learning the lessons of openness

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Learning the Lessons of Openness

Patrick McAndrew, Robert Farrow, Patrina Law and Gary Elliot-Cirigottis

OER connects “education for all,” the UN’s millennium goal that calls for everyone in the world to have a basic education by 2014, with the goal of closing the digital divide

(Smith and Casserly, 2006)

Exploring the OER landscape through projects/organizations and their physical locations…

Navigating by theme…

Tagging…

Creating new connections…

Use the live system – completely open and free to use…

http://ci.olnet.org

olnet.org

The Key Challenges of OER

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

Assessment and

Evaluation

Open Assessment Resources?

Integrating analytics into curriculum

Formative/Summative Feedback?

‘Delayed gratification’

Mozilla Badges?

Authentic Student Needs

Proof of learning

OER Rubrics

Policy ChangeEcosystem

Tracking Reuse

Teaching & LearningUse of OER

OER Research

Tools & Technologies

Technologies & Infrastructure

Commercial digital textbooks

New skills = new training

Commercial influence over policy

Repository Protocols

Tools for finding OER

Improving OER visibility

Tools for risk assessment

Tools for textbook production

Reducing barriers to quality

Encouraging collaboration between stakeholders

Technology-supported peer review

‘Invisibility’ at the point of use

Tools & Technologies

Policy

Anti-piracy legislation

Working with commercial publishers

Incentivising Staff

Promoting Reform

Mainstreaming OER

Sustainable Business Models

OER Policy Registry (CC)

‘On the ground’ support

Institutional Change

Developing Curricula

National Legislation

Advocacy

Institutional Collaboration

K12 Bill

Indonesia

South Africa

Brazil

Wellcome Trust

OER Advocates

“Publicly funded resources are openly licensed resources”

OpenTextBooks

Diversity&

Reversibility

Use of OERReuse of OER

Evidence of Use & Reuse

Lack of reliable evidence

OER Glue

Changing cultural practices

Tracking informal learning

Reluctance to share

Lack of adequate case studies

Developing metrics for tracking quality

Encouraging use of CC licences which afford attribution

Modular lesson design promotes reuse

OLnet OER Evidence Hub

Focus on the user, not the activity

Sustainability

Sustainability

Tracking informal learning

Balancing open and commercial approaches

Competition for limited funding

Building the right support networks

Institutional Change

New tools to make sharing easier

Investing in openness

Dependence on philanthropy

Thinking about the wider ecosystem, not just the ‘free’ product

Broader benefits for education

Copyright & Licensing

Copyright & Licensing

Confusion over licence options

Making publicly funded materials open

Lack of clarity over exercising rights

Commercial use of CC-BY

Range of CC licences

Greater awareness of open alternatives

Public funding = open access

Pedagogical value of unobstructed licences

Investment in open textbooks

Risk management tools

OER ResearchTeaching & Learning

Costs/BenefitsFor Teaching

Harnessing OER for informal learning

School policies which prevent sharing

Cheaper textbooks & other educational materials

OER to teach about OER

Cost-effectiveness

Sustainability

Student PIRGSTextbook Rebellion

Utah Open Textbook

$5 Textbook

Improving access, widening participation

Problem of accreditation

Dissemination & Awareness

Promotion &Advocacy

Incentivising staff to adapt existing practices

Influence of commercial publishers

Reductive thinking about OER

OER Advocacy Coalition

Mobilising the OER community

Building institutional support

Finding evidence of effective OER

Instructional Design

‘Watered-down’ legislation

Content Creation

Quality

Controlling quality through peer review

OER production not meticulous

Faculty resistanceto change

Developing reliable metrics

Too much poor quality OER in public domain

Poorly designed e-learning

Quality issues not unique to OER

OER challenge existing notions of quality

New stakeholder models of review

Strategies for supporting collaboration

Value of unobstructed licences

AchieveOERTest

Content CreationTeaching & Learning

Adoption of OER

Culture of Adoption

Resistance from commercial interests

Too much faith in transformative power of OER

Worries about OER quality

Lack of recognition for OER scholarship

Cultural diversity

Making the benefits tangible

Rethinking the learning experience

Accreditation

New forms of collaboration, supported by new technologies

Mentoring and support

Changing student habits

Effects of OER on motivation & engagement

P2Pu

Adoption of OERDissemination & Awareness

OER Research

Impact of OER Research

Lack of evidence about OER effectiveness

Exemplars for openness

OLnet

Does OER need radically new processes, or can they exist within

existing structures?

New opportunities for cross-collaboration

Research on openness as catalyst for change

New ways to network and share

Open access publishing

Concerns about validity of open research

Access

Access

Commercial providers borrowing rhetoric of openness

Student textbooks in USA

Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

OLnet

‘Locked’ content

Out of date textbooks

Stifling of reform

Proliferation of poor quality content obscures high quality content

Open access publishing

Impact on legislation

Changing attitudes among academics and publishers

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology

olnet.org

Stages in Open Content

Transformative: change ways of working and learning

Economic: devise a model for sustainable operation

Pedagogic: understand the designs that work

Technical: develop an environment for open access

Practical: provide access to content

Legal: release of copyright through creative commons

B2S: Challenges of Preparation

Copyright Technology Access

CC-BY Licence B2S required reuse tracking across different student cohorts

Discoverability (sited content, pilots)

Matching NC to CC-BY across funded projects

Labspace (OpenLearn)

Accessibility (audit and support)

Moodle Usability (general benefits)

B2S: Common Challenges

Quality Sustainability Reuse

Open University material

Dissemination and training

Conversion to US context

Quality framework Open environment Editable versions

Learning design Integration with college needs

Cross platform

B2S: Research Challenges

Cost/benefit impact Policy

“Free” enables new solutions

Changing learners’ paths

Open access courses

Hidden costs in making change

New collaborations across sectors

B2S: Emerging Challenges

Advocacy Culture Assessment

Promotion of openness Finding new solutions Light models

Recruiting colleges Willingness to experiment

Rewards/Badges

New areas of work

The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology