Guide: Open Educational Resources (OER) in the Spirit of Open Science and a FAIR Data Culture

The FAIR principles and Openness play a central role in research data management (RDM), which is why they receive greater attention in the development and establishment of corresponding competencies and in the creation of teaching and learning materials. The concept of OER, or Open Educational Resources has been established as a component of Open Science. This creates a framework in which content is made (ideally) freely available for reuse. Creating OER not only offers financial benefits in terms of funding and project proposals, but also high visibility for both the materials and training programs, as well as for the authors. However, it also brings forth a multitude of questions and challenges that educators or instructors must address.

The handbook presented here was developed in cooperation with Open Education Austria Advanced. It outlines the path of an open educational resource from the initial idea and didactic planning, through utilization and adaptation, to publication.

The background of this collaboration is a cross-regional exchange between representatives of the doctoral training program "Data Train–Training in Research Data Management and Data Science" (U Bremen Research Alliance), the certificate program "Data Steward" (University of Vienna), and the certificate program "Research Data Management" (TH Köln, ZBIW, ZB MED, and the state initiative fdm.nrw) regarding part-time and structured training courses for RDM. As a task force of the Sub-Working Group on Training/Education of the Research Data Working Group of DINI/nestor, various approaches and concepts are presented and discussed. Common elements include the target groups, which include employees from research-related infrastructure facilities (e.g., libraries, data centers, or research funding) - so-called central or generic data stewards - as well as multipliers from research or departments - including both decentralized or embedded data stewards as well as doctoral students and researchers. Another connecting aspect is the collaboration with internal and external educators or presenters, who shape the RDM-related programs and courses and particularly create the teaching and learning materials for the target groups.

Adapted from: Guideline for the Creation of Open Educational Resources, Claudia Zimmermann, Kristina Neuböck, Michael Kopp, CC BY 4.0, Open Education Austria.

German version available on Zenodo, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7057712