How to use OER Textbooks in your class (Moodle Specified)
This page is the tutorial for those who wants to use the OER Commons resources in real class. Here, the resources are focused on textbooks at OER Commons. We will look around the different types of textbook resources at OER Commons from the advanced search result, and go through the directions how to use them in Moodle.
1. Search textbooks on OER Commons
Before we describe the types of textbooks, let's look how to search textbooks first.
"U.S. History" is the keyword I used to search textbooks. You can search either "U.S. History" from the search bar, or from Advanced search. Here, I used advanced search about "U.S. History". Search criteria is 1) material type "textbook", 2) at Community College level, 3) under the condition of "Remix and Share" to use.
Keyword and Education Level
Selecting Material Type and Condition of Use
Click "Search" button after you selected "Textbook" from "Material Type" and "Remix and Share" from "Condition of Use". The window will show the search result.
For more information, please check "How to search OER Commons" tutorial.
2. Material Types
I have 3 textbook materials as search result of "U.S. History" at Community College level, in the condition of "Mix and Share" to use.
Search Result
There are 2 types of materials; one is the link simply submitted from other website, and the other one is the resource created using "Open Author" tool. "Open Author" is the resource creating tool provided by OER Commons. The second result, Chapter 2 - Roots of Colonization, is the resource created by Open Author, and other 2 resources are linked to other websites. Let's have a closer look at the types of materials watching the search result.
2-1. Resource by Open Author
"Chapter 2 - Roots of Colonization" is the resource created by Open Author. Click the title and again click the "View Resource" button. If you are a member of OER Commons, you can SAVE the material either in your own page (in your folder if you created a folder) or in your group page. "Remix this resource" button let you edit the resource directly on OER Commons site. In that case you do not need to download the resource to edit it in your preference. You can also DOWNLOAD the resource in PDF or Epub or Teaching bundle format, or EXPORT to your own Google Docs.
Download or Edit Resources from OER Commons.
Once you download the resource, you can remix or share because we searched the resources under "Remix and Share" in Condition of Use. Consider copyright and license issues one more time before you remix or share the resources because every resource has different condition of use.
2-2. Resources from other websites
There are a lot of OER materials created by organizations, universities, educational centers, and even by individuals. The OER Commons members liked these resources to OER Commons to make it abundant.
In case the OER Commons content linked from other website, most resources are based on HTML format and provides download in docs or PDF format. Here are some examples of resources on OER Commons from other websites.
Access to site where the resource is.
Click "View Resource" and the link will redirect to the website where the actual resource is. This link redirects to the American Yawp page. The textbook "American Yawp"is in HTML format. For this website, it does not allow you to download the content. However, as a highly collaborative project, "American Yawp" allows collaborate working, and you can suggest your professional ideas to improve the quality of the content.
Let's see the result "History in the Making: A History of the People of the United States of America to 1877". This content is created by University of North Georgia faculty and licensed by the University System of Georgia. This license allows you to remix, tweak, and build upon this work as long as you credit the original source for the creation and license the new creation under identical term. (CC-BY-SA license)
Click to Original Resource
If you download the resource from OER Commons website, you have only abstract. If you want full text, please click the link to access to the full resource to download the resource, and you can download the textbook chapter by chapter. After you download the resource, you can remix or share.
3. How to use OER Commons resources in Moodle
Once you find the textbook material which fits your class core, you can use it for your class in Moodle in different ways. You can simply share the link or upload the file. I used "Chapter 2 -- Roots of Colonization" for the example.
3-1. Share the link
If you are going to use the resource as it is like, you can simply share the link to your Moodle course. Click "Add an activity or resource", and click "URL" button under "Resource" tap, and again click "Add" button. You can see the window the same as the image below.
Sharing the link
To add URL, type the name, enter the URL of the resource, and choose how to display the resource on Moodle. Default display value is "Automatic" but you can choose "Embed" or "In Pop-up".
3-2. File upload
To upload a file, click "Add an activity or resource" --> "File" under resource tap --> and click "Add" again.
Upload PDF file.
Type the name of the resource, and upload the file. You can simply drag and drop the file to the file uploader. Choose how you want the resource displayed and save the changes. The uploaded and linked resources will show in your course.
Resources in your course