Floe scenario narratives

Intent: What does the ideal OER behave like?

The goal of these narratives is to articulate a vision of an ideal (inclusively-designed) OER in the context of learner use, and, in so doing, help shape the design of both the presentation and authoring of said materials. It is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of users, uses, features, and functionality, but rather a sketch of possibilities and benefits of future-looking OERs. This is intended to be a living document, adjusted as our understanding of the domain matures.

Scenario one: Sally

Sally is a 35 year old office clerk who loves to learn in her spare time.

...

In the morning before heading off to work, Sally remembers how convenient it was yesterday to be able to read the lecture's transcript instead of having to listen to it verbatim. She prints up the transcript to the next lecture, along with some of the recommended readings, and brings them on her streetcar ride to work to read at her own pace.

Notes

OER uses cases, spliced by experience length and depth

• Single transient learning experience: consuming a snippet of information. E.g., finding the population of the Sweden; getting list of cold symptoms from a Wikipedia article
• Multiple transient learning experiences: aggregated snippets of information. E.g., learner synthesizes a breadth of snippets of information on symptoms and treatments for a cold from Wikipedia + WebMD + Mayo Clinic articles
• Single full session: a whole nugget of content. E.g., a TED talk video, or article on cold care
• Full line learning experience: multiple full sessions designed and intended to be stringed together over time, providing breadth and depth on an single thematic thread. E.g., an online course on immunology, a textbook on Swedish culture
• "Hacked together" learning experience: combinations of the above. E.g., taking an online course, along with researching snippets of supplemental information

Inclusivity goals (wrt to OER material)

• Perceivability + operability: e.g., UIO (to tweak), multi-modal content
• Understandability: e.g., language, culture, appropriate content level
• Discoverability: connecting appropriate content to learners (e.g., search, matching, link sharing)
• Availability: e.g., access to internet, technology
• Portability: e.g., not just "mobile"--available where you need it to be (e-Reader, tablet, paper)