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www.open.edu/openlearn

I have not used this OER before but it was the only one on the list that had anything remotely related to Media Studies on it so I thought I'd look at it in closer detail.  Having explored the site in depth it won't be something that I can use, however. Media Studies A Level tends to be so specific in its content and methods of assessment that it is really difficult to find useful and relevant material online.  We would spend more time looking for it than I would spend making it, and so I tend to make most things myself.  I've also found that quite a lot of content from this particularly OER is geared more towards undergraduate level.  Finally - Media Studies is ever evolving and so materials and documents become obsolete quickly.  For example, the first 'most popular' document on this OER related to Media Studies is a 'Brief History of Advertising' which was made in 2007 and thus rather out of date now and so not something that I could use with my students as much of the content pre-dates current methods of online advertising and marketing.

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www.freetech4teachers.com

Free Tech 4 Teachers provides teachers with free websites and resource guides for using appropriate technology in the classroom. It is a blog run by Richard Byrne, an ex social studies teacher in the USA.  His blog has won numerous awards, he's a Google Certified Teacher and gives presentations and Ted talks all over the world.

I particularly like this OER because is relevant to what I do in the classroom.  Richard updates it daily and I follow his updates on Facebook.  Every morning on the tube on the way into college I check out his latest updates to see if there is anything relevant for me that day.

His blog is particularly useful for us for the Foundation and Advanced Portfolio research and planning blogs that students to have keep and update.  He provides really useful ideas for using new and interesting ways of presenting work to blogs.  This is how I found Padlet, which is what this Training Guide is made in.

He reviews online content himself and then posts the most useful / informative in lists for teachers to explore themselves. For example, below is a blog about the 22 most useful videos for getting students to improve their writing.

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www.theory.org.uk

This is an excellent OER that is produced by a known media theorist David Gauntlett.  He has used his website to provide links, resources and publications to aid the teaching and learning around Media Education since 1997.  His website promotes his books and other materials that can be purchased, and includes small sections of this written texts that can be reproduced. He makes youtube videos that explain theories and theoretical ideas that can be used in the classroom.  I have used several of these when exploring his ideas around 'Making is Connecting'.  As he has produced this content for teachers to use in classrooms there doesn't not appear to be any issues around copyright infringement.

There are also downloadable teaching resources, including the 'theory trading cards' below. These can be downloaded and printed onto card to use with students in the class, or students can use them to aid their revision.

These materials are provided copyright-free and can be used and adapted as many times as we like.  The Theory Trading Cards can be bought online in hard copy.

I have used these theory trading cards in class and have also adapted the idea to include new theorists for different parts of our curriculum.

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Open Educational Resources (or OERs as they are referred to) are freely available, open license documents and media that can be useful for

Teaching, Learning and Assessment in the classroom, as well as research.
OERs could include:
* courses
* modules
* quizzes
* lectures
* homework assignments
* labs
* classroom activities
* games
* simulations

Where did the OER movement come from?
It originated in response to a push for more sharing in academic spheres, as a way of pushing against restrictive copyright, to avoid duplication of ideas and materials, and as a way of making efficiency savings.

OERs related to my discipline (Media Studies) are driven by and created by communities of like-minded individuals. It encourages collaboration between teachers of all levels of Media Studies, is stimulating and engaging for me as a practitioner who has produced OERs for the last 8 years. I've used it as a way of establishing myself within the Media Studies community which had lead to me giving presentations and conference papers.  It has boosted my profile and reputation.  I also value the opportunity to get feedback from my peers.

Copyright
The word 'collaboration' under-pins Media Studies as a subject.  Teachers within the Media Education community share and collaborate continually.  Many likely break copyright by sharing material that they produce for their students with other teachers in other colleges.  The materials that I have produced and shared I allow others to use but I require them to state that the copyright is owned by City and Islington College.  I place a footer at the bottom of anything that I share outside the college stating this.  I am careful that the content of my documents and resources do not in themselves break copyright (see note on using Google images below).

The owners of the sites that I use (not OER #3 as I've not actually used this) openly allow their material to be reproduced and shared without there being any copyright infringement. David Gauntlett (owner of Theory.org.uk) is a freelance Media practitioner, as is Richard Byrne (owner of Tech4teachers).  Both of their websites state that copying is permitted.  I cannot see how this can infringe on any copyright restrictions within Candi if the original material that I use does not carry copyright restrictions, however I'm sure it's more complicated than this.

The college's policy on 'The Internet' and copyright is very vague, by it's own admission.  It refers to the use of URLs and Youtube as 'grey areas' and so there does not appear to be any specific clear guidance on how to tackle this.  It states that staff and student should 'avoid obvious breaches of copyright such as taking images directly from Google' but it doesn't really consider how content from websites that is made for teaching would fit into the copyright rules. One would have to trust, in a way, that the content of materials made specifically for teachers to download and use is produced with copyright infringement in mind. For example, I never take images from Google Images without checking the box that says 'labelled for noncommercial reuse with modification'.