2.+Getting+started

Welcome to the world of open educational resources (oer)

 * [[image:find.png]] || [[image:remix.png]] || [[image:license.gif]] || [[image:share.png]] ||
 * Find || Remix || License || Share ||


 * [[image:introduction2oer/stop.png]] || before starting this course, please take the course  pre-assessment ||

Defining OER
The term "open educational resources" was first adopted at UNESCO's 2002 Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Open educational resources are educational materials and resources offered freely and openly for anyone to use and under some licenses to re-mix, improve and redistribute. Open educational resources include: === @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources   ===
 * Learning content: full courses, course materials, content modules, learning objects, collections, and journals.
 * Tools: Software to support the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content including searching and organization of content, content and learning management systems, content development tools, and on-line learning communities.
 * Implementation resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design-principles, and localization of content.

For a good review of the OER movement please refer to the following documents: Any questions that come to mind initially? Please ask them in this forum.
 * [[image:acroread_sm.png]] || [|(PDF) Open Educational Resources - Opportunities and Challenges for Higher Education. Yuan, MacNeill, Kraan (2008)] ||
 * [[image:kpresenter_sm.png]] || [|UCT OER Presentation: Presented by Cheryl Hodgkinson Williams at HELTASA Colloquium] ||
 * [[image:introduction2oer/kpresenter_sm.png]] || [|UCT OER Audio Recording: Presented by Cheryl Hodgkinson Williams at HELTASA Colloquium] ||

By the end of this course you should be able to:
<span style="color: #0080c0; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Find open access digital media and OER <span style="color: #0080c0; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Integrate and remix content into your existing curriculum <span style="color: #0080c0; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Understand the Creative Commons license <span style="color: #0080c0; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Share your own open content online

<span style="color: #cc9900; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Your first assignment
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To get started you should create a new blog post to document your interest in the OER movement. Blogging is a great way to embrace the spirit of openness by sharing your thoughts on a topic. The University of Cape Town offers a blogging service to all staff and students here  but feel free to use any blogging service you are comfortable with.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Use the tag #**oeruct2009** for any online social networking such as blogs, twitter, etc. This way a simple web search for the tag 'oeruct2009' will bring up all the course related material. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Your first assignment is to create a blog post explaining what you currently know about OER, what motivated your interest in it, and what you hope to learn from this online course? This will help the instructor determine where the focus should be.If you are uncomfortable setting up a blog (trust us, it really is easy!) you are more than welcome to introduce yourself via the forums

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Add your blog to the list of blogs in the forums.