Top 15 OER to actively engage students in their learning
Amplifying Engagement: The Power of Localized OER to Create an Authentic Learning Experience in Postsecondary Education
For Francophone students across Canada and beyond, Open Educational Resources (OER) in French are unlocking new pathways to learning, empowering communities, and strengthening linguistic diversity in postsecondary education.
The Open Library is home to a growing collection of Francophone OER—free, high-quality learning materials created by educators, for educators and learners. These resources span disciplines from science to humanities, offering students the chance to engage with foundational concepts in their preferred language while supporting institutions in delivering inclusive, culturally relevant, and engaging learning experiences.
With the support of organizations like eCampusOntario, the Open Library continues to expand its French-language offerings—ensuring that Open Education reflects the diversity of its learners. Localized OER may support an authentic learning experience and enhance motivation and engagement. In this blog, we’ll explore a selection of Francophone OER that can be integrated into teaching practices.
Have you adopted an OER that made an impact in your teaching practice? Please share it with us on our Adoption Report which helps us track the impact of OER. Find more gamified OER on the Open Library.
Curated By: Cécile Figuière
1. RCELA: Open Access Teaching Case Review
The Open Access Teaching Case Review (RCELA) is a multidisciplinary repository of practical teaching cases, designed for students and faculty. It is free to use and publish, and accessible to everyone. This review is based on Open Education Policies (PELA) and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), offering authors a rigorous, free peer-review process. The editorial board is diverse and supported by a strong community of reviewers from a wide range of disciplines.
2. Outdoor Learning in Canada
Outdoor learning is an experiential process that takes place primarily outdoors or through exposure to nature, focusing on one or more relationships between humans and the natural environment. This umbrella term includes adventure and environmental learning across four domains, ranked by increasing complexity: recreation, education, development, and therapy.
This resource was translated from the original work Outdoor Learning in Canada to provide additional materials for the Francophone community.
3. Feedback for Teaching Staff
This resource includes an educational activity simulating a learning situation where the student plays the role of evaluator to provide feedback to peers. This formative activity helps student teachers develop feedback skills and apply fundamental principles before doing so with their own pupils. Students provide constructive feedback to colleagues, aligned with task-specific assessment criteria.
4. Synthesis Tools and Resources
This tool is designed to help students complete their final business projects, though it can be applied to projects in any course. Its goal is to provide templates, mini-courses, and documentation to support students in working independently. The guide offers advice and tools for every stage of this exciting journey, applying their learning to real-world problems in professional contexts. Resources help orient projects and provide information throughout the process using sound project management principles and guidelines.
5. Engaging Online Learners: Strategies for Meaningful Learning Experiences
The course Engaging Online Learners provides insights into advanced aspects of student engagement, enabling higher levels of participation and motivation in virtual classrooms. It offers a comprehensive range of examples, strategies, practical activities, and evidence-based tools that have proven effective in enhancing engagement.
6. Versatile Case Studies in Health Sciences
A team of six faculty members at Ontario Tech University developed ten interconnected multidisciplinary case studies exploring health and disease across different life stages within an extended Canadian family. These cases link theoretical concepts, community practice, and knowledge application, supporting students in preparing for their future careers. They can be used in various undergraduate courses to scaffold knowledge through increasingly complex case analyses. This innovative approach applies knowledge to consolidated clinical situations with a critical perspective on biological, behavioural, and sociological dimensions.
7. Health Case Studies
This resource includes eight health case studies, each presenting a patient’s story that shaped best practices in healthcare at the time of publication. Each case contains specific learning objectives to foster learning and facilitate evaluation and application of teaching strategies.
8. Research and Statistics in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour
This resource offers a rich and diverse set of research scenarios accompanied by simulated yet realistic datasets, R analysis scripts, practice questions, and additional resources. All scenarios are inspired by current or recent research conducted in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour at McMaster University.
9. Authentic Immersion through Service Learning
This OER is a French as a Second Language (FSL) teaching resource. It is an adaptable immersion project based on experiential learning and active methods, implemented through community engagement. At its core is the development of French language skills through service learning, enabling students to experience authentic language and culture. Participation helps learners improve linguistic skills while contributing positively to their community.
10. Virtual Simulation Games in Paramedic Care
This series of educational activities includes eight virtual simulation games, available in French and English, for paramedic programmes. These games, with increasing levels of difficulty, support the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Students, placed at the centre of the learning process, can assess their progress in an engaging and interactive environment.
11. Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Framework: Employability Skills and Micro-Credentials
This OER serves as a tool for faculty to engage with experiential learning. It introduces the Francophone Experiential Learning Consortium of Ontario (CAPFO), clarifies the distinction between experiential learning and WIL, and provides the employability skills framework proposed by the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) to help systematise WIL experiences. Readers will also discover principles and guidelines for developing micro-credentials.
12. Linguistic and Cultural Identity Linked to Francophonie
This resource enables B1/B2 learners to undertake a French immersion project through service learning, developing oral and written skills while acting as ambassadors of French in their community. Learners adopt a reflective stance to consider the impact of their actions locally and contribute positively to efforts promoting Francophonie. This resource was created during a sprint organised by eCampusOntario.
13. Trends in Experiential Learning in French in 2023
This report explores trends and challenges in experiential learning within the Francophone postsecondary education sector in Ontario.
14. Speaking Challenges: FSL Oral Expression Cards
This OER includes pedagogical cards offering group activities and self-directed exercises to improve oral skills in various contexts rooted in student life in Canada.
15. Savouring French: A Culinary, Cultural, and Linguistic Journey through Francophonie in Canada and Beyond
As part of a French as a Second Language (FSL) course, this OER enables meaningful and authentic language learning while showcasing the rich flavours of Francophone culinary exchanges in Canada and worldwide.
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