Create or modify OERs

Even if you have not found an existing OER that covers the specific content of interest, you can look to existing OER for ideas about organization and sequencing. You can also incorporate smaller open works like CC-licensed images to support your text.

When writing your resource, remember:  make the work accessible and inclusive

You may not have the time or expertise necessary to develop a more complex OER on your own. Seek collaborators, through community platforms like Rebus or use open pedagogy to get students involved in the process of creating OERs.

Because OERs are openly licensed, they can be shared widely, including:

• via UM Learn
• on the Campus Manitoba Pressbooks network
• on a faculty webpage
• via Google Drive
• in an OER repository such as OER Commons, Rebus Community, Teaching Commons or MERLOT

^{Adapted from Pressbooks (CC BY)}

As part of the University of Manitoba, you have access to the Pressbooks Authoring & Editing Platform, through Campus Manitoba’s Pressbooks network.

Using the Pressbooks Authoring & Editing Platform, you can  

• adapt existing OER for your classrooms;
• create new material from scratch;
• enrich content with accessible math notation, videos, audio, web annotation, and H5P interactive elements like quizzes and activities.

To start creating, visit the Campus Manitoba Pressbooks network, choose Sign In, Institutional Login, and then University of Manitoba. From here you can use your U of M login to access Pressbooks.

For more technical guidance, visit the Pressbooks User Guide and the Pressbooks FAQ. You can also look through the Pressbooks Directory to find examples. A recorded workshop from UM Libraries is also available.

Pressbooks also holds live training sessions. Visit the PressbooksEDU Training Schedule and register to participate.

Integrate private Pressbooks content into UM Learn

You may wish to create content for use in your courses that you are not yet ready to share with the world. To integrate private Pressbooks content into your UM Learn course:

1. First, make your entire book private by navigating to the book’s Settings, then Sharing and Privacy page, and selecting Private. This will make the entire book private, so that even if one chapter is published it will not be readable to anyone without access.
2. Now, make the chapter(s) you are interested in using public. Do this from the Organize page, checking “Show in Web” beside the chapter(s) you will be incorporating. 
3. Contact Campus Manitoba and ask to have the UM Learn integration activated in your Pressbooks. (Send them the link and your name.)
4. Once you are activated, sign in to your Pressbooks book and navigate to the chapter you want to integrate. Scroll to the bottom of the page. You should see a section called LMS Grade Reporting. A URL will be provided in bold, proceeded by "To add this activity to your LMS, you will need to provide this launch URL." Copy this URL. 
5. Navigate to your UM Learn course, choose Course Administration, and then External Learning Tools.  
6. Choose New link. This should take you to a new page. Under Deployment, select Pressbooks. Write in a name of your choosing (eg chapter title), and paste in the URL from your Pressbooks. 
7. Now go to Content, and select your module of choice, or create a new module. Select Existing Activities, External Learning Tools, and then choose the link name you just created. This will create a link that students can use to access the private chapter.

Creating/adapting OERs:

• OS Toolkit: Evaluating OERs
• OS Toolkit: Open Pedagogy
• BCcampus - Adaptation Guide
• Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know

Getting started with Pressbooks:

• Open Education Self-Publishing Guide
• Learning Portal guide to Collaborating on OERs
• Open Author Module Builder  
• OER Authoring Tools  
• PressBooks  
• PubPub  
• MERLOT Content Builder  
• OER and Accessibility Guide  
• Inclusive Learning Design Handbook