Openness Initiatives in Distance Education

Gülay EKRENSinop University, Sinop, Turkey

gekren@sinop.edu.tr

Evrim GENÇ KUMTEPEAnadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey

egkumtepe@anadolu.edu.tr

Sinop University in Sinop/Turkey

Anadolu University in Eskişehir/Turkey

Intr

od

uct

ion

Orientation to openness

• The term «openness» • Open University, Connexions Project, MIT Open

CourseWare• Openness initiatives

• open content, open educational content, open textbooks, open learning resources, open educational technologies, open academic resources, and open courseware, open class, open school, open university and open educational software tools

• OERs, MOOCs, open source softwares• International organizations: Open Education Resources

Universitas (OERu)

Aim

s• The main aim of the study: to increase awareness on

issues, themes, time period and research methods of openness initiatives in the field of distance highereducation• issues worked about openness in distance education

researches• themes centered in associated with openness • time period that has been worked more related to

openness • types of methods have been used more related to

openness

Met

ho

d

• Criteria for inclusion:• implementation in the context of distance higher

education• examination the effect of openness on distance

education. • use of quantitative, qualitative, mixed or other

methods. • providing necessary information for openness in its

abstract.

• A content analysis research

• Inductive method of content analysis (Elo and Kyngas, 2008)

• 46 articles examined from IRRODL (The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning)

Met

ho

d• The research areas are divided into three categories

including micro, meso and macro levels (Zawacki-Richter, Beck and Vogt, 2009)

Micro level: Openness in

teaching and learning

Meso level: Openness in

management, organization

and technology

Macro level: Openness in

distance education systems

and theories

instructional design

interaction and

communication in

learning communities

learner characteristics

management and

organization

costs and benefits

educational technology

innovation and change

professional development

and faculty support

learner support services

quality assurance

access, equity, and ethics

globalization of education

and cross-cultural aspects

distance teaching systems

and institutions

theories and models

research methods in

distance education and

knowledge transfer

Res

ult

s

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Macro

Meso

Micro

• The themes that worked in this study by classifying research areas in macro, meso and micro levels

Res

ult

s

• Research areas related to openness in distance highereducation

Res

ult

s

• Themes of researches related to openness in distancehigher education

Res

ult

s

• Distribution of researches related to openness in distance higher education by years

Res

ult

s

• Methods of researches related to openness in distance higher education

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

2000 2002 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Mixed

Qalitative

Quantitative

• This study has examined openness through the lens of an international, open-access, peer-reviewed journal; IRRODL.

• The researches related to openness are increasing from 2009 to 2015• Such areas: instructional design, management and

organization, educational technology, and theories and models.

• Mostly instructional design.• The themes focus on the issues such as OERs, MOOCs,

connectivism, open education, open and distance learning or just openness.

• Future researches are needed such areas:• Globalization of education and cross-cultural aspects,

research methods in distance education and knowledge transfer in macro level

• learner support services in meso level

• In the following stage of this study, as well as IRRODL, the other famous journals in distance education will be analyzed:• The American Journal of Distance Education (AJDE),• The European Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning (EURODL), • The International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education (IJDE),• Distance Education (DE),• The Journal of Online Learning and Technology (JOLT), • Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning (OL),• The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE).

• Anderson, B., & Simpson, M. (2012). History and heritage in distance education. Journal of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning, 16(2), 1-10.• Bozkurt, A., Akgun-Ozbek, E., Yilmazel, S., Erdogdu, E., Ucar, H., Guler, E., ... & Aydin, C. H. (2015). Trends in distance education research: A content

analysis of journals 2009-2013. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(1).• Butcher, N. & Hoosen, S. (2014). How Openness Impacts on Higher Education. UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.

Retrieved from http://iite.unesco.org/pics/publications/en/files/3214734.pdf• Cape Town Open Education Declaration (2007). Retrieved from http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration• Educause (2011, November). 7 Things You Should Know About MOOCs. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7078.pdf• Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of advanced nursing, 62(1), 107-115.• Kanwar, A, Kodhandaraman, B. & Umar, A. (2010). Toward Sustainable Open Education Resources: A Perspective From the Global South, American

Journal of Distance Education, 24:2, 65-80,• Katane, I., & Katans, E. (2015, May). Distance Education in Historical Aspect. In Society, Integration, Education. Proceedings of the International

Scientific Conference, 1, 309-318.• Lane, A. (2008). Widening participation in education through open educational resources. In T. Iiyoshi and M. S. V. Kumar (Eds.), Opening Up

Education: The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge, 149–163. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

• Lane, A. (2012). A review of the role of national policy and institutional mission in European distance teaching universities with respect to widening participation in higher education study through open educational resources, Distance Education, 33:2, 135-150

• MacQueen H. & Thomas, J. (2009). Teaching Biology at a Distance: Pleasures, Pitfalls, and Possibilities, American Journal of Distance Education, 23:3, 139-150.

• Miyazoe, T., & Anderson, T. (2013). Interaction equivalency in an OER, MOOCS and informal learning era. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2013(2).

• Petrovic, N., Jeremic, V., Cirovic, M., Radojicic, Z. & Milenkovic, N. (2014). Facebook Versus Moodle in Practice, American Journal of Distance Education, 28(2), 117-125.

• Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). The emergence of open-source software in China. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 8(1).

• Peters, M. (2008). The history and emergent paradigm of open education. Open education and education for openness, 3-15.• Peter, S., & Deimann, M. (2013). On the role of openness in education: A historical reconstruction. Open Praxis, 5(1), 7-14.• Wiley, D., & Green, C. (2012). Why openness in education. Game changers: Education and information technologies, 81-89.• Wiley, D., & Hilton III, J. (2009). Openness and the Future of Higher Education. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distributed

Learning, 10(5). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/788/1412• Zawacki-Richter, O., Bäcker, E. M., & Vogt, S. (2009). Review of distance education research (2000 to 2008): Analysis of research areas, methods,

and authorship patterns. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 10(6), 21-50.• Zijdemans Boudreau, A. (2014). Openness in Education, Systems Thinking, and the Practitioner. In World Conference on Educational Multimedia,

Hypermedia and Telecommunications, 1, 1065-1071.• Hagemann, M. & Hugyecz, P. (2016). Poland Is Pioneering the World’s First National Open Textbook Program. Retrieved from

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/poland-pioneering-worlds-first-national-open-textbook-program• Unesco Paris OER Declaration (2012, 22 June). Retrieved from

http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/Events/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_01.pdf• USQ (University of Southern Queensland). (2015, 22 September). USQ talks openness in higher education. Australia. Retrieved from

https://www.usq.edu.au/news-events/news/2015/09/openspace-conference