Explicitly provide permission for use, adaptation, and publication. (mandatory – look for a statement on the site)
- Open copyright license (preferred). Look for a Creative Commons image.
- Non-discriminatory, meaning use rights are granted to everyone, everywhere. (i.e., available to all, not just people with a paid subscription).
2. Search the web to identify and evaluate OER sites, materials, tools, and other resources. Scour the web to identify other open education resources that you think might be useful to you personally and professionally, or to the class in general. Some resources are officially labeled as OERs, so you might want to search for terms such as “open education resource collections” or “open textbooks.” Other resources are open, but not labeled as such. For example, many federally-funded education projects generate resources that are made available for free online. If you already have decided on the topic for your Mini-MOOC, you might want to look for free resources that are relevant to that subject.
Take notes as you evaluate your sources and refer to the rubrics frequently to make sure you’re considering all the criteria for OER excellence. Compose your annotations offline to ensure that they are substantive and well written.
3. Use the links below to add entries and view the complete collection:
- Example of the COOL Collection submission form
- Example of COOL Collection responses
(NOTE: Please do not request access to the spreadsheet. It is intentionally set to view only. Submission form entries are automatically added to the spreadsheet)
Deadlines
- Post at least 2 items by Sunday midnight in Week 2
- Post at least 3 additional items (total of 5) by Thursday midnight in Week 3