EmpOERing students and academics through large-scale open content

initiatives

Gabi Witthaus, Ming Nie and Gráinne Conole University of Leicester

EDEN Research WorkshopLeuven, Belgium and Online: 22 October 2012

Session outline

1. “OER 101”: Open session on defining OER2. Presentation: major OER initiatives in Europe, based

on research from POERUP project (www.poerup.info)

3. A “moving debate” about the potential impact of OER on students and academics in Europe

4. Brainstorm and discussion: what can you do to increase the benefits of OER for students?

Session 1:“OER 101”: Open session on defining OER

Open Educational Resources are…

A. Anything I can find on the Web for use in teaching and learning?

B. Free, web-based resources?C. Resources that are published under an open

licence?D. Both B and C?E. None of the above (I have a better definition)

OECD defines OER as…

“Digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self- learners to use and reuse for teaching, learning and research” (OECD, 2007, p. 133)

Session 2: Presentation: major OER initiatives in Europe, based on research from POERUP project (www.poerup.info)

POERUP partners

• Sero, UK• University of Leicester, UK• Open University of the Netherlands• Althabasca University, Canada• University of Lorraine, France• SCIENTER, Italy• EDEN, Hungary

Context and rationale

• Over ten years of the OER movement• Hundreds of OER repositories worldwide• Evaluation shows lack of uptake by teachers

and learners• Shift from development to community

building and articulation of OER practice

POERUP focus

• Stimulating the uptake of OER through policy• Building on previous initiatives (OPAL, OLNET)• Producing country reports and case studies• Evaluating successful OER communities

POERUP will produce:

• An inventory of more than 100 OER initiatives• 11 country reports and 13 mini-reports

(http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Countries)

• 7 in-depth case studies• 3 EU-wide policy papers

Differences in education, internet, e-learning•Diversity of educational contexts•Diversity of internet provision

•Diversity of use of e-learning– Distance Learning is a feature of educational system,

Canada and Australia– State of e-learning below EU average, Hungary

Country Internet (in 2011) Broadband (in 2011)

Australia 87% 83%

UK 73% 71%

Italy 62% 52%

Hungary 66% 61%

Differences in policy support

• OER to be a policy priority in the near future• The Ministry of Education had clear OER strategies• OER as part of educational strategy planning

documents– National Education Technology Plan, United States– Wikiwijs Programme Plan 2011-2013, Netherlands

• Most institutions don’t have an OER strategy

Differences in funding

• Funding from governments:– JISC/HEA 3-phase OER Programme with around 100 OER initiatives, UK– Wikiwijs Programme, Netherlands– Digital School Programme, Poland

• Funding from state or province governments:– BC campus initiative, British Columbia, Canada– Open licensing of public sector information, state governments, Australia

• Institutionally supported initiatives:– OpenCourseWare Consortium– OERu– iTunes U– MOOCs

• Funding goes to HE/FE, little goes to schools

Emerging themes

• Shift from development to OER practices• Shift from basic OER awareness to OER maturity and

embedding• Broader notion of open practices – open learning,

teaching and research• Use of social and participatory media to foster OER

communities

Session 3: A “moving debate” about the potential impact of OER on students and academics in Europe

Statement 1: OER will have a major impact on students' learning in the next five years.

• I agree• I disagree• Undecided

Statement 2: OER are better quality than commercially published textbooks.

• I agree• I disagree• Undecided

Statement 3: I will use more OER in my teaching/learning in future.

• I agree• I disagree• Undecided

Session 4: Brainstorm and discussion: what can you do to increase the benefits of OER for students and what are the challenges to uptake?

What can we all do to increase the benefits of OER for our students?

• Key points:

What are the challenges to uptake?

• Key points:

Useful references

POERUPWebsite: www.poerup.infoWiki: http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Countries

OECD reportOECD. (2007). Giving knowledge for free - the emergence of Open Educational Resources: OECD, available online at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/7/38654317.pdf.

Guidelines for OER in HEhttp://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=364

OLNET: http://www.olnet.orgOPAL: http://www.oer-quality.org

Further information

www.poerup.info