Scenario: as a teacher I want to create a course but I only have limited time
Teachers prefer to spend most of their time on supporting their students throughout the course. Creating new learning materials for their course structure is therefore often seen as a time consuming activity. This creates a barrier for teachers to increase or revise their available practice material, while improvements might be beneficial for the needs of the students. Examples of these improvements may be: the increase of available practice material, enhancing the feedback of the materials and tailoring the activities to the teaching style and objectives.
One often suggested way to help teachers save time in the creation of learning materials is using Open Educational Resources (OER). It is important to note that they will benefit your time investment most if used effectively: if teachers are not sure how to get started, open materials can lead them down a time consuming rabbit hole. At Grasple we have therefore designed step by step approaches to make the use easy and less time consuming.
Want to learn more about the pros and cons of using OER? Check this blog!
Solutions in Grasple
There are multiple ways to implement OER within your course. Before moving over to the step by step explanation of two approaches, it is important to be aware that you are in control when you want to. This means that you are not restricted to the use of OER and that you can edit and change the content in your course at all times. This hybrid design provides you with the benefits of available content, while not restricting your autonomy.
Two approaches that help you use OER in an easy and time efficient manner are:
Start with a structure before tailoring your course
Handpick the material from the repositories
1. Start with a template
Adapting and evolving your course
For those with limited time and resources, starting with a ready course structure can be a game-changer. This method allows you to launch your course quickly and refine it over time based on student feedback and your own observations.
Create a plug & play structure: create a Template course or provide your topic list to the Grasple team. Based on your learning goals you would like to achieve, we can provide you a ready to go course structure. This preliminary course structure built upon OER saves you significant prep time.
Review and Adapt: Navigate through the provided content, making real-time adjustments to better suit your teaching style. Copy and modify subjects as needed, ensuring the course remains dynamic and responsive to your needs.
Fill in the Gaps: Identify any missing topics and communicate these to the Grasple team. They will help source additional materials from other educators or support you in learning how to create new content, ensuring your course is both comprehensive and adaptable.
This approach streamlines the initial course creation process as well as facilitates ongoing improvements, allowing your course to become more effective and engaging with each iteration.
The OpenStax Calculus Volume 1 Community Course
2. Create an empty course and handpick the material from the itembank (repositories)
Collecting, customising and implementing on the go
Educators who prefer a hands-on approach to course design, can choose to work from the community repositories. Handpicking material from these itembanks allows for full flexibility in tailoring the course to their own structure from scratch. If you have a clear vision of how your lectures should unfold, this method helps you to easily adjust the content while building your course so that it fits your unique teaching style and objectives.
Curate Your Content: Create a new course and curate your content by listing your course topics by week or module. Use Grasple’s repository search to discover relevant materials that align with each topic.
Customise and Enhance: Review the selected materials to ensure they meet your expectations. If there are gaps, copy these subjects to your own repository for further customization. Tailor them to include personalised notes or additional references to your lectures.
Build Week by Week: As you finalise your content, integrate the chosen materials into your course modules. This iterative process allows you to build a rich, cohesive course that evolves with your teaching needs.
Through this approach, you transform existing resources into a bespoke learning experience, ensuring your course is both comprehensive and uniquely yours.
An example of building a course with OER from scratch (curating, customising, implementing)
Links to relevant support articles
Read more about editing your course: https://help.grasple.com/en/articles/88279-edit-your-course
Read more about tailoring community material to your course: https://help.grasple.com/en/articles/88272-how-do-i-change-an-existing-subject-or-exercise#ii-you-do-not-have-editing-rights-on-the-lesson-or-exercise
Using community courses as a course structure: https://help.grasple.com/en/articles/88135-use-community-courses-as-starting-point-for-your-personal-course
Note: Within our platform, you will find material to use in both your Organization and Community Repositories. Organisation repositories may include material that is shared with you by your institution, and the Community Repositories contain material that is published under a Creative Commons licence within our platform. This means that you are free to use these materials within your teachings!