Fostering a network for creating and implementing open education resources in ecology

Formal undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have provided students with authentic research experiences in ecology for decades, but accessibility to these resources is inherently limited, as evidenced during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Moreover, UREs often do not reflect the diversity of locations of current ecological publications. Open online educational resources (OERs) can address the need for more accessible resources, but they usually rely on the curation of static content and can be functionally restricted by a lack of pedagogical instructions.

The OCELOTS network (Online Content for Experiential Learning of Tropical Systems) addresses these gaps by shifting the OER model from static curation to a dynamic, scalable ‘ incubator matrix ’ . Rather than serving as a passive repository for disconnected teaching files, OCELOTS acts as a structured workshop and collaborative peer review network where active researchers translate their own peer‐reviewed primary literature into modular, narrative‐driven OER case studies, hereafter referred to as ‘modules’.

A combination of factors contributes to OCELOTS' novelty. (a) Researchers who published the study are part of the module‐creating team. (b) Modules are place‐based and globally networked and designed for any type of instructional setting. (c) Peer review is conducted through a living collaborative model rather than a static editorial review. (d) Embedded real‐time data tools use applications that incorporate actual field datasets collected by the module authors. (e) Instructors publish implementation plans and teaching notes for using modules in undergraduate courses. (f) The design is explicitly decolonial in its multilingual accessibility.

We summarize the various ways in which 29 OCELOTS modules, representing the work of 68 authors in various tropical field sites in 12 countries, have been created, implemented, adapted, and disseminated. We reflect on how this network has enabled these activities that portray a range of scientific content, processes, and methods in an immersive way.

Moving beyond the limitations of standard static text portals, the OCELOTS network presents a highly transferable methodological framework. It demonstrates how global research coordination networks can actively create, review, and implement high‐quality interactive open materials that democratize complex biological data across diverse institutional types around the world.