POLICIES FOR OPEN EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - UoMtec.intnet.mu/pdf_downloads/confpaper/confpaper091225.pdf · POLICIES FOR OPEN EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - UoM M. D. Nowbuth ... Lecturer,

POLICIES FOR OPEN

EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - UoM

M. D. Nowbuth

Head, Civil Engineering Department

&

S. Gunness

Lecturer, Virtual Centre for Innovative Learning Technologies (VCILT)

International Conference on Higher Education and Economic Development (3-5 September 2012, Mauritius) - TEC

Agenda

Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Why OERs?

Users & Providers – Some Examples

Benefits & Downsides

Barriers

Creative Commons Licensing Framework

Open Educational Practices

Potential OEP Policy for UoM


Open Educational Resources (OERs)

“Open Educational Resources" -first adopted at UNESCO's 2002 Forumon the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in DevelopingCountries.

Open Educational Resources (OER) - any educational resources, including:

curriculum maps,

course materials,

textbooks,

streaming videos,

multimedia applications,

podcasts, and any other materials

designed for use in teaching and learning - openly available for useand reuse by educators and students - without an accompanying needto pay royalties or licence fees (COL, 2011).


Why OERs?


Vast amount of educational materials available in

digital format – Avoid duplication of resources

Increasing Cost – Education Sector

Can reach a wider community.

Provide the basis to promote a Knowledge based

economy


Transformative Educational Potential of OER

Users & Provides of OERs

Several institutions – Educational Institutions, ResearchCentres, International organisations (Promoting OERs)

UNESCO - „Open Educational Resources (OER) provide a strategic opportunity to improve thequality of education as well as facilitate policy dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building. „

COL – Commonwealth of Learning: „The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) isstrongly committed to the creation, adaptation and use of Open Educational Resources (OER) becausethey have the potential to increase access to education while cutting costs and improving quality. Theyare, therefore, an important element of COL's mission of Learning for Development.’

OER has emerged as a concept with great potential to supporteducational transformation.


Examples

MIT OpenCourseWare project (2100 modules)

China Open Resources for Education (CORE)

NPTEL – India : The National Programme on Technology

Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), (IITs and IISc) –

EdX –US –Programmes – Certificate level.

World Bank: Open Knowledge Repository (Publications)


Websites - Examples

COL – OER Repository

[http://wikieducator.org/OER_Handbook

/educator/Find/General_repositories

International Conference on Higher Education and Economic Development (3-5 September 2012,

Mauritius) - TEC

Benefits

Learners

• Flexibility of resources

• Bench marking

• Peer to Peer learning encouraged

Educators

• Collaborative teaching

• Avoid duplication of educational content development

• International collaborations with peers

Institutions

• Recognition & Enhanced reputation

• More visibility

• New Partnerships/Linkage – international


Downsides to OERs

Quality of the educational materials ??

Content not always well presented

Not regular updated, (over time no longer)

Needs to be adapted (repurpose) for local use.

IPR issues not always clear to users and potentialproducers of OERs


OERs - Licence

Key point which differentiate OERs from other

educational resources – its licence

Openly licensed content – not necessary free to use

(need permission).

OERs – Creative Common licence framework facilitates

reuse, and potentially adaptation, without first

requesting permission from the copyright holder.


Creative Commons Licencing Framework

It provides legal mechanisms to ensure that authorsof materials:

can retain acknowledgement for their work whileallowing it to be shared,

can seek to restrict commercial activity if they wish,and

can aim to prevent people from adapting it ifappropriate.


Creative Commons Licence


Type Possibility Code

1 Most accommodating CC-BY

2 No derivatives allowed – use as it for both commercial and non-

commercial

CC-BY-ND

3 Derivatives allowed but for non-commercial use & derivates to

be licensed under identical terms.

CC-BY-NC-SA

4 All new creations to be licensed under the identical terms. CC-BY-SA

5 New derivatives need not be licensed under same licence. CC-BY-NC

6 Most restrictive – can only be used for non-commercial and

cannot be modified.

CC-BY-NC-ND

Open Educational Practices - Towards an

OER Policy

Main components to be addressed:

1. Awareness of OERs – availability and access

2. Copyright – Users & Producers (Liabilities )

3. Quality Assurance Policies

4. Technical facilities

5. Library facilities

6. Incentives – international collaboration

7. Costs implications


UoM – Towards an OER Policy

Existing facilities

CPDL/VCILT

Blended modules (50 modules online – All Faculties

concerned)

Full programmes online (3 Full programmes – VCILT)

Quality Assurance Procedures – Robust for

Conventional modes

Library support facilities

CITS – Technical Support

CCRC – IPR/Copyright/


Existing Facilities - Blended Modules


Lifelong Learning Cluster

• VCILT

• CPDL

• CITS

Bottom up initiatives

• SIDECAP

• VUSSC

• OLnet

Degree of Student

involvement

• BSc/MSc EdTech

• Student as Producers project

Quality of the service!

.......“Universities should understand that their real

potential educational value lies in their ability to

provide effective support to students through their

ability to provide intelligent assessment and critical

feedback to students on their performance- the focus

being less on the content, but moreso on the quality

of service.” .....Butcher (2010)


OUR STUDENTS ARE ONLINE!


Thanking you for your attention


Documents

POLICIES FOR OPEN EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - UoMtec.intnet.mu/pdf_downloads/confpaper/confpaper091225.pdf · POLICIES FOR OPEN EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - UoM M. D. Nowbuth ... Lecturer,