FIGURE 5.8 Print encyclopedia and e-book reader on green grass
Photo from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/en/e-reader-e-book-ebook-e-ink-1213214/
Author: papirontul | Public Domain: CC0 | Cropped and desaturated from original
The Open Washington network’s Module 8 on “Sharing OER” (licensed CC BY 4.0, available at http://www.openwa.org/module-8/) will give you practical advice on how to share OER online and prepare them to be used offline as well.
ENSURING THAT OER ARE ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE
At its core, OER are about making sure that everyone has access to learning and research materials. Not just rich people, not just people who can see or hear, not just people who can read English—everyone.
As authors and institutions build and share OER, best practices in accessibility need to be part of their instructional and technical design from the start. Educators have legal and ethical responsibilities to ensure that our learning resources are fully accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities.
The best practices to ensure that your OER are accessible to all include:
- putting your work into the public domain (CC0) or adding a non-ND CC license to your work;
- making it simple to download your work in editable file formats, so others can modify or translate it to meet local needs and make it accessible; and
- most importantly, designing your work to be accessible from the start.
