Changes

{{Navigate|Prev=A toolkit for creating and re-purposing OER using FOSS tools|Curr=Text OER|Next=Image and animation OER}}

{{Navigate|Prev=A toolkit for creating and re-purposing OER using FOSS tools|Curr=Text OER|Next=Image and animation OER}}

Now that you have Ubuntu available on your computer, you are ready to create and re-purpose OER. We will begin with text OER. Text OER includes text documents, [[wikipedia:Webpage|web pages]], [[wikipedia:PDF|PDF documents]], [[wikipedia:Spreadsheet|spreadsheets]]. Currently a large amount of textual OER is created using proprietary software applications and made available in [[wikipedia:Proprietary|proprietary]] or PDF formats. OER created in proprietary formats may not be able to be legally reused or modified, without having access to the proprietary software. PDF formats do not enable easy editing and hence limit re-purposing.  Using FOSS tools to create text OER can allow more and more users to create content; this can also support the expansion of the universe of OER creation in languages other than English.

Now that you have Ubuntu on your computer, you are ready to create and re-purpose OER. We will begin with text OER. Text OER includes text documents, [[wikipedia:Webpage|web pages]], [[wikipedia:PDF|PDF documents]], [[wikipedia:Spreadsheet|spreadsheets]]. Currently a large amount of text OER is created using proprietary software applications and made available in [[wikipedia:Proprietary|proprietary]] or PDF formats. In some cases, OER created in proprietary formats may not be able to be easily reused or modified, without having access to the proprietary software. PDF formats do not enable easy editing and hence limit re-purposing.  Using FOSS tools to create text OER can allow more and more users to create content; this can also support the expansion of the universe of OER creation in languages other than English.

One important advantage of the digital tools is the possibility of creating different kinds of text resources.  We are no longer thinking of linear typed text alone; it is now possible to create concept maps, flow charts, diagrams, combine text and images and create info-graphics and so on. The hypertext which makes web pages possible is also another form of text.  In this chapter of the toolkit, we will look at how to access, create and re-purpose text OER; the tools discussed are basically  text editing tools.           

One important advantage of the digital tools is the possibility of creating different kinds of text resources.  We are no longer thinking of linear typed text alone; it is now possible to create concept maps, flow charts, diagrams, combine text and images and create info-graphics and so on. The '[[wikipedia:Hypertext|hypertext]]' which makes web pages possible is also another form of text.  In this chapter of the toolkit, we will look at how to access, create and re-purpose text OER; the tools discussed are basically  text editing tools.           

=== Objectives ===

=== Objectives ===

# access text OER from popular repositories

# access text OER from popular repositories

# create your personal digital library for organizing your OER

# create your personal digital library for organizing your OER

# access, create and re-purpose concept maps using a concept map editor (''Freeplane'')

# access, create and re-purpose concept maps using a concept map editor (using ''Freeplane'')

# access, create and re-purpose text resources using a text editor (''LibreOffice Writer'').

# access, create and re-purpose text resources using a text editor (using ''LibreOffice Writer'').

# present text resources in a ‘slide presentation’ format (''LibreOffice Impress'')

# present text resources in a ‘slide presentation’ format (using ''LibreOffice Impress'')

=== Your personal digital library for OER ===

=== Your personal digital library for OER ===

As mentioned, you will also develop a OER for your chosen topic. In the toolkit, at every logical point where you can practice the explanation and case illustration, we will have '''<nowiki/>'Activity time'''' where you can practice the steps discussed relating to a particular tool or method, to create or re-purpose the OER on your topic. You will begin by creating your 'personal digital library' on your computer.

As mentioned, you will also develop a OER for your chosen topic. In the toolkit, at every logical point where you can practice the explanation and case illustration, we will have '''<nowiki/>'Activity time'''' where you can practice the steps discussed relating to a particular tool or method, to create or re-purpose the OER on your topic. You will begin by creating your '[[ICT teacher handbook/Building a personal digital library|personal digital library]]' on your computer.

{| class="wikitable"

{| class="wikitable"

|'''Activity Time''' - As a part of using this tool-kit to learn FOSS tools and create OER, you will be accessing and creating many documents / files. It is necessary for you to organize these files carefully on your computer so that you can access them easily later. You should create a folder on your computer with the <name of the topic> that you would like to create OER on; this can have sub folders for ‘Text OER’, ‘Image OER’ and ‘Audio Video OER’ for saving your save your text, image, audio and video files respectively. By organizing your files and folders carefully on any topic, you are creating what can be termed as a ‘Personal Digital Library’ on that topic. Having personal digital libraries allows you to access and re-use OER easily and effectively. You could instead create sub folders for different sub-topics for your topic and save your files based on the sub topic. For instance, the topic 'energy' could serve as the name of your folder, within which you could create sub-folders for heat, light, magnetism, electricity etc. You should think about the way you would want to access your OER later, and create the sub-folders (and sub sub-folders) on basis of this hierarchy.

|'''Activity Time''' - As a part of using this tool-kit to learn FOSS tools and create OER, you will be accessing and creating many documents / files. It is necessary for you to organize these files carefully on your computer so that you can access them easily later. You should create a folder on your computer (this could be under your 'home' folder or your 'documents' folder) with the <name of the topic> that you would like to create OER on; this can have sub folders for ‘Text OER’, ‘Image OER’ and ‘Audio Video OER’ for saving your save your text, image, audio and video files respectively. By organizing your files and folders carefully on any topic, you are creating what can be termed as a ‘Personal Digital Library’ on that topic. Having personal digital libraries allows you to access and re-use OER easily and effectively.  

You could instead create sub folders for different sub-topics for your topic and save your files based on the sub topic. For instance, the topic 'energy' could serve as the name of your folder, within which you could create sub-folders for heat, light, magnetism, electricity etc. You should think about the way you would want to access your OER later, and create the sub-folders (and sub sub-folders) on basis of this hierarchy. Searching for files later becomes easier if you have categorised them and then organised them in folders based on these categories.

 

As a teacher, you could also have the 'academic year' as the base folder, within which you could create the OER folders and sub folders. This way, when you begin a new year (2017-18), you can simply copy the folder of the previous academic year (2016-17) with the new year (2017-18) as the folder name. You can then add, modify or delete files in the sub folders within this year folder as per your requirements for the new year.  

In the last chapter on ‘Publishing OER’, we will explain how you can upload these resources on the world wide web, which can be considered as the ‘Global Digital Library’ accessible to anyone with connectivity.

In the last chapter on ‘Publishing OER’, we will explain how you can upload these resources on the world wide web, which can be considered as the ‘Global Digital Library’ accessible to anyone with connectivity.

|}

|}

=== Accessing text OER repositories ===

=== Accessing text OER repositories ===

An OER creation process begins with reuse of existing OER; the Internet is a rich source of text OER. It is important to access OER while creating your own because you cannot use content not licensed for reuse.  You could either access popular known OER repositories or you could search the internet for resources you want.  A browser is needed for accessing the internet, a free and open source browser is [[Learn_Firefox|Mozilla Firefox]].

An OER creation process should begin with reuse of existing OER; the Internet is a rich source of text OER. It is important to access OER while creating your own because you cannot use content not licensed for reuse.  You could either access popular known OER repositories or you could search the internet for resources you want.  A browser is needed for accessing the internet, [[Learn_Firefox|Mozilla Firefox]] is a free and open source web browser.  

====Search from known repositories====

====Search from known repositories====

One method of accessing existing OER is to search some text repositories.  The most popular text OER repository is the digital encyclopedia, Wikipedia (image 1). You can search for your topic in Wikipedia, by simply typing this text in the search bar. We will do this for ‘Digital Story Telling’ (DST) which is the OER proposed to be created as an exemplar by this tool-kit (image 2).

One method of accessing existing OER is to search some text repositories.  The most popular text OER repository is the digital encyclopedia, Wikipedia (image 1). You can search for your topic in Wikipedia, by simply typing this text in the search bar. We will do this for ‘Digital Story Telling’ (DST) which is the OER proposed to be created as an exemplar by this tool-kit (image 2).