The launch of two new Deakin OERs

The Deakin Library has recently launched two new Open Educational Resources (OERs) on the Pressbooks platform. Developed through Deakin’s OER Grant program, the OER textbooks examine Long COVID and workplace role-play scenarios.

OERs are resources that are made available with an open license, such as a creative commons license or a public domain license. Rather than being a static resource, like a print textbook that you get from a commercial publisher, with an OER you can change the resource to fit your needs, changing the content to fit a specific cohort of students. OERs don’t have to be text based, they can vary in format including videos, quizzes, simulations, or 3D models.

Take a moment to explore our latest OER offerings.

The aim of Enabling and Optimising Recovery from COVID-19 is to provide health professionals and other caregivers with improved knowledge and skills for working with people recovering from COVID-19 infection or experiencing Long COVID. As an OER text, the book is freely available to anyone with an internet connection, which enables more people to benefit from the multimedia resources it contains. This also means that additional chapters and updates can be made to the material at any time – which is particularly important in this fast-moving field.

This book arose from collaborative work between Deakin University and Western Health, which was initiated in 2020 in response to growing numbers of people presenting with what we now recognise as Long COVID. The content was developed in partnership with clinicians, researchers, academics and consumers.

Five personas have been developed to support the learning activities in the book. These personas are extended case studies which describe in detail the impact of Long COVID on five fictional patients. The personas were co-written with people living with Long COVID to ensure they accurately reflected their lived experience. In coming months, additional chapters will be published within the book, created from ongoing partnerships with colleagues within Deakin University, other institutions and in the broader community.

The author, Dr Danielle Hitch, is a Senior Research Fellow from Occupational Science and Therapy, currently in a joint appointment with Western Health.

Workplace Role Play Scenarios: Practice Navigating Difficult Conversations, Negotiation and Mediation is an eBook designed to provide a range of workplace role-plays that can be utilised for experiential learning covering a range of challenging workplace scenarios.

The scenarios have been designed to provide an opportunity for the participants to fully put themselves in the shoes of the people that they are role-playing. Engaging with these scenarios through role-play gives learners the chance to reflect on and learn from their experience. Each scenario includes the context, instructions on how to facilitate the role-plays, observer briefs (optional), and individual and seminar group debrief and reflection questions. The questions can be adapted to suit relevant curriculum theoretical concepts and ideas.

As an OER, the eBook provides a free resource that participants can use to apply the knowledge they are learning in lectures into practical, relevant and engaging role-play exercises. It also ensures the resources provided in the seminars are accessible to all participants not only because it’s free, but also to suit different learning styles and needs. 

The author, Dr Sarah Steen, is a Lecturer in the Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Law and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, with twelve years’ experience teaching undergraduate and postgraduate units across areas of Human Resource Management, Organisational Behaviour, and Management. 

You can learn more about OER in the Deakin LibGuides, including information about open teaching practice, adopting and adapting OERs, and creating OERs. You can find other Deakin open books on the CAUL OER Collective Catalogue along with resources developed by other Australian institutions.