Thread:General Comments (1)

First, let me qualify the comments below by saying that my writing style tends to be fairly minimalist and does not match that of what I have read so far. So, it might not make sense to follow my recommendations too closely. I would tend to reduce this section (i.e. the entire Find chapter) to a table with columns: Name of the repository, category, description, comment, approach to licensing, links to the search facilities, links to the help/documentation/community pages. Federated search engines etc. would be included.


 * As suggested previously, prefer "Find" as a title.
 * Consider omitting the first sentence - "re-use" does not necessarily mean leaving it untouched, and I would hesitate to highlite that option.
 * In general, I would avoid using the word "you" in the text: "This chapter is a guide to finding relevant and appropriate OER in the sea of educational resources now available on the Internet." - that, IMHO, covers the first paragraph.
 * mmmm -- research from the Distance Education world encourages the use of personal pronouns --- a personal tutorial in print approach. Many of these issues are style related -- but I don't have an issue with personal pronouns. --Wayne Mackintosh 21:07, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment below.


 * If the table approach goes any further, include a column for a quality comment. Quality varies across and within all OER collections, but some have a more rigorous approach than others (e.g. MIT OCW vs WikiEducator). A sub-section on quality would be useful (if not coming up later): guidelines on what to look for to get an understanding of the quality approach of the site(s) and implications. A short guide to assessing the quality of individual OER will also be useful.
 * The second paragraph becomes an introduction to the rest of the chapter and specifically the table(s).
 * e.g. "We start with a reminder to look for learning resources produced internally [i.e. within your institution] before searching the Internet using a variety of tools designed to find OER. The rest of the chapter provides tables of OER repositories with the name of the repository, a description, a comment on the approach to quality indicating what to expect and how to use the repository effectively, its licensing approach, and links to the search and help pages."
 * These tables might be best placed in an Appendix - with live versions on WikiEducator.