Folie 1

Innovative Open Educational Resources in European Higher Education
Status quo and Future Directions

Markus Deimann
Theo Bastiaens
Kees-Jan van Dorp

Agenda

OER and impact on teaching and learning

Challenges of OER

Status quo in German-speaking countries

Delphi-Method

Delphi-Study

Participants

Results

Discussion

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Open Educational Resources

Free access to open content; provided free of charge

Content is liberally licensed for re-use in educational activities; free from restrictions to modify, combine and repurpose

For educational systems/tools software is used for which the source code is available

Currently Second Generation of Projects such as Open Educational Resources in Higher Education (OER HE) with EADTU as Coordinator

Goal: To extend the achievements on OER as initially launched under the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Grants

Work package on Team-Based Development

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Team-based development of OER in Higher Education

How can other teams be pursuaded to utilize OER?

Connecting factor: How to create a win-win-situation?

Approach: Literature review

Semi-structured qualatative interviews

Questionnaires

Model that identifies success factors

Inspires future teams

Organisation

Partner networks: Humanities: OUNL, OUUK, FernUniversitt in Hagen

MedNet:

Associcate networks: SwitchCollection

Regular meetings and workshops

Challenges of OER

Little awareness of the idea of OER in Germany (Zauchner et al., 2008)

Little reputation of adopting OER for teachers (Angster & Uphoff, 2009)However, these are rather assumptions which are not based upon empirical data

On the other side, there are surveys (OECD: Giving knowledge for free, 2007) that revealed different challenges

However, the focus was on the macro-level not on the individual

Therefore, a study was conducted to focus on the micro-level in German-speaking countries

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Delphi-Method

Aims at developing a consensus among a group of experts

Essential element is anonymity of participants when giving opinions

The Delphi can then alleviates problems

Appropriate for research areas that are not quite investigated

Provide solutions for challenges

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Michelangelo's rendering of the Delphic Sibyl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphic_Sibyl)

The theatre, seen from above (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi)

Delphi-Study

Criteria for selecting experts

Documented experiences with OER (traceable)

Worked with OER practically and/or scientifically

Different backgrounds (e.g. sociology, computer science)

Panel of 12 Experts from German-speaking countries with an average experiences of ten years with E-Learning

Two rounds:

(1) Qualitative interviews discussing six theses on OER(2) Quantitative survey with questions extracted from the interviews

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Results

Definition and perception of OER is elaborated and differentiates between distinct aspects

OER is perceived as a buzz-word; however it has not yet been incorporated into Higher Education (Paradox)

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

HurdleExampleN

CulturalAcademic teaching not based on sharing; Not invented here; strong focus on research at the expanse of teaching10

OER-specificLow degree of awareness; missing initiatives (as opposed to Open Access); too little OER materials 8

LegalUncertainty: What can I use? How can I use it?4

Technical Insufficient usability of OER; search engine for OER is missing4

Results (III): Visions of OER

Visions are tricky: Future of OER is judged as unforeseeable

OER will simmer at the same (low) level

There will be more OER available

Utility of OER will emerge

There might be a commitment of institutions to publish their materials as OER (e.g. Federal Centre for Political Education)

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Results IV: Conclusion

OER-movement is not declining but there will be no area-wide presence

Theres still a lot to be done: we are now in the phase of detail work

OER can support active communication and participation in the digital society (prevent Digital Divide)

The general public and Higher Education can greatly benefit from OER

Very pleased by the positive response

Promising for the future

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Discussion

Elaborated conception of OER shared by the experts

Hurdles and challenges have been emphasized early during the interviews

Specific academic culture in German-speaking countries

Some promising strategies have been identified

Experts attach great importance to OER

It is our own responsibility how the future of OER will look like

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Future steps

Expand the panel (international experts)

Stakeholder workshop in Leuven February 2011: Showcases and disucssion

Identify potential participants at OpenEd

Establish OER-Network

02.11.10

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Thank you very much for your attention!

02.11.10

Slide

Feld 1

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences

Klicken Sie, um das Format des Titeltextes zu bearbeitenTitelmasterformat durch Klicken bearbeiten

Klicken Sie, um die Formate des Gliederungstextes zu bearbeitenZweite GliederungsebeneDritte GliederungsebeneVierte GliederungsebeneFnfte GliederungsebeneSechste GliederungsebeneSiebente GliederungsebeneAchte Gliederungsebene

Neunte GliederungsebeneTextmasterformate durch Klicken bearbeiten

Zweite Ebene

Dritte Ebene

Vierte Ebene

Fnfte Ebene

Department of Instructional Technology & Media

Slide