Making Open Educational Resources with and for PreK12: A Collaboration Toolkit for Higher Education

Reviewed by Jason Parks, Professor of English, Anderson University on 9/16/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

As someone who is not a librarian, but who is very interested in learning more about creating OER, I thought this book covered a lot of important aspects of OER, and had a lot of useful links. I learned a lot about this field from an outsider's perspective and found it useful as I continue thinking of ways to create OER.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Everything was clear and free from bias. The authors made a clear effort to be inclusive and sensitive to all audiences.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This is one of the greatest strengths of this book. Anyone looking for current ideas and also ways to help graduate students and faculty understand OER today will find this book useful.

Clarity rating: 5

The book was clearly written and all acronyms/jargon was explained clearly.

Consistency rating: 5

Everything is consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

The book was easy to navigate and follow from start to finish. Most of the sections were short and the activities were clearly separated out and easy to find.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Everything was well-organized and clear from start to finish.

Interface rating: 5

I had not trouble scrolling through the online version and finding the sections I wanted to read. Nothing was distracting or confusing.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No errors in grammar.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book was focused on providing a basic understanding of OER and how various professionals can get involved in the process of making OER for PreK12. There may be opportunities to expand upon the sections on disability (see chapter 7), but there's a clear effort to be inclusive in this book.

Comments

I am preparing to create and share more of my teaching materials in an OER format, so I was interested in this book as a resource for how to create materials that could be shared with as broad of an audience as possible, not just undergraduates. I really liked the way the authors pointed readers to which sections they might find most relevant and helpful. While the assignments and lessons in the book are more geared toward librarians/future librarians, it helped me to think about where I would fit into this process and to be aware of the challenges and opportunities that come with creating resources for PREK12. I am excited about the community of scholars committed to making more materials available to a broader audiences of students. The presentations on Working with Minors and many other sections in this book that include presentations will help other post-secondary teachers prepare to share materials thoughtfully and effectively. You really can guide yourself through this book on your own. I also think it would be good to read as you prepare to work with librarians and schools.