The Turkish experience on OER movement: Barriers and Enablers

Assoc.Prof. Kursat CagiltayTurkish OCW Consortium, Board Member

Middle East Technical University, Ankara Turkey

kursat@metu.edu.trhttp://www.metu.edu.tr/~kursat

Why OER for Turkey?

• Lack of digital resources in Turkish language (HEC report, 2005)

• Young population (25.5 %--0-15 age)• New universities

–Last 5-6 years number of universities doubled–Faculty member \Students;

• State : 74 Student • Private : 49 Student

Turkish OCW/OER Movement is Led by

• Individual Universities. eg. Middle East Technical University (METU)

• Turkish Academy of Sciences – Turkish OCW Consortium

Top 100 MIT OCW visitors(MIT OCW: 2005 Program Evaluation Findings Report)

34 - metu.edu.tr

METU OCW• Opened on

April 16th, 2008

• 82 courses from 25 departments published by 35 faculty members

• Videos• Books

Visitors are from Everywhere

5 Nov 2010 to 6 May 2011: 42,968 visits shown above

Top 15 Visiting Countries1. Turkey2. United States3. United Kingdom4. India5. Germany6. Canada7. Australia8. Iran, Islamic Republic of9. Indonesia10.Malaysia11.Mexico12.China13.Netherlands14.Korea15.France

Mirror in China, CORE

OCW Award

OCW Award

Other Turkish Universities

Other Turkish Universities

Turkish OCW Consortium

Turkish OCW Consortium• Established in May 2007 by Turkish

Academy of Sciences (TUBA)• Initially 45 universities• Now, 61 universities are members

Consortium member universities

Turkish OCW Consortium• Voluntary term: 10 courses were asked from

universities to join the consortium – Only 2 universities did it. (2007-2009)

• Funded term: In 2009, Funding requested from the government.– ~$2M for two years, ~$10K per course– Translated and original courses– Last year, Basic sciences (Math, Chemistry, Physics,

Biology) (21 Translations + 11 Orig.) – This year, Social Sciences

Member of OCW Consortium

Collaboration with MIT

Turkish Academicians concerns about OER/OCW

• A study with 1218 academicians• Copright is the most rated barrier • Instructors want their materials to remain

unchanged when they are reused– Or they want to be informed

• lack of institutional policies and incentives• Technology does not seem a barrier

Turkish Academicians’ concerns about OER/OCW

• Academicians have a consensus on possible benefits of freely publishing course materials– experienced instructors’ expertise– İncreasing Turkish resources– contribution to universities where educational

resources are scarce• Instructors have a positive reaction to

sharing their courses

Future• Still OCW/OER not much known by many

Turkish academicians• We asked another grant (~$12M) for 3 more

years: 750 courses• More course materials, simulations and smart

courses• Legal issues, e.g. Creative Commons• The target is 2023 open courses in the year of

2023 (100th anniversary of Turkish Republic)

Questions and Comments