Convincing people of the importance of OER can be difficult. The arguments can be complicated and have to be repeated for many different people in many different roles. The processes involved in OER production can be complicated as well, and many institutions come up with their own methods, without seeing how other organisations produce resources. To save this reinvention of the wheel, JISC has designed the OER infoKit to provide a central repository of information about OER and the issues involved not just in its adoption but also its implementation. Doug Belshaw, researcher/analyst at JISC, provided a demo of the infoKit during the lunchtime break of UKOER10 to show people its capabilities.
The infoKit tag cloud
JISC infoNet is designed to promote good practice through the dissemination of ‘infoKits’. After an analysis of OER practices and adoption in the UK that ended in April, infoNet launched the OER infoKit in June. It provides guidance not just for getting OER adopted and some of the myths about OER that need to be overcome, but on how to manage OER processes.
Users can navigate around the infoKit using the sidebar, a search engine or the infoKit tag cloud. As well as an overview of OER, the kit is broken down into separate areas for management, learning and teaching, technical issues, the legal aspects of OER and the various HE Academy and JISC OER programmes. Since the kit is also a wiki, users can leave comments if they feel that an area needs improvement of further information.
Belshaw says the idea is to ensure that OER isn’t something that’s ‘done for a year then abandoned’. With the infoKit growing almost every day, finding information on OER implementation shouldn’t ever be a problem.