This document discusses open educational resources (OER) for medical education. It defines OER as free, publicly available materials that can be used, adapted and redistributed under open licenses. The document provides numerous examples of OER, including research articles, databases, images, videos, textbooks and other materials available for medical and health topics. It highlights how OER can be adapted to different contexts and languages. The benefits of OER include saving time and money while improving quality of education through collaboration and peer review.

1. Open educational resources
for medical education
Kathleen Ludewig Omollo
International Program Manager, Office of Enabling Technologies
Medical School Information Services, University of Michigan
April 25, 2013, St. Paul Hospital MMC, Addis Ababa
Slides at: http://openmi.ch/apr2013-sphmmc
Except where otherwise noted, this work is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. Copyright 2013 The Regents of the University of Michigan.
Image CC:BY Jason Engling, Univeristy of Michigan (Flickr).

2. Developing expertise
Image CC:BY Sherrie Thai (Flickr)
You have to learn/teach a significant
amount of medical knowledge and
skills.
There are millions of instructional
materials to support the process.
2

3. But there may be barriers ($, ICT, ©)
Possible barriers:
• Require Internet connection to access
• Require a computer or electricity to
access
• Charge fee to access
• Prohibit copying or adaptations
(universal default)
• Be designed for different context
3
Image CC:BY Phil Roeder (Flickr)

4. Which ones are accessible, relevant? 4
Image CC:BY Steven Depolo (Flickr)

5. Image CC:BY-SA opensourceway (Flickr)
Free
Public
Under some licenses to use, adapt, redistribute
Open Educational Resources (OER) 5

6. OER: Research Articles for Health 6
Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences is a quarterly journal published by Jimma
University. (http://www.ejhs.ju.edu.et/index.php)
African Journals Online (AJOL) includes 133 journals in the broad based
medical sciences. (http://www.ajol.info/)
African Journal of Reproductive Health is a published by the Women's Health
and Action Research Centre in Nigeria (http://www.bioline.org.br/rh)
POPLINE for reproductive health articles and reports (http://www.popline.org/)
BioMed Central includes 251 peer-review journals for science and medicine
(http://www.biomedcentral.com/)
PubMed Central (PMC) and PubMed Central Europe contains government-
funded research (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/, http://europepmc.org/)
Public Library of Science (PLOS) publishes seven journals in the biomedical
sciences, including one on neglected tropical diseases (http://www.plos.org/)
British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open (http://bmjopen.bmj.com/)

7. OER: Databases with Health Facts 7
UNData can be used to access and search statistical data collected by United
Nations divisions and organization (http://data.un.org/)
World Bank Open Data includes 8,000 indicators across economic, social,
political, and geographical dimensions. (http://data.worldbank.org/)
Millennium Development Goals Indicators presents official data, definitions,
methodologies, and sources for more than 60 indicators to measure progress
towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). (http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/
mdg/Default.aspx)
World Health Organization Global Health Observatory for country-level data
on priority health topics (http://www.who.int/research/en/)

8. Gray’s
Anatomy,
published
1918
(expired
copyright,
in
public
domain.)
Courtesy
of
Henry
Gray
OER: Medical Images and Illustrations 8
Gray’s Anatomy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
List_of_images_and_subjects_in_Gray%27s_Anatomy
Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/
Wiki Premed
http://www.wikipremed.com/image_archive.php
Public Health Image Library (PHIL)"
http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/home.asp
Bassett Collection of Stereoscopic Images of Human
Anatomy
http://lane.stanford.edu/biomed-resources/bassett/
index.html
Johns Hopkins University Public Health Images
http://ocw.jhsph.edu/index.cfm/go/find.browse#images

9. OER: Videos and Animations 9
Open.Michigan Initiative at the University of Michigan
http://youtube.com/user/openmichigan
OER Africa Initiative of the South African Institute for Distance Education
http://youtube.com/user/oerafrica
Global Health Media Project http://globalhealthmedia.org/newborn/videos/
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
http://www.youtube.com/user/knustoer
University of Cape Town http://www.youtube.com/user/HealthOERUCT
Clinical Skills Online http://www.youtube.com/user/sgulcso
World Medical School http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldMedicalSchool
The Neuro-Ophthalmology Virtual Education Library http://novel.utah.edu/
Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/science/healthcare-and-medicine

10. OER: Textbooks for Basic Sci. and Health 10
African Virtual University http://oer.avu.org/
Connexions http://www.cnx.org/
Saylor.org http://www.saylor.org/books/
Open Stax http://openstaxcollege.org/
College Open Textbooks http://www.collegeopentextbooks.org/
US National Library of Medicine Bookshelf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books *
Global Library of Women’s Medicine http://www.glowm.com *
*Free to access, but all resources in collection are not licensed as OER

11. OER: Assorted health materials 11
Open.Michigan Initiative at the University of Michigan http://open.umich.edu/
OER Africa Initiative of Saide http://www.oerafrica.org/healthoer
MedEdPORTAL http://www.mededportal.org/
Curriculum Organizer for Reproductive Health http://core.arhp.org/
University of Nottingham http://unow.nottingham.ac.uk
Sharing in Health http://www.sharinginhealth.org/
Our Med http://ourmed.org/
Health Education and Training in Africa http://www8.open.ac.uk/africa/heat/
OER Commons http://www.oercommons.org/
Open CourseWare Consortium http://ocwconsortium.org/courses
MERLOT http://healthsciences.merlot.org/

12. Image CC:BY Paul Albertella (Flickr)
OER enable revisions, remixes… 12

13. such as copies…
Image CC:BY-SA opensourceway (Flickr)
13

14. to online, ofine, semi-connected, print… 14

15. and translations…
Image CC:BY NC SA Tobias Mikkelsen (Flickr)
15

16. Image CC:BY Tome Loh (Flickr)
or other transformations. 16

17. e.g. Converting formats from laptop…
Image CC:BY NC University of Ghana
17

18. http://open.umich.edu/blog/2012/01/31/
mobile-a-prototype-spurred-by-the-hype/
To mobile,
Image CC:BY NC University of Ghana
18

19. 19Caesarean
SecCon
OER
Module,
CC
BY-­‐NC
University
of
Ghana
and
Dr.
N.
Cary
Engleberg.
E.g. Converting voiceovers from others...
Image CC:BY NC University of Ghana and Cary Engleberg
19

20. 20Caesarean
SecCon
OER
Module,
CC
BY-­‐NC
University
of
Ghana
and
Dr.
N.
Cary
Engleberg.
To local context by local experts.
Image CC:BY NC St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medial College (Ethiopia),
University of Ghana, Cary Engleberg
(placeholder to Lia)
20

21. Image CC:BY-NC-SA Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology
It is difcult to nd relevant materials
When you look in
textbooks it’s difficult to
find African cases.
[S]ometimes it can be
confusing when you see
something that you see
on white skin so nicely
and very easy to pick up,
but on the dark skin it has
a different manifestation
that may be difficult to
see.
Professor at Partner Institution in
Ghana
21

22. “African universities
struggle to have access
to information. If we have
information, why do we
not also share it as part
of a pool of universities
to exchange information for
the purpose of improved
learning.”
Dean at Partner Institution
in Ghana
Networks for building, scaling capacity
Image CC:BY-SA opensourceway (Flickr)
22

23. “We have limited resources
but because of the Internet,
we can share. The South
has diseases [the Global
North] knows nothing
about. Our materials are
relevant to us and in the
North.”
Professor at Partner
Institution in South Africa
Enable multi-direction knowledge transfer
Image CC:BY tuppus (Flickr)
23

24. So, what makes these
Open Educational
Resources (OER)?
24

25. 25

26. 26

27. What
is
a
license?
Licenses
let
people
know
how
they
may
use
a
copyrighted
work.
Image
CC:BY-­‐SA
lumaxart
(Flickr)
27

28. Image CC:BY OpenCage (Wikimedia Commons)
Open licenses signal intent 28

29. Image CC:BY Orin Zebest (Flickr)
All rights reserved limits use, automatically
29

30. Open licenses mean some rights reserved
Image CC:BY-SA opensourceway (Flickr)
Learn more at open.umich.edu/share/license
30

31. All
Rights
Reserved
(default)
31
“All rights reserved” is the default. 31

32. Option: Creative Commons
(two C’s instead of 1 C)
(www.creativecommons.org/licenses/)
32
“Some rights reserved” is an alternative. 32

33. Why
use
or
create
OER?
• Time
(build
on
others’
effort)
• Money
(free
to
access)
• Quality
of
content
(more
eyes
to
review)
• RecogniCon
&
collaboraCon
(worldwide
visibility
of
authors)
33

34. Image CC:BY-SA opensourceway (Flickr)
Dispelling myths and preconceptions
Myth that open content is separate from regular
materials development
Myth that open licenses cannot coexist with
peer review
Myth that open licenses cannot coexist with
print or commercialized complements
Authors misunderstanding copyright or open
licenses (e.g. adding other barriers to use)
34

35. Outcomes: Summary from External Eval.
“The African Health Open Educational Resources (OER)
Network has shown that:
• quality and cost-effectiveness are neither mutually
exclusive nor unattainable…
• The current impact study finds examples of direct and
significant indirect savings through OER…
• Enhanced quality is evidenced in the accounts of academics
and students as well as in new quality assurance peer-
review mechanisms.
• OER developed through collaborative networks can lead
to more productive teaching and learning...”
– 2012 report by independent evaluator,
see also openmi.ch/blog-ahon-complete
35
Image CC:BY-SA opensourceway (Flickr)

36. Get started with OER
Image CC:BY Willi Heidelbach (Flickr)
• Find and use existing resources online:
http://openmi.ch/-ContentSearch
• Find and use existing resources from the
SPHMMC library without an Internet
connection: On your computer connect to
“Library Box” wireless network, open web
browser, click browse files. (in progress)
• Learn how to create and your own work:
http://openmi.ch/om-share
36

37. Image
CC:BY-­‐SA
lumaxart
(Flickr)
Opportuni8es
to
Collaborate
Quarterly
email
newsleZer,
with
latest
learning
materials
and
news
from
health
educators
and
students
from
across
sub-­‐
Saharan
Africa
openmi.ch/healthoernetwork-­‐newsleZer
37

38. Share your knowledge,
Build on others’ knowledge,
Gain new knowledge in return,
Increase the visibility and impact of
your work.
Key: What we create is relevant to others
Image CC:BY Alan Cleaver (Flickr)
38

39. For more info:
kludewig@umich.edu
open.umich.edu
Download this presentation:
openmi.ch/apr2013-sphmmc
Presentation by Kathleen Ludewig Omollo. Copyright 2013 The Regents
of the University of Michigan. Except where otherwise noted, this work is
available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
Closing 39