An animated series on Open Educational Resources

Join Nanuq and Frida on a playful journey through the history, concepts, and opportunities of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in our new voxel-style animated series.

OER series, ETH main building in blender software

Content

The Open Educational Resources (OER) series aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the topic. It covers fundamental questions such as the historical roots and meaning of OER, as well as complex legal questions surrounding copyrights, licenses, authorship, and usage. The series is geared towards international audiences, including lecturers, educational developers, and learning material designers. To increase accessibility, the series will be available as a MOOC. We are confident that this series will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in OER.

Visual Style

OER series ETH main building from the balkony

Blender software meets voxel style! In this series, a digital model of the ETH main building is rendered in voxel-style, creating an engaging backdrop for Nanuq and Frida, the animated main characters. Together, they guide the audience through the history of OERs, explaining complex concepts, highlighting opportunities, and drawing attention to potential obstacles. This playful journey is designed to inform and inspire, appealing to anyone interested in the exciting world of OERs.

We chose this Minecraft-inspired look for this project because it serves as a metaphor for what an OER is - a building block that can be used to create, modify, and remix educational materials. In Minecraft, players build structures from individual blocks, each one contributing to the final product. Similarly, OERs provide educators and students with the building blocks they need to create their own unique learning experiences. By using a Minecraft-inspired visual style, we hope to convey the idea that OERs are versatile, flexible, and easily adaptable to different needs and situations. Additionally, we believe that the playful, whimsical look of Minecraft will appeal to our target audience of educators and students, making the OER concept more accessible and engaging.

People involved

Art, 3D Modeling and Animation: Carlo Roman Picaso
3D Character Design & Animation: Chenrui Zhao
ETH Modeling: Junwon Lee
Postproduction & Sounddesign: Carlo Roman Picaso, Jeanine Reutemann
Script Development: Judith Rehmann, Gerd Kortemeyer, Jeanine Reutemann
Script Review: Anna Garry
Expert Input: Suzanna Marazza
Actors: Nanuq the Japanese spitz, Frida the cat, Philipp Propst, Isabelle Logovi, Judith Rehmann
Voice Over: Wendy Lloyd
Production Lead: Judith Rehmann, Jeanine Reutemann
Backstopping: Gerd Kortemeyer