The Potential of Open
Educational Resources
DG EAC TWG “ICT and Education”, BXL, 20-22 January 2013
Christine Redecker
Jonatan Castaño Muñoz
Why study OER?
Because OER can solve ALL the problems education faces today!
1. Really?
2. How?
http://www.openeducationweek.org/why-open-education-matters-1/
What are OER?
“OERs are
teaching,
learning or
research materials
that are
in the public
domain or released
with an open
license
that allows for
free
use,
adaptation, and
distribution”
(UNESCO, 2012)
“Open Educational
Resources are digital
learning resources
offered online (…)
freely
free
accessible
and
(no cost)
(open/public)
openly
to teachers,
educators, students,
and independent
OER
learners in order to
be
used,
use,
Share,
shared,
re-vise,
re-use, combined, adapted,
re-mix
re-distribute
and expanded
in teaching, learning
and research.”
The “4R” of OER
(OECD, 2012)
Key Dimensions
Cost
free
(no cost)
Efficiency
Access
accessible
Content(open/public)
OER
use,
re-vise,
re-mix
People
Personalisation
Quality
Share,
re-use,
re-distribute
Collaboration
Different Sectors = Different Challenges
SCHOOL
EDUCATION
OER
ADULT
EDUCATION
HIGHER
EDUCATION
OER Inititatives
HE
SE
AE
OCW
Creating and adapting
Content
INCENTIVATING TEACHERS WORK
DIGITAL TEXTBOOKS
MOOCS??
CONTENT
Technical Infrastructures
Organizing and accessing
Networking people
ICT: (Creation software, Standards, LMS…)
LEGAL (Licenses)
REPOSITORIES
OPEN ACCESS TO
RESEARCH
TEACHER NETWORKS: SHARING OER EXPERIENCES
AND OER CULTURE
PEOPLE
Training and advising
SKILLING & TRAINING
GUIDELINESS
Two main initiatives
OCW
OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a free and open digital
publication of university-level educational
materials. These materials are organized as courses,
and often include course planning materials and
evaluation tools as well as thematic content.
OpenCourseWare are free and openly licensed,
accessible to anyone, anytime via the internet (OCW
Consortium)
Higher Education
MOOC
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are free
courses without enrolment restrictions delivered
over the web to potentially a huge number
(thousands) of students at a time.
It's a Course, so it includes:
It's not a course, it's only the materials.
• Interaction and feedback:
- Low teacher presence
- xMoocs (automated feedback e.g. quizzes) vs.
cMoocs (student collaboration)
• Assessment (quizzes or peer) but not Official
Credentials
CC licenses. It allows the use, reuse and distribution of
materials.
Initially the idea of MOOCs was implement the courses
with OER.
However, materials of more successful Moocs (xMoocs of
Top Universities) are under CR licences. So, are they
Open?
Example MIT OCW
OCW: MIT
Higher Education
Example Coursera
MOOCS: COURSERA
Higher Education
Current trends
Higher Education
Cost
→ transition to formal courses
→ add (paid) services
(e.g. teacher support)
→ certification ($)
Efficiency
Access
OCW
Content
OER
MOOCs
People
Personalisation
Collaboration (Students)
Quality
Current Trends in
Digital
textbook
initiatives
Cost
Secondary Education
Efficiency
Access
Content
OER
People
Personalisation
Quality
Teacher
Collaboration Networks
Example
Digital School Initiative
Free Digital Textbooks
Greece
Repository that
gives free online
access to all
textbooks for all
levels of school
education in the
form of enriched
e-books.
E-books produced
with a fixedprice by corporate
publishers after an
open competition.
→ Focus on cost savings
→ Materials not suited or intended for modification
http://digitalschool.minedu.gov.gr/
Example
Wikiwijs (NL)
Search
Create
Share
Collaboration
“Wikiwijs is an open, internetbased platform, where teachers
can find, download, (further)
develop and share educational
resources. […] Educational
resources are developed by
teachers, for teachers. […]The
scope of Wikiwijs is the whole
Dutch educational system: from
primary schools up to the
universities.”
Current Trends in
Cost
Adult Education
& LLL
Efficiency
Access
Content
OER
People
Personalisation
Collaboration
Quality
Example
Andalucia - Spain
2nd Chance Education
http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/educacion/permanente/materiales/index.php?mat=12
Example
Andalucia - Spain
2nd Chance Education
Example
Alison (Ireland)
Free VET courses
Financed
through
advertisements
“ALISON is the world's
leading free online
learning resource for
basic and essential
workplace skills.
ALISON provides highquality, engaging,
interactive multimedia
courseware for
certification and
standards-based
learning.”
http://alison.com/
ALISON stands for "Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online"
Challenge 1:
Who‘s paying?
Challenge 2:
Accessibility
Who is helping teachers?
Who is helping learners?
Challenge 3:
from OER to
The Leap
Open Education
OER as such do not lead to innovation in Education and Training.
What about new pedagogies?
What about ubiquitous learning?
What about the certification of informally acquired skills?
….
Conclusions
Efficiency
Cost
free
(no cost)
Access
accessible
(open/public)
SchoolContent
Adult Education & LLL
OER
use,
re-vise,
re-mix
HE
Education Share,
People
re-use,
re-distribute
Personalisation
Quality
Collaboration
• Thank you very much for your attention!
• Christine Redecker
• Jonatan Castaño-Muñoz
•
• [email protected]
[email protected]
• http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/EAP/eLearning.html
further information ……
http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu
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