TeachCenter-Plugin for Open Educational Resources (OER)

Since November 2020, the policy on Open Educational Resources (available in German) (OER for short) has been applied at Graz University of Technology. The purpose of this guideline is to present TU Graz's OER policy for the promotion of open educational resources.

With the OER plugin in the TeachCenter, OER-certified teachers can manage Open Educational Resources (OER) that are directly related to a TU Graz TeachCenter course. The files are automatically transferred to OERhub.at, where anyone can search them. All OER-certified teachers can upload files after a one-time activation of the plugin.

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General information on the OER plugin

What is the TeachCenter OER plugin and who can use it?

The OER plugin in the TeachCenter allows you to manage and publish files that are Open Educational Resources, i.e. openly licensed. The plugin is connected to the OERhub, which means that the metadata of the uploaded files can be publicly searched via the OERhub and your OER will reach a wider audience. These files can also be videos, which have been uploaded via TUbeDrop.

If you create OER for teaching that are not directly related to a TeachCenter course (presentations etc.), you can use the OER repository by the TU Graz library to transfer your files to the OERhub.at. It is then not necessary to upload the files to the TeachCenter and release them again via the plugin.

The OER plugin is activated for all teachers at TU Graz who have acquired an OER certification. At TU Graz you can obtain this certificate via the in-house training.

Receiving access to the plugin

Using the OER plugin in the TeachCenter

Uploading files and setting the licence

When you upload a file to the TeachCenter, you can set its licence. This licence information is transferred, when uploading, to the repository, but can also be changed later in the file settings or in the OER plugin.

Activate the editing mode in your TeachCenter course (slider at the top right: Edit).
Click on Add Activity or Resource in the desired section. Select File from the pop-up menu and click Add.
Name the file. In the Select Files section, click on the small file icon. A pop-up window for file upload opens.
Adding a new file
Click on Select file to select the desired file from your computer.
You can now specify author and licence in the upload window.
Select a licence during upload
Click Save and go to the course.

Note: Videos that you upload via TUbeDrop cannot be provided with a licence when uploading. This is only possible directly in the OER plugin. Click More - OER in the main menu and select the licence directly for the relevant video file (card) in the top right-hand corner of the settings (gear icon).

If you have dragged and dropped a file into the course, you can adjust the licence directly in the settings of the respective activity.

Click on the three dots > Edit settings next to the file to open the activity settings.
Edit settings of a file
Click on the file in the Select Files section. The file menu opens as described above, where you can change author and licence.
Select a licence

The licence information set during file upload is only visible to those who have editing rights in the course and can change the file. To make the licence visible to students as well, you have the following options:

Insert the licence information directly into the file, e.g. in the footer. Keep in mind the TASL rule for correct licensing information for OER.
Add the licence information to the description of the file in the activity settings. Don't forget to tick the box Show description in course so that your students can see the description.
If you host videos on YouTube, you can select the licence "Creative Commons" in the settings on YouTube and also add the corresponding licence to the video description.

Overview of the OER plugin

Once you are registered as an OER-certified teacher, you can use the plugin in TeachCenter via the main menu: More - OER.

OER in the main menu via More - OER — OER in the main menu

All OERs that are set to “release” in the TeachCenter will be uploaded to a library repository at regular intervals. The date of the next upload can be seen directly in the plugin. This makes it easier for other teachers to find your OER. You can also search other teachers' files on OERhub.at.

This is a box informing one about the next release date. It says the day, date, time and the hours, minutes, seconds remaining until the next release — next release date

All files in your TeachCenter course are listed in the plugin as a list or on cards. You can see at a glance whether all the necessary information for release has been added and whether the file has already been flagged for release or has already been published. Besides documents, videos uploaded to your TC course via TUbeDrop can also be published.

This is the overview of the OER plugin. There are cards of each upload in your TC course. Above there are some options to choose from: all elements, search title, course metadate, preferences, default and card. — overview of the oer plugin

Manage file metadata and release files

Some metadata is automatically collected, e.g. file names, course metadata and licences.

If the message Not all requirements for release are met is displayed on the tile for a file, this means that mandatory metadata is still missing. Click on the gear icon and complete at least the missing mandatory fields (file name, author, licence, context).

Card with gear icon to edit the file — Card with gear icon

Metadata consist of title, abstract, context, licence, person(s), tags, language and resource type — Setting the metadata

By ticking the item Marked for release, the file will be added to the library catalogue the next time it is uploaded. You can also ignore files if they are not to be published.

Two checkboxes: Mark for Release or ignore — Release or ignore

Settig default values and course metadata

If you often produce OER with similar metadata (e.g. always the same subject area or licence), you also have the option of defining a default setting that is automatically applied to all files. To do this, click on Preferences directly in the OER plug-in at the top right.

A menu opens in which you can define default values that are applied to all new files when they are edited for the first time.

Preferences may consist of Context, LIcence, Person(s), Tags, Language, Resource Type, ÖFOS — Preferences

Despite the default settings, you can enter other metadata for individual files by clicking on the gear icon on the file card. If you want to reset a file to its default settings, you can also do this by clicking on the gear icon next to the file, scrolling down and clicking Reset.

Button Reset to preferences — Reset to preferences

Each file also has course metadata, i.e. information about the course(s) in which this file is used.

By clicking on the Course Metadata button, you can see in which course(s) the file is used. Some metadata are read automatically from TUGRAZonline. If you are not satisfied with these, you can also overwrite the course metadata (e.g. add a description of the contents and learning objectives).

Course metadata consist of Title, Structure, Content, Objective, Organisation, Language, Lecturer. They can all be overwritten with a checkbox after the field. — Edit course metadata

You can also exclude the metadata of a course by ticking the corresponding box. This means that this course information will not be added to the file when uploading.

Help & Contact

The OER Canvas helps plan and create OER!

For questions on TeachCenter and the OER plugin: tc@tugraz.at

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0 International

TU Graz Educational Technology