ICT tools to develop and adapt OER

Unit 1. Requirements for ICT tools for OER development/adaptation

1.1 Overview of requirements for ICT tools for OER development/adaptation

OER can include full course, article, textbook, presentation, picture, mindmap, slideshow, animation, music, video, game, test or any other educationally useful materials. There are different ICT tools for developing all these OER, e.g. one tools are used to develop text document and another ones are used to develop video material. That means that before selecting  the ICT tool for developing your OER you have to decide what will be the type of your OER. The ICT tool suitable for this OER type should be selected. In this training material we will focus on the ICT tools for developing/adapting these OER types:

  • document
  • presentation
  • collaboration
  • video/ audio

The next step is to think about the requirements for ICT tool. What functionality from the tool do you need in order to develop/adapt your OER? For example, if you are going to develop the slideshow presentation using online tool and already have a draft version in MS powerpoint format, it could be important that the tool would have the function of uploading existing MS powerpoint file function. If you are going to develop the presentation together with your colleagues, you will need a tool allowing collaborate with other people online. Before searching for ICT tool for your presentation you could also think about:

  • will you need formatting functions (various text formats, colors, etc.)?
  • will you need to add pictures to presentation?
  • will you need pictures library where you can find images for your presentation? Images with Creative Commons licenses?
  • will you need embedding slideshow presentation to blogs, webpages, etc.?
  • would you like that the tool would allow to export slideshow as a PDF, PPT or other formats?
  • what other functions of ICT tool do you need?

 Another kind of requirements could be setted for OER in video format. You could need such ICT tool functions as combining several videos, cutting the video or adding subtitles. In chapter 1.2 you will find the templates for setting requirement for different types of OER.

As you are creating OER you should also think about re-using it. It is important that other people could download and, if licence allows, edit it. Choosing ICT tool for your OER development you should think about editability options:

  • will the ICT tool allow to download OER in editable version?
  • will the ICT tool allow to edit OER online?
  • will the ICT tool allow to edit OER for registered users?
  • will the ICT tool allow to edit OER without registration
  • will the ICT tool allow to edit OER collaboratively

Before choosing the ICT tool for developing your OER you should also think about usability and accessibility issues. Otherwise you could select ICT tool that perfectly meets your requirements for functionality, but it is very expensive or too complicated to use. Setting the requirement for the ICT tool you should also take into account:

  • is the ICT tool free of charge?
  • is it intuitive to use?
  • how attractive it is?
  • can you add Creative Commons license on you work?
  • what operating systems does the ICT tool support?
  • is any other requirements for usability and accessibility?