OER Guide

• Adopt - Use an OER as it is (refer to Providing Student Access and Reporting Usage)
• Adapt - Make minor changes or some revisions to an OER or combine excerpts of multiple OER
• Create - Create your own OER. Most educators use excerpts of existing OER as a starting point and add their own content instead of starting from scratch. 

Which method you choose depends on your curriculum, pedagogy, and the availability of OER to support these needs. Consult with the Centre for Teaching and Learning for guidance on aligning course materials with learning objectives. 

There are 3 steps before you start: 

1. Check its licence – Most OER have a Creative Commons licence indicated. As long as the licence does not have a No-Derivative (ND) restriction, you may adapt the material. See Open Licences. 
2. Download an editable file format – File formats such as Word Document (.docx), simple text file (.txt), Pressbooks XML (.pbxml) are editable. If you want to edit a PDF document, you will need to first convert it to Word. 
3. Use an editing tool – Which editing tool you choose to use depends on your comfort level. Most people are familiar with Microsoft Word. You may want to consider using Pressbooks, which is a common tool for creating open textbooks and allows you to import a number of different file formats into the tool for editing. 

You may mix and match several OER or excerpts from them to create your own OER! 
Adapted from "Three Steps Before You Begin" from BCcampus' Adaptation Guide.