The current oer search dilemma
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Transcript of The current oer search dilemma
The Current OER Search Dilemma
Guest Lecture24th and 27th June 2013
Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand
Ishan Abeywardena MSc, MSc (Brunel), BSc (Bangalore), MIEEE, MBCS, MIET, MTA
Senior Lecturer, School of Science and TechnologyWawasan Open University
Penang, Malaysia
Acknowledgement
I express my gratitude to:
– Assoc. Prof Dr. Chailerd Pichitpornchai for extending me this kind invitation;
– Ms. Rattip Phukkeson and all other colleagues at STOU for having me here.
Lecture Outline
• Review of the current OER search dilemma.
• Parametrically measuring the Desirability of OER using D-index.
• OERScout Technology Framework: A Novel Approach to OER Search.
The Current OER Search Dilemma
Main Reference
Abeywardena, I.S., & Chan, C.S. (2013). Review of the Current OER Search Dilemma. Proceedings of the 57th World Assembly of International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET 2013), Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240310607_Review_of_the_Current_OER_Search_Dilemma?ev=prf_pub
Talking Points
• Current State of OER• The Dilemma• Some Existing Solutions– Pearson’s Project Blue Sky– GLOBE– LRMI– OERScout
Current State of OER
The Dilemma
So…how do I find the material I need for my teaching
Literature• ...The problem is in finding the resources, and more correctly finding the “right” resources.
Using a regular search engine like Google to find content is not always a viable option as it will generate too many answers. There is, hence, a need to easily find relevant content...” (Hatakka, 2009)
• “searching this way (using existing search engines such as Google) might be a long and painful process as most of the results are not usable for educational purposes” (Pirkkalainen & Pawlowski, 2010)
• No single search engine is still able to locate resources from all the OER repositories (West & Victor, 2011)
• One of the major barriers to the use and re-use of OER is the difficulty of finding quality OER matching a specific context (Dichev & Dicheva, 2012)
• “…the problem with open content is not the lack of available resources on the Internet but the inability to locate suitable resources for academic use” (Unwin, 2005).
Some Existing Solutions
• Google: “…searching this way might be a long and painful process as most of the results are not usable for educational purposes” (Pirkkalainen & Pawlowski, 2010).
• Federated Search: BRENHET2; OpeScout; Global Learning Object Brokered Exchange (GLOBE); and Pearson’s Project Blue Sky.
• Semantic Search: OER-CC ontology; the “Assistant” prototype; the “Folksemantic” project; and “Agrotags”.
Pirkkalainen, H., Pawlowski, J. (2010). Open Educational Resources and Social Software in Global E-Learning Settings. In Yliluoma, P. (Ed.) Sosiaalinen Verkko-oppiminen. IMDL, Naantali, 23–40.
The Dilemma
Yeah…but which one do I choose
Pearson’s Project Blue Sky
http://www.pearsonlearningsolutions.com/pearson-bluesky/
LRMI
http://creativecommons.org/tag/learning-resource-metadata-initiative
Questions
Desirability of OER using D-index
Main Reference
Abeywardena, I.S., Raviraja, R., & Tham, C.Y. (2012). Conceptual Framework for Parametrically Measuring the Desirability of Open Educational Resources using D-index. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13(2), 104-121 (ISI-indexed publication).
Available at:http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1177/2142
Talking Points
• Usefulness of OER• The Desirability of OER• Measuring the Desirability using D-index
What is the Usefulness of an OER?
• The usefulness of an OER for a particular teaching or learning need can only be accurately assessed by reading through the content.
• This aspect of use and re-use of OER will remain a human function regardless of the improvements in technology.
Measuring the Usefulness OER
However, there are other aspects of a resource which are fundamental to the usefulness of that particular resource and can be parametrically identified by a software based mechanism:
– Whether a resource is relevant to a user’s needs;
– Whether the resource is open enough for using, reusing, remixing and redistributing;
– Whether the resource is accessible with respect to technology.
What is Desirability?
• If the user cannot easily use, reuse and remix a resource with available technology, the resource becomes less useful to the user.
• Less useful resources are less desirable for teaching and learning needs….
Measuring the Desirability of OER
Within the requirement of being able to use and reuse a particular OER, the three parameters of Desirability can be defined as:
– level of openness: the permission to use and reuse the resource;
– level of access: the technical keys required to unlock the resource;
– relevance: the level of match between the resource and the needs of the user.
i.e. Desirability
D-index = (level of access x level of openness x relevance) / 256
Openness
Permission Value
Reuse 1Redistribute 2Revise 3Remix 4
The level of openness based on the four R’s of openness
Mapping the CC licenses to the 4 R’sPermission Creative Commons (CC) licence Value
Reuse None 1
Redistribute Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)
2
Revise Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)
3
Remix Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)Attribution (CC BY)
4
AccessAccess to editing
tools Level of expertise required to
revise or remixMeaningfully
editableSource-file access Value
LOW HIGH NO NO 01
LOW HIGH NO YES 02
LOW HIGH YES NO 03
LOW HIGH YES YES 04
LOW LOW NO NO 05
LOW LOW NO YES 06
LOW LOW YES NO 07
LOW LOW YES YES 08
HIGH HIGH NO NO 09
HIGH HIGH NO YES 10
HIGH HIGH YES NO 11
HIGH HIGH YES YES 12
HIGH LOW NO NO 13
HIGH LOW NO YES 14
HIGH LOW YES NO 15
HIGH LOW YES YES 16The
leve
l of a
cces
s ba
sed
on th
e AL
MS
anal
ysis
Relevance
Search rank Value
Below the top 30 ranks of the search results 1
Within the top 21-30 ranks of the search results 2
Within the top 11-20 ranks of the search results 3
Within the top 10 ranks of the search results 4
The level of relevance based on search rank (Vaughan, 2004)
• Users will only consider the top ten ranked results for a particular search as the most relevant;
• Users will ignore the results below the top 30 ranks.
Vaughan, L. (2004). New measurements for search engine evaluation proposed and tested. Information Processing and Management 40, 677–691.
CalculationOriginal search results (OER Commons example)
Calculation of D-index
After application of D-index
Sample Search
Search Rank Title CC Lisence File Type
1 18.01 Single Variable Calculus CC BY-NC-SA PDF
2 Calculus for Beginners and Artists CC BY-NC-SA HTML/Text
3 18.01 Single Variable Calculus CC BY-NC-SA PDF
4 18.013A Calculus with Applications CC BY-NC-SA HTML/Text
5 18.02 Multivariable Calculus CC BY-NC-SA PDF
6 Single Variable Calculus CC BY-NC-SA PDF
7 Calculus Online Textbook CC BY-NC-SA PDF
8 Calculus for Beginners and Artists CC BY-NC-SA HTML/Text
9 18.075 Advanced Calculus for Engineers CC BY-NC-SA PDF
10 MATH 140 - Calculus I, Summer 2007 CC BY-NC-SA Protected
Top 10 search results returned by MERLOT for the keyword “calculus”
Original Search Results
• The original top ten search results only contain resources which are released under the CC BY-NC-SA license.
• 6/10 resources returned are in PDF format which make them difficult to reuse and remix.
• Resource ranked as number ten is a protected resource which requires a specific username and password to access.
Application of D-index
Rank After Applying D-index
Original Search Rank Title CC Lisence File Type D-index
1 2 Calculus for Beginners and Artists CC BY-NC-SA HTML/Text 0.75
2 4 18.013A Calculus with Applications CC BY-NC-SA HTML/Text 0.75
3 8 Calculus for Beginners and Artists CC BY-NC-SA HTML/Text 0.75
4 14 Multivariable Calculus CC BY HTML/Text 0.75
5 19MATH 10250 - Elements of Calculus I, Fall 2008 CC BY-NC-SA HTML/Text 0.56
6 20 18.022 Calculus CC BY-NC-SA PDF 0.56
7 22 Single-Variable Calculus I CC BY HTML/Text 0.50
8 25 Single-Variable Calculus II CC BY HTML/Text 0.50
9 15 Highlights of Calculus CC BY-NC-SA Video 0.42
10 21 Calculus I CC BY HTML/Text 0.38
Top 10 results when D-index is applied to the results returned by MERLOT
Results After Applying D-index
• 8/10 resources are in HTML/Text formats which are the most accessible in terms of reuse.
• 4/10 resources are available under the CC BY licence which make them the most open resources in the list.
Benefits of the D-index
The application of the D-index would greatly improve the effectiveness of the search with respect to locating the most suitable resources for use and reuse.
Let’s discuss more over tea?
OERScout Technology Framework
Main Reference
Abeywardena, I.S., Chan, C.S., & Tham, C.Y. (2013). OERScout Technology Framework: A Novel Approach to Open Educational Resources Search. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, In press (ISI-indexed publication).
Available at:Currently in press. Will be available at http://www.irrodl.org
Talking Points
• Why not Google?• Why not native search engines of
repositories?• What is OERScout?• Why use OERScout?
Goo
gle
“Adv
ance
d Se
arch
” re
sults
for O
ER o
n Ch
emis
try
(24t
h M
ay 2
012)
Why Not Repositories?Identify which material to look for
(e.g. integration, C++ programming)
Identify the search queries (e.g. “undergraduate mathematics”)
Locate repository(word of mouth, some link somewhere, go to the more popular repositories)
Run multiple queries to find resources
Read each resource to identify the usefulness (openness, access, relevance)
Identify useful resources
Repeat steps 3-6 on multiple repositories(hundreds to thousands…..)
The Declaration
i. Facilitate finding, retrieving and sharing of OER.
Encourage the development of user-friendly tools to locate and retrieve OER that are specific and relevant to particular needs.
(UNESCO Paris OER Declaration, 2012)
UNESCO. (2012). Paris OER Declaration, Retrieved September18, 2012 from http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/Events/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_01.pdf
Specific & Relevant
• Specific: the suitability of an OER for a particular teaching need. For example, an OER on physics from the final year syllabus of a physics degree would not be suitable for a high school physics class.
• Relevant: the match between the content of the OER and the content needed for a particular teaching need. For example, physical chemistry is not relevant for a teaching need in organic chemistry.
OERScout
A Text Mining Algorithm which
–READS text based OER;–LEARNS which academic domain(s)
and sub-domain(s) they belonged to;–RECCOMENDS Desirable material for a
particular academic need.
Keyword-Document Matrix (KDM)
Faceted Search
Advantages of OERScout
• Using the KDM, the system generates ranked lists of relevant OER from heterogeneous repositories to suit a given search query;
• Incorporates the Desirability framework to recommend useful resources for academic purposes;
• Uses a faceted search approach to allow users to quickly zero-in on the resources they are after.
Benefits to Content Creators
• No need to manually define metadata; • No need to publicise the availability of material;
• No need to build custom search mechanisms for repositories;
• More visibility and reach of material to a wider audience.
Benefits to Users
• Provides a central location for finding resources scattered across the globe hidden in high volume repositories;
• Locate only the most relevant resources.
Conclusion
The ultimate benefit of OERScout is that both content creators and users now only need to concentrate on the actual content and not the searching and location of relevant OER.
Questions
About…Ishan AbeywardenaSenior Lecturer, School of Science and Technology, Wawasan Open University, Penang, Malaysia
• MSc in Wireless Enterprise Business Systems, Brunel University, UK.• MSc in Engineering Management, Brunel University, UK.• BSc in Computer Science, Bangalore University, India.• PhD Candidate in Computer Science, University Malaya, Malaysia. Areas of specialisation: text mining,
metadata, faceted search
Professional Member of– Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (MIEEE)– British Computer Society (MBCS)– Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET)– Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA)
Official Profile: http://www.wou.edu.my/IshanAbeywardena.htmlProfessional Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ishansaResearch Profile: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ishan_Abeywardena/Tech Blog: http://www.ishantalks.comE-mail: [email protected]
References• Dichev, C., & Dicheva, D. (2012). Open Educational Resources in Computer Science Teaching. SIGCSE’11, February 29–March
3, 2012, Raleigh, NC, USA.• Caswell, T., Henson, S., Jenson, M., & Wiley, D. (2008). Open Educational Resources: Enabling universal education.
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning 9(1), 1-11.• Hatakka, M. (2009). Build It and They Will Come? – Inhibiting Factors for Reuse of Open Content in Developing Countries,
EJISDC 37(5), 1-16.• Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Stein, J., & Johnson, A. (2010). The four R‘s of openness and ALMS Analysis: Frameworks for open
educational resources. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 25(1), 37-44.• Pirkkalainen, H., Pawlowski, J. (2010). Open Educational Resources and Social Software in Global E-Learning Settings. In
Yliluoma, P. (Ed.) Sosiaalinen Verkko-oppiminen. IMDL, Naantali, 23–40.• Unwin, T. (2005). Towards a Framework for the Use of ICT in Teacher Training in Africa. Open Learning 20, 113-130.• West, P., & Victor, L. (2011). Background and action paper on OER. Report prepared for The William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation.