review of the current oer search dilemma
DESCRIPTION
Open Educational Resources (OER) are fast gaining traction amongst the academic community as a viable means of increasing access and equity in education. The concept of OER is of especial significance to the marginalised communities in the Global South where distance education is prominent due to the inability of conventional brick and mortar institutions to cope with the growing demand. However, the wider adoption of OER by academics in the Global South has been inhibited due to various socio, economic and technological reasons. One of the major technological inhibitors is the current inability to search for OER which are academically useful and are of an acceptable academic standard. Many technological initiatives have been proposed over the recent past to provide potential solutions to this issue. Among these are OER curartion standards such as GLOBE, federated search, social semantic search and search engines such as DiscoverEd, OCW Finder, Pearson’s Project Blue Sky. The research discussed in this paper is carried out in the form of literature review and informal interviews with experts. The objective of the study is to document the extent of the OER search issues contributing to the slow uptake of the concept of OER. This review paper discusses the current OER search dilemma and the impact of some of the key initiatives which propose potential solutions.TRANSCRIPT
ISHAN SUDEERA ABEYWARDENAWAWASAN OPEN UNIVERSITY
&CHEE SENG CHAN
UNI VERSI TY OF MALAYA
57TH WORLD ASSEMBLY OF INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR
TEACHING(ICET 2013)
NONTHABURI , THAILAND .( 25–28 JUNE 2013 )
Review of the Current OER Search Dilemma
Open Educational Resources (OER)
“web-based materials, offered freely and openly for use and re-use in teaching, learning and research” (Joyce, 2007).
“teaching, learning and research materials in any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions” (UNESCO Paris OER Declaration, 2012)
Joyce, A. (2007). OECD Study of OER: Forum Report, OECD. Retrieved December 12, 2011 from http://www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/forumsfiche.php?queryforumspages_id=33.
UNESCO. (2012, June 22). 2012 PARIS OER DECLARATION. Retrieved June 13, 2013, from unesco.org: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/WPFD2009/English_Declaration.html
Current State of OER
The Dilemma
So…how do I find the material I need for my teaching
The Dilemma
How about …?
Goog
le “
Ad
van
ced
Searc
h”
resu
lts
for
OE
R o
n C
hem
istr
y (2
4th
M
ay
20
12
)
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).
The Dilemma
How about search mechanisms in?
Native Search in 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…..)
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
Acknowledgments
This research project is funded:
as part of a doctoral research through the Grant (# 102791) generously made by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada through an umbrella study on Openness and Quality in Asian Distance Education.
by the Education Assistance Program (EAP) of Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
Ishan Sudeera Abeywardena acknowledges the support:
by Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Bangpood, Pakkret, Nonthaburi 11120, Thailand with respect to the sponsorship of the conference registration fees and accommodation.
by the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Computer Science.
by the School of Science and Technology, Wawasan Open University, 54 Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050, Penang, Malaysia where he is currently employed.
Authors
Ishan Sudeera AbeywardenaSenior Lecturer, School of Science and Technology, Wawasan Open University, 54 Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Penang, 10050, Malaysia. e-mail: [email protected]
Chee Seng ChanSenior Lecturer, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.e-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.
Hatakka, M. (2009). Build It and They Will Come? – Inhibiting Factors for Reuse of Open Content in Developing Countries, EJISDC 37(5), 1-16.
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.