Content Analysis of OpenCourseWare Initiatives
within the Scope of Digital Literacy Skills
Turkish OpenCourseWare Consortium Case
Tolga ÇAKMAK – Jan 04, 2012
BBY 608 - Electronic Information Services
Outline
• Open Education Resources
• Digital Literacy Skills
• General Overview
• Methodology
• Findings
• Results and Recommendations
OER
• Definition of Open Education Resources??
− teaching, learning or research materials
− in public domain
− released with an intellectual property license that allows for free
use, adaptation and distribution (UNESCO, 2009).
OER
• Definition of Open Education Resources??
− digitized materials
− freely and openly for educators, students and self-learners
− Aim: use and reuse of the materials for teaching, learning and
research.
Digital Literacy
• Web 2.0
• New technologies and new resources
• Controlled and uncontrolled contents
• Critical thinking
Digital Literacy
• The digital literacy skills required for OER include:
1. Evaluating the resource
1.1.Where does the resource come from?
1.2.Who produced it?
1.3. Does it have use appropriate sources?
1.4. How current is it?
Digital Literacy
• 2. What can I do with resource?
2.1. Are there any license restrictions?
2.2. Is the resource format suitable for adaptation?
• 3. Resources assumed to use the resource
3.1. Does it require access to particular digital resources
(course readings)?
3.2. Does it require access to particular software
3.3. Does it require access to particular tools/
infrastructure?
Digital Literacy
• 4. Type of interaction assumed by the resource
4.1. Does it assume any particular type of interaction (group
work?)
4.2. Does it assume any form of online interaction/ community?
4.3. Does it assume expert assistance?
4.4. How does it fit with my patterns of learning?
General Overview
• OpenCourseWare (OCW) - by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in 2000.
− Many projects and consortia which enable access to course
materials have been developed.
General Overview
•
In Turkey, the first initiative as regards OER is “Turkish OpenCourseWare
Consortium” attempted by The Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) in 2007.
•
aimed to present course contents including curriculum, notes and presentations
(powerpoint, video, animations, etc.) of the course
•
There were 65 universities attending the consortium in 2010, but merely five of
them had active participations (Çağıltay, 2010).
− However, today this number has been made 13.
E
O
R
General Overview
• All OER projects and consortia can be regarded as a considerably
effective means of;
− lifelong learning for each individual
− connection between formal, non-formal and informal learning.
• «OER have not only been one of the significant ways to reach
information sources and course materials but also an efficient tool to
disseminate information among higher educational institutions,
particularly in the past decade.»
Methodology
• Aim: to demonstrate the current situation of first and main OER
initiative, conducted by Turkish Academy of Science in terms of digital
literacy skills that were determined under the scope of Information
Literacy.
• The focus group: Turkish OpenCourseWare Consortium.
http://www.acikders.org.tr/
• Findings were gathered and obtained through content analysis and web
based checklist.
• Related research data were assessed via Predictive Analytics Software
(PASW).
Findings
Content Distribution
Engineering
2%
Science
49%
Social Science
49%
Findings
Who Produced it?
Yıldız Teknik University
Nesin Foundation
Utah State
Univ. N. Dame
Univ. California
TOBB ETU
Selçuk University
METU
MIT
Hacettepe University
Galatasaray University
Başkent University
Balıkesir University
Ankara University
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Findings
Who Produced it?
Findings
Course Type?
Translated
43%
Original
57%
Findings
Course Level?
13%
Undergraduate
Master/PhD Courses
87%
Findings
Course Topics
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
<11
11-14
15-20
21-25
26-30
30<
Findings
How current is it?
25
20
15
10
5
0
No Date 1999
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Findings
• Additional Resources
− Courses that have additional resource list: 67.2%
− Courses that have exams: 68.7%
− 6 Courses have assignments or lab studies although they don’t have
any exam.
• 6 Courses require additional programs for effective learning
−
−
−
−
.jar
.c
PASW
.swf
Findings
Content Type?
HTML
PDF
Video+PDF
Word
Findings
How to create a course?
Findings
What can i do with resource
Results & Recommendations
• Most of the courses are created by Turkish scholars
• Content creation policies should be revised
− Moodle functions can be promoted instead of promoting PDF
upload process.
• Almost the same content is produced in the disciplines
of social sciences, science
− More content can be added in the discipline of
engineering.
• Other contributors or other content providers should
be encourged.
Results & Recommendations
• OCW, as new controlled information resources, vitally
significant and essential for individuals.
• Turkish OpenCourseWare Consortium can be a crashing
point of all organizational OCW initiatives.
Tolga ÇAKMAK – Jan 04, 2012
BBY 608 - Electronic Information Services