Institut für Informatik und Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)

The Appropriateness of Open Educational Resources

Thomas Richter

Picture: Winding-tower, Essen

Pictures: University of Duisburg Essen

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Quality and Educational Resources

Quality (ISO 8402-1986)

“the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs”

Freely Transferred to Educational Resources

An Educational resource can be considered having quality if it serves it’s purpose within a defined context

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Quality Standards for Learning Resources

n  IEEE Learning Objects Metadata (2002) o  Description of Educational Resources through Metadata

n  IMS Learning Design (2003) o  Focuses on the a Description of Learning Designs (What, Who, for

Whom, How,…)

n  ISO/IEC 10796-1:2005 o  Provides a holistic Process Model for the Design, Implementation, and

Use of Educational Resources

n  Dublin Core (2006) o  Description of Educational Resources through Metadata

n  ISO-IEC 19788-1:2011 o  Description of Educational Resources through Metadata

n  Further National & Context Specific Quality Standards …

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Professionally Produced Educational (Pay-)Content n  usually produced for a very specific target group (e.g., 3rd

grade school education, Lower Saxony - Germany, mathematics)

n  Definition of quality: Must fit the particular purpose n  If a resource officially is accredited to be used in upper

context, it fits the purpose and thus, it must have quality

Quality Standards

1.  particular purpose and target group can be modelled 2.  Quality Standards ensure that this particular purpose is met

à Quality Standards for Educational Resources generally are useful!

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Open Educational Resources n  also, originally produced for a very specific target group

(e.g., 3rd grade school education, Lower Saxony - Germany, mathematics)

n  BUT: open and available for everyone to use …

n  different to professional contents: once available for the community, target group is variable à requirements change

n  good practice: Metadata Standard is followed … future user knows the originally targeted context

But does this particular information actually help the user to determine if a resource fits into his scenario?

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Criteria for Appropriateness (users’ perspective)

• RICHTER, T. (2010). Open Educational Resources im kulturellen Kontext von e-Learning. Zeitschrift für E-Learning (ZeL), Freie elektronische Bildungsressourcen, 3/2010, pp. 30-42.

Companies

Culture

Lerner Satisfaction & Demands

Geograph. & Educational-Infrastructure

Internet Security

Religion

Technichal Infrastructur

e

Demographic

Development

„Media Richness“

Actors

Rules, Standards,

Agreements

Financial Aspects

Politics

History

State of Development

Legal Issues

E-Learning Scenario

Country / Region

Company/Society

Author/Educator Tutor Learner

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Appropriateness as Individual Quality Concept

… a formerly High Quality Educational Resource loses it’s level

of quality through when not matching Individual Criteria

Appropriateness

An Open Educational Resource is appropriate for a particular scenario and purpose, if it meets the requirements of the scenario and supports the

individual purpose …

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Quality of OER is related to …

n  the actual content of a learning resource n  the didactical design employed n  context-specific examples n  optical and Cognitive design n  particular cultural issues n  further context-specific requirements n  ...

“I do not expect to find learning resources that exactly meet my very particular requirements but for me, an educational resource has a certain quality (is

valuable), if I can make it useful.” n (from an interview with school teachers in an ODS Visionary Workshop)

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Conclusion

If the idea of OERs is making Educational Resources useable for everyone (and not just accessible) than the most significant quality

criterion is adaptability!

“Adaptability” should become a Mandatory Definition Element in

Metadata Standards! 1.

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Are there any questions?

(Feel free to contact me via e-Mail)

contact: thomas.richter@icb.uni-due.de