EmpOERing students and academics
through large-scale open content
initiatives
Gabi Witthaus, Ming Nie and Gráinne Conole
University of Leicester
EDEN Research Workshop
Leuven, Belgium and Online: 22 October 2012
Session outline
1. “OER 101”: Open session on defining OER
2. Presentation: major OER initiatives in Europe,
based on research from POERUP project
(www.poerup.info)
3. A “moving debate” about the potential impact of
OER on students and academics in Europe
4. Brainstorm and discussion: what can you do to
increase the benefits of OER for students?
Session 1:
“OER 101”: Open session on
defining OER
Open Educational Resources are…
A. Anything I can find on the Web for use in
teaching and learning?
B. Free, web-based resources?
C. Resources that are published under an open
licence?
D. Both B and C?
E. None of the above (I have a better definition)
OECD defines OER as…
“Digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators,
students and self- learners to use and reuse for teaching, learning
and research” (OECD, 2007, p. 133)
Session 2:
Presentation: major OER initiatives in
Europe, based on research from POERUP
project (www.poerup.info)
POERUP partners
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Sero, UK
University of Leicester, UK
Open University of the Netherlands
Althabasca University, Canada
University of Lorraine, France
SCIENTER, Italy
EDEN, Hungary
Context and rationale
• Over ten years of the OER movement
• Hundreds of OER repositories worldwide
• Evaluation shows lack of uptake by teachers
and learners
• Shift from development to community
building and articulation of OER practice
POERUP focus
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Stimulating the uptake of OER through policy
Building on previous initiatives (OPAL, OLNET)
Producing country reports and case studies
Evaluating successful OER communities
POERUP will produce:
• An inventory of more than 100 OER initiatives
• 11 country reports and 13 mini-reports
(http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Countries)
• 7 in-depth case studies
• 3 EU-wide policy papers
Differences in education, internet, e-learning
•Diversity of educational contexts
•Diversity of internet provision
Country
Internet (in 2011)
Broadband (in 2011)
Australia
87%
83%
UK
73%
71%
Italy
62%
52%
Hungary
66%
61%
•Diversity of use of e-learning
– Distance Learning is a feature of educational system,
Canada and Australia
– State of e-learning below EU average, Hungary
Differences in policy support
• OER to be a policy priority in the near future
• The Ministry of Education had clear OER strategies
• OER as part of educational strategy planning
documents
– National Education Technology Plan, United States
– Wikiwijs Programme Plan 2011-2013, Netherlands
• Most institutions don’t have an OER strategy
Differences in funding
• Funding from governments:
– JISC/HEA 3-phase OER Programme with around 100 OER initiatives, UK
– Wikiwijs Programme, Netherlands
– Digital School Programme, Poland
• Funding from state or province governments:
– BC campus initiative, British Columbia, Canada
– Open licensing of public sector information, state governments, Australia
• Institutionally supported initiatives:
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OpenCourseWare Consortium
OERu
iTunes U
MOOCs
• Funding goes to HE/FE, little goes to schools
Emerging themes
• Shift from development to OER practices
• Shift from basic OER awareness to OER maturity and
embedding
• Broader notion of open practices – open learning,
teaching and research
• Use of social and participatory media to foster OER
communities
Session 3:
A “moving debate” about the potential
impact of OER on students and
academics in Europe
Statement 1: OER will have a major impact
on students' learning in the next five
years.
• I agree
• I disagree
• Undecided
Statement 2: OER are better quality than
commercially published textbooks.
• I agree
• I disagree
• Undecided
Statement 3: I will use more OER in my
teaching/learning in future.
• I agree
• I disagree
• Undecided
Session 4:
Brainstorm and discussion: what
can you do to increase the benefits
of OER for students and what are
the challenges to uptake?
What can we all do to increase the benefits of OER for
our students?
• Key points:
What are the challenges to uptake?
• Key points:
Useful references
POERUP
Website: www.poerup.info
Wiki: http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Countries
OECD report
OECD. (2007). Giving knowledge for free - the emergence of Open
Educational Resources: OECD, available online at
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/7/38654317.pdf.
Guidelines for OER in HE
http://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=364
OLNET: http://www.olnet.org
OPAL: http://www.oer-quality.org
Further information
www.poerup.info