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NSCC OER Toolkit -- Adopt & Adapt OER

Develop a Goal

For a sprint to be effective it is important to work together to determine a goal for the sprint. Having a clear goal early will help to create a shared understanding and ensure that people will be attending the sprint with shared expectations. Developing goals for the sprint is something that require considerable attention and detail and this process can be informed by design thinking. You may wish to consider hosting a design session before the sprint to work together to develop common goals.

Checklist: Develop a Goal

  • What resource, book, case study will you be developing?
  • Are there other resources that already exist in the space and might be adapted rather than creating a new resource?
  • How will this resource be used?
  • Who will this resource be written for?
  • What platform will this resource be developed and shared on.
  • What process will you use to continue the development after the sprint is completed

Credit: Adapted from OER Sprint Toolkit by Rie Nambia published on Open UBC with a CC BY-SA license.

Duration

Decide of the Duration of the Sprint

Determine a length for the sprint. Often open resource sprints are between 2 and 5 days but this really depends on the resource that you need to create. A good rule of thumb is to plan for 6 hour days, although this can be longer.

Checklist: Duration

  • How long will the sprint be?
  • How much can be completed/achieved within this time-frame?
  • How feasible is your overall goal?
  • What process will be required to complete this resource after the sprint??

Credit: Adapted from OER Sprint Toolkit by Rie Nambia published on Open UBC with a CC BY-SA license.

The Sprint Team

Roles in a sprint vary depending on the context as do the number of participants. In “How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days” the authors suggest that the ideal number of sprint participants is six, in order to come to decisions about content relatively quickly.[1]

To run a sprint effectively requires a team that includes:

  • facilitators
  • content creators
  • librarian
  • technical support

[1] Knapp, J., Zeratsky, J., & Kowitz, B. (2016). Sprint: How to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days. ‎ Simon & Schuster.

Adapted from OER Sprint Toolkit by Rie Nambia published on Open UBC with a CC BY-SA license.