Adapting OER

The term adaptation is commonly used to describe the process of making changes to an existing work. We also can replace “adapt” with revise, modify, alter, customize, or another synonym that describes the act of making a change.

One advantage of choosing an open educational resource is that it gives you the legal right to add, adapt, or delete content from the open work to fit your specific course without obtaining permission from the copyright holder. As you learned in Module 7, this is possible because the copyright holder already has granted permission by releasing their work using an open — or Creative Commons — license.

If you are considering making changes to an open educational resource, such as an open textbook, ask yourself the following questions:

How much content do I wish to change? Do I want to remove chapters, reorganize chapters, or rewrite entire chapters of content?
How comfortable am I with using technology and creating content?

If you decide to adapt an existing open resource, here are six recommended steps to follow:

Check the license of the work - does it allow for modifications or derivatives?
Check the format of the work - common formats are HTML files (webpages), Word or open documents (Google Docs), Text files, ePub, LaTex files (if the original book includes math or science formulas and equations).
Choose tools for editing an open textbook (or other open resource) - there are many available. Your choice of editing tool will likely depend on the format of the resource.
Choose the output for the work - students like having material in multiple formats. This allows them to choose what works best for them. Some may prefer printed versions of the textbook; others will prefer using a website. Still others will like to use an e-reader or e-reading software. By offering multiple formats you are making your content more accessible.
Determine access for the work - where will your students access the content? Will it be available in a learning management system (LMS), Google Classroom, OER Commons, or another online hosting service?
Choose a license - the open license you choose will depend on how the textbook you adapted was licensed. For example, if the original textbook was licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license, then you must release your book with the same license to ensure it is compliant with the terms of use.

Remixing OER With Different CC Licenses

Some adaptations include combining two or more OER, in part or in whole, into a single resource (also known as remixing, one of the 5Rs). When remixing OER, it is important to remember that not all of the CC license conditions work together. For example, the SA and ND conditions do not appear in the same license because there is no reason to include the Share-Alike condition when no derivatives are being allowed.

As you find different types of OER to use in your courses, you may find the need to remix and modify the content. Understanding how the different licenses can or cannot be combined is a critical step in reusing openly licensed material. The license compatibility chart below a great resource in determining which licenses work together.

CC license compatibility chart

"License Compatibility Chart" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0