Making Changes to an Existing OER

So you find an OER that you could use! But it doesn't have some of the content that you're looking for (say it's missing an integral chapter on the endocrine system) or it's a little dated (you need to add information about new literature). You can legally and easily modify the OER that you find! This is often called 'adapting'. Here are a few other reasons you may want to adapt:

Make the material more accessible (with alt tags, headers, etc.)
Insert culturally relevant references to make a concept easier to understand
Correct errors or inaccuracies
Keep the OER up to date by adding the latest discoveries or theories
Enhance the text by adding media or links to supplementary resources
Adapt it for a different audience or educational level

Considerations

There are several factors to consider when adapting an OER. The more you want to change, expand, or edit an OER, the more time you will need. Below are some important considerations:

How much content to do you wish to change? Do you want to remove a chapter, or rewrite something entirely?
What technical format is the original OER in? A Word document is much easier to modify than a PDF document.
What type of license is the content released under? Does it have a Creative Commons license that allows for modification or adaptation of the content? (If the license has 'ND' in it, then no!)
How comfortable are you with using technology and creating content?
If you wish to edit or create graphics, images, charts, and/or multimedia content, you will need to use additional specialized tools to create these

Next Steps

Get organized! As part of your final project plan, you will compile all of the OER you'd like to adapt in one space, with descriptive notes on changes that need to be made. Here are some other tips for staying organized (we'll discuss these in more detail during the 'Organizing Content' working session too):
- Make note of format limitations and the license resources are shared under
- Cite as you add resources to your OER using CC attribution best practices
- Use a meaningful and intuitive file naming structure when saving OER you plan to use
Test Pressbooks 'Import' functionality to figure out if you can import everything into one book and make changes there
Contact the CITL (Bloomington) or the CTL (IUPUI) for help with more complex adaptations

Helpful Resources

Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need to Know, Open Textbook Network
What is Localization?, OpenStax
OER Editing and Publishing Tools, University of Illinois
Creative Commons attribution best practices, for citing the original work

Adapted from ASCCC OERI - Introduction to OER