Contact

If you have any questions about the project or its services, please contact:

Website of the overall project

Best Practice and OER

One focus of the SOUVER@N project is the creation of a best practice collection on the topic of ‘digital teaching and learning’. This collection has been organised into different areas, which are made available here.

The collection of teaching and learning concepts summarises many of the already widespread collections in a clear document for reuse (see 1.).

OER also represent a form of ‘best practice’, as they are ideally suited to be integrated into one's own (digital) teaching, whether as a source of inspiration, material or otherwise. Under 2. and 3. various OER are compiled and made available in a bundled form.

Finally, there is a note on how to find more OER (see 4.).

Please note that most of the links on this page refer to resources outside the university website!

1. teaching-learning concept collections: a compilation

Teaching-learning concepts, materials and practical tips for the design of (digital) university teaching

There are many collections of teaching and learning concepts as well as tips and inspiration for designing (digital) teaching and learning scenarios, but they are available in very different formats, have different target groups and are often not easy to find.

We have therefore compiled this collection as part of the SOUVER@N joint project, which is intended to serve as a source of inspiration for anyone interested in designing and developing their own teaching.

To the collection of teaching and learning concepts (redirection to twillo.de)

This collection brings together teaching and learning concepts, freely available materials and examples of good practice from the SOUVER@N network universities in a centralised, easily accessible and clearly structured format. It also contains practical tips for the further development of (digital) university teaching, podcasts on teaching-related issues, instructions and support for lesson planning as well as ideas and inspiration for the implementation of (digital) teaching scenarios.

A small note:
A collection of materials such as this is never complete in its development and is constantly subject to change. We therefore welcome active participation in the further development of this collection. Anyone who would like to provide us with materials or links to websites is welcome to contact us!

Kontakt:
/ AP2-Team C 

Lizence notice:
„Lehr-Lernkonzepte, Materialien und Praxistipps für die Gestaltung von (digitaler) Hochschullehre” (last updated Okt. 2024) was licensed under CC 0 1.0

2. inspiration and materials for teaching and learning - free educational materials
OER of the network partners at twillo.de

Open educational materials can be easily adapted to your own teaching and in this way promote exchange between individual stakeholders, within subject areas or even across disciplines between different institutions.

In (and beyond), educational materials are constantly being created that are increasingly being published as Open Educational Resources (OER) (more information on OER can be found here).

Click here for all OER materials from the network partners

This dynamic link provides an overview of all OER materials that have been created to date (updated daily) at twillo for further use and thus impressively documents the OER activities in the network. The compilation contains a colourful variety of offers that these universities and especially their teaching staff make available to the public.

How can the OER be used?
Due to the wide range of materials, ‘everything’ can be found here: concrete working materials, courses, didactic instructions, handouts, guidelines, etc.; video, audio, texts, worksheets, textbooks, scripts, presentations and much more from a wide variety of subject areas.
As of May 2024, there are already over 1600 materials from the network. Accordingly, there are very different possible uses, as self-study material, to supplement your own teaching, as a basis for your own teaching, etc.

Take a look and help yourself to the materials on offer. In accordance with the respective licence conditions, these can be easily reused and used for your own needs.

3. OER treasure trove - Useful and worthwhile reading about OER

The dissemination and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) has been increasing in recent years - partly due to various funding programmes. The amount of materials designed to support the creation, (re-)use and dissemination of OER is also growing continuously. There is now an almost unmanageable abundance of publications, information brochures, handouts, instructions, videos, podcasts, presentations, etc. on the ‘right’ way to deal with OER.

In the following, we have compiled some materials on the topic of OER that we have personally found to be particularly helpful, informative, original and/or worth reading and which we would like to make available here. Most of the artefacts listed in this collection are licensed as OER and freely available on the internet.

A small note: A collection like this is never complete and only represents a fraction of the available informative and helpful support materials for dealing with OER.
We therefore welcome active participation in the further development and updating of this collection. Anyone who would like to provide us with materials or links to websites is very welcome to get in touch! Contact: for SOUVER@N / AP2-Team C; as of September 2024.

These materials are shared here in the spirit of cooperation for all interested parties.

Info & Support - Compact knowledge

Beginners

Kobusch & Halm (2023). Open Educational Resources erstellen. CC BY 4.0.

This checklist will help you to consider the most important points when planning your material. It covers legal as well as formal, didactic and technical criteria.

Zimmermann, Neuböck & Kopp (2022). Leitfaden für die Erstellung von Open Educational Resources. Informationen und praktische Übungen für Hochschullehrende. Open Education Austria, Graz. CC BY 4.0.

This guide provides a brief, yet comprehensive and clearly structured overview of the most important aspects of OER. This guide is particularly suitable as an introduction to the topic of OER.

Advanced

Mollenhauer (2021). OERinfo – Informationsstelle OER. Der Gold-Standard für OER-Materialien. CC BY 4.0.

„Der Gold-Standard für OER-Materialien“ includes a book and other articles on the creation of OER. Compiled by OERinfo. 

Scherer (2023). Handreichung: Veröffentlichung von Lehr-Lern-Materialien als OER“. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Here you will find information on Creative Commons licences, tips on copyright and where and how you can publish your materials. The document was developed for the HHU, but is also largely suitable for the UOL. The handout was originally developed for SeLL at HHU Düsseldorf.

Till Kreutzer (2015). Open Content - Ein Praxisleitfaden zur Nutzung von Creative-Commons-Lizenzen. CC BY-SA 4.0
The guide explains what CC licences are, how they are used and what the rights and obligations of authors and users are. 

Experts

Deimann, Neumann & Muuß-Merholz (2015). open-educational-resources.de – Transferstelle für OER - Whitepaper Open Educational Resources (OER) an Hochschulen. CC BY 4.0.

The white paper provides a comprehensive overview of the OER debate in Germany and worldwide. It presents key topics such as educational theory, copyright, business models and infrastructure and outlines possible future developments, some of which are seen as particularly obstructive. Overall, the white paper shows the complexity of the OER topic and the need for cooperation between different stakeholders in order to utilise the potential of OER. For readers interested in the current status and future of OER, the white paper offers a well-founded overview. 

Ebner, Edelsbrunner, Hohla-Sejkora, Koschutnig-Ebner, Nagler, & Schön (2022). OER an der TU Graz 09/22 – Erster Bericht zu offenen Bildungsressourcen (OER) der TU Graz. CC BY 4.0.

This report on the impact of OER first provides a brief review of the development of OER at TU Graz to date, explaining the terms, framework and methods of impact analyses. Subsequently, specific OER activities at TU Graz are presented and developments for selected OER are presented.

Brandhofer, Ebner, Himpsel-Gutermann & Schön (2021). Lehrende zur Erstellung von offenen Bildungsressourcen motivieren: Ideas from the task group OER (4/2021).  CC BY 4.0.

This text explores the question of how university lecturers can be motivated to create OER. It outlines ideas and experiences to support specific OER activities.

Wannemacher, Stein & Kaemena (2023). Offene Bildungsinfrastrukturen – Requirements for an IT infrastructure conducive to OER. All rights reserved.

In winter 2022/2023, the state of development of open educational infrastructures in the field of university teaching was determined as part of a nationwide survey. The survey aims in particular to improve the networking of existing OER portals and tools and to establish and use a generally recognised standard vocabulary for teaching and learning materials.

Mayrberger (ed.) (2016). Fachmagazin Synergie-Praxis OER-Know-how. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

The close collaboration between stakeholders in the field of digitalisation at Universität Hamburg led to the redesign of the specialist magazine ‘Synergie. Digitalisation in Teaching’, which replaced the Hamburg eLearning magazine. The editor is Prof. Dr Kerstin Mayrberger, professor specialising in media didactics at Universität Hamburg's Hamburg Centre for University Teaching and Learning (HUL).

Schön (2023). Veranstaltungsdokumentation: Awareness und Anreizinstrumente für OER (Open Educational Resources). All rights reserved.

On 10 May 2023, twillo and MMKH, in partnership with KNOER, held an online symposium on the topic of ‘Awareness und Anreizinstrumente für OER (Open Educational Resources)’. The detailed and interesting event documentation can be found on this page (below). 

Info & Support - Test, listen & experience

Beginners

Maaß (2021). OERientation, a self-study course with many modules on the basics of OER. CC BY-SA 4.0.

It provides a good introduction to the topic, with lots of detailed information on creation, use, licensing, etc. The project of the Institute for Technical Education and Unviersity Didactics (ITBH) at TU Hamburg-Harburg was developed by Sabrina Maaß.

OERinfo (ed.) (2016). OER Info – is a networking platform for OER. All rights reserved.

There you will find information on OER, a blog, an OER calendar, materials and more.

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) Hannover (2019). OER-Planungshilfe by twillo. CC BY-SA 4.0.

The OER planning tool is a service offered by the Lower Saxony OER platform twillo and supports authors in the conception and creation of their OER materials. The planning tool helps to generate a customised guideline in just a few steps, which supports the creation of high-quality educational materials in the OER standard.

Kobusch & Halm (2023). Open Educational Resources erstellen. CC BY 4.0.

This checklist will help you to consider the most important points when planning your material. It covers legal as well as formal, didactic and technical criteria.

Adcanced

Klimpel (2019). iRights.info für OERinfo – Informationsstelle OER - Bearbeitung frei lizenzierter Inhalte richtig kennzeichnen. CC BY-ND.

Creative Commons licensed materials may - depending on the licence - be reworked and/or integrated into new works. However, re-users must indicate whose works they have used and how they have adapted them. This article explains what to look out for and how to proceed.

Hackl for Open Education Austria  (2020 – 2024). Lehren und Lernen leicht gemacht. All rights reserved.

These pages contain a wealth of useful information (including OER FAQs) and recommended reading on the subject of Open Educational Resources (OER) in a well-structured format.

Pröger & Schrader (2014 -2016). wb-web  Kompetenzen für Erwachsenen- & Weiterbildner*innen –  DIE. All rights reserved.

The portal serves as support for teachers in adult and continuing education in order to create methodically and didactically valuable continuing education programmes.

Experts

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (2022). OER-Strategie. All rights reserved.

On these pages, the BMBF has compiled information on the measures of the OER strategy. What is the background and history of the OER strategy, how were measures derived from it? And above all: What are the goals and intentions of the measures? (...) The BMBF continuously presents its activities in the OER strategy and categorises current initiatives and projects in the context of education.’ (see website). There is also information on funding opportunities.

OER Info (2024). Podcast-Reihe zugehOERt - der Podcast rund um Open Educational Resources. CC-BY 4.0.

This podcast series is all about OER topics. In a recent episode from 2024, for example, Conditions for success for the use of OER at universities (episode 107) are discussed, but the range of topics is very diverse overall. The podcast began in 2015 as a niche podcast and has grown to over 100 episodes to date. A new podcast is currently published about once a month.

Information on the podcast launch can be found on the OER Info website.

Click here for all episodes. 

Tools

Ali, L. (2022). Der convOERter: Lehr- und Lernmaterialien in OER umwandeln. CC BY 4.0.

The convOERter is a web-based tool for the semi-automatic conversion of educational resources into OER. It recognises images in documents in the supported formats .pptx, .docx, .odp or .odt and replaces them with suitable alternatives with OER-compliant referencing and CC licensing. The uploaded files are temporarily stored in order to process images and licence them in an OER-compliant manner. Feedback data is stored anonymously to improve tool development. Ali, L. (2022). The convOERter: Converting teaching and learning materials into OER. CC BY 4.0.

Rotzoll, C. (2017). Creative Commons Mixer (CC Mixer)-  edu-sharing OER hackathon SourceCode on GitHub. CC-BY-SA

Der Creative Commons Mixer (CC Mixer) hilft Nutzenden dabei, kompatible Lizenzen für das Remixen von Inhalten zu ermitteln, indem er verschiedene Creative Commons Lizenzen kombiniert und die resultierenden zulässigen Lizenzen anzeigt. 

The Creative Commons Mixer (CC Mixer) helps users to identify compatible licences for remixing content by combining different Creative Commons licences and displaying the resulting permitted licences

Wikimedia Deutschland (o. J.). Lizenzhinweisgenerator. CC BY 4.0.

The licence notice generator facilitates the legally compliant reuse of images from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons by automatically generating the required licence information.
(Source code is published under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL v3). The code can be viewed on GitHub, downloaded and then modified and republished. All texts of the application are under CC BY 4.0). 

twillo (2022). Rechtsfragen-Quiz. CC BY 4.0.

How fit are you in legal matters concerning your teaching? twillo has developed an OER quiz with 10 questions and explanations that offers some interesting insights. Test your knowledge! Tip: To answer the questions, drag the text field onto the figure with the correct answer (yes/no). 

Legal matters

Horn, J., & ELAN e.V. (2018). Rechtliche Aspekte bei der Verwendung und Erstellung von OER-Material. CC BY-SA 4.0.

When creating and using OER material, teachers are faced with a variety of legal issues. This guide is intended to give them an overview of important legal aspects when using and creating OER material. 

Kreutzer, T. (2015). Open Content - Ein Praxisleitfaden zur Nutzung von Creative-Commons-Lizenzen. CC BY 4.0.

The guide was published by Wikimedia Deutschland, the German Commission for UNESCO and the North Rhine-Westphalia University Library Centre (hbz) in 2015. The intention of the guide is to provide interested individuals and organisations with useful information on the use and application of open content licences.

 

Kreutzer, T., & Fischer, G. (2023). Urheberrecht in der Wissenschaft. Ein Überblick für Forschung, Lehre und Bibliotheken. CC BY-SA 4.0.

This handout deals with the basics and general information as well as typical application scenarios of copyright in teaching, research and publications. 

Kuschel, L. (2020). Schutzgegenstand des Urheberrechts. CC BY-ND 4.0.

This video is about the subject matter of copyright protection. The video uses examples to explain what is protected by copyright and what is not. 

 

Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of NRW (2023). ORCA.nrw: Rechtsinformationen für Lehrende. CC BY-SA 4.0.

ORCA.nrw is a free online portal for OER and supports teachers and learners in the use and creation of OER. Questions about the creation and publication of OER are answered in the legal FAQs. The questions relate to copyright law, data protection law and trade mark law.

Muuß-Merholz (2018). Freie Unterrichtsmaterialien finden, rechtssicher einsetzen, selbst machen und teilen. CC BY-SA 4.0.

In this e-book, the search for free teaching materials and the legal aspects are highlighted and explained. 

 

Kreutzer, T., & Hirche, M. (2017). Rechtsfragen zur Digitalisierung in der Lehre. Ein Praxisleitfaden zum Recht beim E-Learning, OER und Open Content. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Legal issues relating to digitalisation in teaching. A practical guide to the law on e-learning, OER and open content. The guide examines legal aspects relating to OER and open content. 

twillo (2022). Rechtsfragen-Quiz. CC BY 4.0.

How fit are you in legal matters concerning your teaching? twillo has developed an OER quiz with 10 questions and explanations that offers some interesting insights. Test your knowledge! Tip: To answer the questions, drag the text field onto the figure with the correct answer (yes/no). 

Video Tutorials in the series ‘SOUVER@N OER creation: From the idea to the finished material’

The creation and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) has been on the rise in recent years. As a result, there is already a wealth of support materials in a wide variety of formats for the ‘correct’ handling of OER. With the video series ‘SOUVER@N Creating OER: From the idea to the finished material’, we would like to supplement this pool with aspects of OER creation that have so far been less addressed. Our focus is on OER at and for universities.

Various videos have been created, some with accompanying material. A click on the respective title leads directly to the corresponding material. 

Bartkowiak, A., & Schorer, S. (2024). OER an der Hochschule. Eine Einführung für . CC BY 4.0.

The video provides a brief introduction to OER and then explores the question of what significance OER can have for the university. To this end, it identifies features by which OER can be recognised and why the use and creation of OER is useful for both teachers and students and what advantages are associated with it. In addition to the video, the accompanying presentation is also made available, providing easy access to all links from the video.

Kaiser, A. (2024). OER erstellenCC BY 4.0.

The video provides valuable tips on what should be considered for the successful creation of OER. In addition to aspects of creation, the preparation and provision of materials are also taken into account to ensure that the creation process is successful. The underlying presentation slides are also provided for quick access to all the links contained in the video.

Die CC-Lizenzen einfach erklärt und angewendet by Alexandra Bartkowiak and Susanne Schorer for  (2024). CC BY 4.0.

The video explains the open licensing of OER using Creative Commons licences and uses two examples to explain how they can be applied. It explains what CC licences are, how copyright and open licences are connected, what CC licences there are, what they contain, how they are applied and what this can look like in practice.

Bartkowiak, A., & Schorer, S. (2024). Wer darf eine OER-Lizenz vergeben? CC BY 4.0

The video discusses who has the right to decide at universities whether material created may be published as an Open Educational Resource (OER). A distinction is made between different employment groups and whether the works created are classified as free works or works of service. Important factors are the rights of use of the material, which depend on the position of the creators and the context of their work, as well as the moral rights of the author, which exist independently of the rights of use. After watching the video, viewers should be able to apply these concepts to their own working environment and understand whether they can publish material as OER. The video is aimed at people who work or study at universities and are interested in publishing material as an Open Educational Resource, as well as people who want to learn more about the processes and legal requirements related to publishing OER.

Schorer, S. (2024). Warum sind Metadaten wichtig? CC BY 4.0.

The video explores the question of why metadata is particularly important for OER. It distinguishes between necessary and useful data and explains how, where and why this should be part of OER materials. Both the video and the PPT presentation on which it is based are available here for users. The video is accompanied by a corresponding checklist, which complements the video and is helpful when creating metadata for your own OER.

Schorer, S. (2024). OER barrierearm gestalten. CC BY 4.0.

The video explains how accessible materials can be created. It explains why accessibility is particularly important for educational materials and what needs to be considered. An example of an accessible layout is given as well as tips for implementing accessibility and a reference to the associated checklist, which helps to check and implement accessibility in your own materials. Finally, there are tips for further reading and reuse as well as the source reference and a citation recommendation for this video.

Open Educational Practices (OEP)

Koschorreck, J. (2018). Open Educational Practices (OEP). CC BY-SA 3.0

This text presents the concept of Open Educational Practices (OEP) or Open Pedagogy (OP) in a compact and understandable way. OEP is about creating a framework that promotes the use, design and management of open educational resources. Open Educational Practices are understood as part of Open Pedagogy.

Bellinger, F., & Mayrberger, K. (2019). Systematic Literature Review zu Open Educational Practices. CC BY 4.0

Due to the importance of OEP for the current transformation process in the higher education context under the conditions of digitalisation, the article provides a systematic overview of research work on OEP.

BMBF (2022). OER-Strategie – Freie Bildungsmaterialien für die Entwicklung digitaler Bereiche. All rights reserved.

The federal government's OER strategy describes the current status and fields of action for the promotion of OER and the development of OEP. Important milestone on the way to more OER and OEP from 2022.

BMBF (2024). Die Webseite zur OER-Strategie. All rights reserved.

On this website, the BMBF has summarised all the information about the measures of the OER strategy. Quote from the website: ‘With its Open Educational Resources (OER) strategy published in July 2022, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims to create a sustainable OER ecosystem of technologies, services and networking opportunities in order to sustainably strengthen and modernise the German education system. On this website you can gain an insight into the activities of the BMBF: Here you will find all the information about the measures of the OER strategy. What is the background and history of the OER strategy, how were measures derived from it? And above all: What are the objectives and intentions of the measures?
Take a look around: The BMBF continuously presents its activities in the OER strategy and categorises current initiatives and projects in the context of education.’ The contents of this website are unfortunately not openly licenced, but provide a good overview of current developments in the field. 

OER-Policy - Beispiele aus der Praxis

The University of Edinburgh (2021). Open Educational Resources Policy, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Edinburgh was one of the first European universities to adopt an OER policy. It makes it clear that the university supports the use and creation of OER by students and teachers in order to improve the quality of the student experience and contribute to the global collection of knowledge. In addition to the OER policy, this university also offers its own platform for pooling and sharing information on OER.

University of Graz (2020). Open Educational Resources Policy der Universität Graz CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Austria is centrally organised in education, which has facilitated the introduction of OER; the OER initiative has been rolled out nationwide and effectively implemented across the country. The University of Graz is listed here as an example. It recommends and supports the use and creation of OER by members of the university and provides various support services for this purpose.

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (2021). Open Educational Resources (OER) Policy der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, CC BY 4.0.

 With its OER policy, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf has set itself the goal of firmly anchoring open educational materials in its university culture. The intended measures to promote the development and use of OER are presented in this policy.

DIE - Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung (2022). OER-Policy des Deutschen Instituts für Erwachsenenbildung - Leibnitz-Zentrum für Lebenslanges Lernen. All rights reserved.

The DIE supports its employees in preparing and making available work results in the form of Open Educational Resources wherever possible. To this end, OER should be taken into account as early as possible in the conceptualisation of projects, the planning of resources and the formulation of project proposals. This paper presents the key points.

Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Center für lebenslanges Lernen (C3L) (2021). OER-Strategie für die wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung des C3L. All rights reserved.

The Centre for Lifelong Learning is the UOL's academic centre for continuing academic education. The importance of OER is set out in various guiding principles. The policy provides a framework for using and creating open educational resources (OER) to promote digital skills and educational equity. Teachers and learners have the opportunity to customise and network. The cornerstones of the C3L's OER strategy are infrastructure, awareness-raising, content creation, copyright and quality assurance. Particular emphasis is placed on data protection and quality-checked content under CC-BY licences.

Phillipps-Universität Marburg (2024). OER-Policy der Phillipps-Universität Marburg. All irghts reserved.

Philipps-Universität Marburg promotes the use and creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) in order to support equal opportunities and sustainable education. The university provides the necessary infrastructure and support for the creation of OER and is committed to their quality and legal compliance. 

Universität Paderborn (2024). Open Educational Resources (OER)-Policy der Universität Paderborn (mit englischer Übersetzung). All rights reserved.

Paderborn University introduced an OER policy in January 2024 to promote the use and dissemination of freely accessible educational resources (OER). The policy supports sustainable educational processes and complements the university's existing Open Access Policy.

Uni Siegen (2023). OER Policy. CC BY 4.0

The OER policy of the University of Siegen promotes the free exchange of educational resources, supports the publication and use of teaching materials under open licences and provides clear guidelines for their use. It was developed in cooperation with various university committees and strengthens collaboration and innovation in teaching. Further information is available on the OER service pages of the ZFH.

HAWK Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen (2023). OER Policy der HAWK Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst.  CC BY 4.0.

HAWK's OER policy promotes the use and creation of open educational materials, supports publication under open licences and recommends the use of twillo.de as a publication platform. It emphasises correct licensing and open, editable formats.

Infos zur Entwicklung einer Policy

 twillo (2024). OER Policies deutscher Bildungsinstitutionen, CC 0 1.0.

If you would like to view other OER policies in addition to those mentioned, you can find a list of German educational institutions that have adopted an OER policy here (as of August 2024). 

Ebner, M., Schön, S., Atenas, J., Havemann, L., Nascimbeni, F. und Neumann, J. L. (2020). Ressourcen und Werkzeuge für die Entwicklung einer OER-Policy an Hochschulen. CC BY 4.0.

This guidance from TU Graz (and partners) provides practical steps and resources for developing an OER policy for universities. It supports institutions in the strategic implementation of OER and promotes the dissemination of open educational resources.

Last but not least: Where to find OER

You can find a description on how and where to the    find OER on the OER-pages of UOL.

(Changed: 05 Feb 2025)  |  Kurz-URL:Shortlink: https://uol.de/p109227en
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