There are many ways for instructors to use this Pressbooks course. This instructor guide explains the modular design of the course, including how to best leverage its design to your own needs. Additionally, the instructor guide provides an overview of how to search and select content and ancillaries within the course, as well as ways to share the materials found in this course by importing them into your own Pressbooks or learning management system.

Modular Design

This OER is more than a textbook. It is a collection of modular resources, similar to a bucket of LEGOs, that you can use to build your course.

You can use these materials in a variety of ways. Imagine that you want to build a house from your LEGO pieces, and each type of resource is a different LEGO shape. The textbook content, for example, might be flat, wide LEGO pieces you can use as a base to build your creation (your course); videos might be window pieces, interactives might be doors, and so on. If you want your house to only have red and blue colors, you might choose a blue base piece (textbook content), red and blue windows (videos), and a red door (interactive). Nothing’s wrong with the yellow and green pieces, but they don’t fit what you’re imagining for your house. You also might have four blue base pieces, but you only need two of them, so you pick out the two that you prefer and leave the other two in your bucket of unused LEGOs.

Likewise, as you build your course, you may be seeking to cover specific standards, or the outcomes for your course might overlap with the resources offered here but not cover exactly the same content areas. Just like you would pick out only the red and blue pieces in the LEGO example above, you’ll only pick out the modular elements that cover the standards or content areas you plan to cover in your course.

Example: selecting applicable elements

Perhaps your course needs to address laws that govern special education services. Instead of having to read through every single element of Introduction to Special Education, you might look for components that are aligned to InTASC Learning Progression 9j.

Using the searchable TablePress found in the Using Aligned Standards section, you would type “9j” into the search box. When you do this, you would see a filtered list of

• 2 Modules
• 3 Activities
• 4 Assessments
• 1 External Resource
• 13 Interactive Learning Objects
• 4 Videos

You may not need 13 interactives! Or perhaps you like all four videos, and you have several more from another resource that you also want to use. Great! Use only the components that help you build the learning experience that’s right for your program, students, and personal teaching style. No need to read through the rest of the materials; just take what you need and leave the rest.

Importing Materials

There are various locations where you can place the components you choose easy student and instructor access. You are welcome to import the entire course or elements of the course into those locations, as long as you provide attribution for the materials.^[1]

• LMS: Most institutions have a Learning Management System (LMS) for use when teaching a course.^[2].
• OER Platform: There are many places where educators can build their own OER for their students.^[3]
• Other file sharing options: Institutions often pay for shared file storage.^[4] You can cut and paste module materials, download H5P and document files, and save images, as long as you provide attribution for the materials.