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Are Open Educational Resources the future of e-learning?

Authors: K. Kozinska, E. Kursun, T. Wilson, P. McAndrew, E. Scanlon, A. Jones, K. Cagiltay

3rd International Futur(e)-Learning Conference 10-14 May 2010, Istanbul, Turkey

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Presentation Plan

• Global context & Turkish context

• Main OER initiatives (OpenLearn example), terminology, Discussion and examples:

• World 2010 – Can OER help address some of the issues? OER potential vs. barriers

• Conclusions: Are OER the future of (e-)learning?

• Importance of research (OLnet example, current studies), debate, awareness

OER Movement in Turkish Context

• The Turkish OCW consortium, October 2006 with 24 universities members (http://acikders.org/)

• 59 member universities

• Different potential: Young population, New universities lack of instructors, resources

• Different barriers: Copyrigth, administrative support, lack of trust among instructors

• Universities started to publish their course materialsAnkara, Anadolu, Başkent, Ege, Hacettepe, İTU, ODTÜ

• Each one has different OCW model

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OER Movement in Turkish Context

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• Recent activities in consortium (Reward programs)• Application for translation of basic science courses• Application for a new Turkish course-

Deadline:September,1

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World in 2010 – contrasts in globalisation: technological advancement vs. disadvantage

Access

• Network, Web, Equipment, Education, Information

• Instant, Ubiquitous, Mobile, Distance

• ICT Literacy, Learning, Opportunities, Networking, UGC Image 1

Progress

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World in 2010 – contrasts in globalisation: technological advancement vs. disadvantage

Scarce or no Access to:

• Network, Equipment, Information, Education,

• => Social & Digital

• Divide, Isolation, Exclusion

Image 2

Lack of opportunities

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Demographic changes = > trends: more people, live longer, migrating (UNESCO, OECD, NIACE)

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Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement

• 2002: official adoption of the term OER at UNESCO-organised Forum on the Impact of Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

• ‘Open provision of educational resources, enabled by information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes’ (UNESCO, 2002)

• Principle: free, available to all for educational use

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OER definitions

• ‘full courses, textbooks, streaming videos, exams, software, and any other materials or techniques supporting learning...free tools and content’

(The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 2010)

• OER ‘are all about sharing [as] a culture of sharing resources and practices will help facilitate change and innovation in education’

(OER Commons, 2007)

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Open Content: a growing field

MIT OCW

Connexions

OpenLearn

A few examples...

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Example: OpenLearn

• 2006, OU, UK with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

• Moodle, VLE, open-source, 10th millionth visit in January 2010, ca. 8 million unique visitors, LearningSpace (12 main subject areas, units, forums, tools learning clubs) and LabSpace

• ‘a hybrid of a repository, structured assets, a community, course-based tools, and personal learning tools’ OpenLearn Research Report 2006-2008 (McAndrew et al., 2009:3)

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Example: OpenLearn

• ‘online learning that is open to anyone, anywhere in the world using materials taken from Open University courses. And it is completely free to use!

• Instead of attending classes, you study online in the LearningSpace, using materials that have been specially designed for distance learning’ http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/home.php

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World in 2010 – Can OER help address some of the issues?

Discussion and examples:

• Unequal access to education, poverty, widening gaps

• No access to ICT

• Digital divide

Situation

• Widen participation in education

• Facilitate access to infrastructure and equipment

• Promote ICT literacy

Action

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World in 2010 – Can OER help address some of the issues? Potential of OER solutions versus the barriers

Multi-

Lingual/

Cultural

society

Different levels of literacy

Poverty,

exclusion

Expected 8.9 billion people in 2050 – nearly more than double over 2000 (UN, 1999)

Live longer

globalization migration,

information and knowledge-based economy

Translation

Localization

Promotion of cultural awareness

Audio-visual material

Print (TESSA)

Free

Universal usability

Design

OER for Lifelong learning, skills-based

free, flexible,

translation,

ICT workforce demand (Dutton, 2003); skills and cultural awareness

Moving away from content-only, providing tools, spaces for networking

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World in 2010 – Can OER help address some of the issues? Forecasts on HE student population

• more diverse, mature, Part-time (OECD, 2008;

OECD, 2009a);

• ‘challenges will arise linked to the possible social exclusion of groups not involved in higher education’ (OECD, 2008:14)

e.g. increased participation of students with disabilities

Image 3

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World in 2010 – Can OER help address some of the issues? Diversity of the student population

• Dialogue, communication, awareness = > provide tools and spaces on OER that will enable & promote communication with others, collaboration and connecting within networks of learners

• OER solution: ‘ODL approaches and ICTs present opportunities to widen access to quality education, particularly when [OER] are readily shared by many countries and higher education institutions’ (UNESCO, 2009:3)

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World in 2010 – Can OER help address some of the issues? Potential of OER solutions versus the barriers

Learning increasingly on the move

Acrossdisciplines

Informal vs. formal

Personalised learning

Social media, interaction

Instant access to one’s account, e.g. on OpenLearn if there is Internet

Sharing resources, dialogue between communities

Informal, non-assessed on OpenLearn, OR one can enrol in a course (OU, CMU)

Accounts, profiles, course units, downloadable tools, learning journals, (OpenLearn)

Communication tools, collaboration tools, interaction with technology & others

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Barriers & issues to deal with

• Cost of OER production vs. their ‘freeness’

• How sustainable is the OER model? => various models of financing OER, e.g. ‘co-production’ model, ‘membership model’ (OECD, 2007)

• Intellectual Property, Copyright, Licensing, => Creative Commons

• Quality Assurance, Certification, Credibility => Consortia

• Cultural imperialism (English-speaking) => Localisation

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Key competences & transversal skills (adapted from Key Competences for Lifelong Learning European Reference Framework (European Communities, 2007) and Learning in Informal Networks and Communities (Ala-Mutka, 2010)

• Communicating, learning, thinking critically

• Numeracy, technology and digital competencies

• Creativity, initiative, problem-solving

• Social, civic, entrepreneurial, cultural

• Building connections, networking

• = > Developing SKILLS with OER,

• Fostering attitudes, not ‘just’ gaining KNOWLEDGE Image 4

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2010 – European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion http://2010againstpoverty.europa.eu

• ‘multidimensional nature of poverty and social exclusion’ (EU, 2010:6)

• One of the priority areas:

‘eradicating disadvantages in education and training, including digital literacy training and promoting equal access for all to ICT, with particular focus on the specific needs of disabled people’ (EU, 2010:6)

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CONCLUSIONS: Are OER the future of (e-)learning?

• POTENTIAL

• To help address global issues emerging from the changing demographic situation that affects: economy, society and => EDUCATION

• To play a key role in the FUTURE of LEARNING => flexible, free, transforming educational practice, lifelong, bridging digital gaps, promoting social justice

• NEED for RESEARCH, DEBATE, AWARENESS

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OLnet: Open Learning Network

• Funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

• Working in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University

• Searching out the evidence for use and reuse of open educational resources

• Researching the effectiveness of OER as a means to an end, not an end in itself

• Focus on ‘Deeper Learning’: critical thinking, problem-solving, collaborative work, effective communication, independent learning; ‘empowering to think’

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‘Motivations for socio-collaborative learning practices among registered users of OpenLearn - examining community interactions’ – pilot study, K. Kozinska

• to understand why users seek interaction while learning on OpenLearn

• to identify the offline and online factors that influence users’ participation

• to learn how we could provide better support in terms of content, activities and tools to help people develop their skills, interests and talents

• Phase 1: non-intrusive observation of virtual output: messages, profiles, journals,

• Phase 2: remote semi-structured interviews

• Learning for enjoyment, context and background important, benefits of communication, interaction and observation

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Any questions?Authors’ e-mails: k.a.kozinska@open.ac.uk,

ekursun@metu.edu.tr, martina.wilson@open.ac.uk, p.mcandrew@open.ac.uk, e.scanlon@open.ac.uk,

a.c.jones@open.ac.uk, kursat@metu.edu.tr

Twitter: @OLnet

Web: www.open.ac.uk and olnet.org

References: see article

Images: Flickr (1: PatrickSmithPhotography, 2009; 2: Dalla, 2007; 3: maistora, 2008; 4: piterart, 2009)