EmpOERing students and academics through large-scale open content initiatives Gabi Witthaus, Ming Nie and Gráinne Conole University of Leicester EDEN Research Workshop Leuven, Belgium and Online: 22 October 2012

Session outline 1.“OER 101”: Open session on defining OER 2.Presentation: major OER initiatives in Europe, based on research from POERUP project ( 3.A “moving debate” about the potential impact of OER on students and academics in Europe 4.Brainstorm and discussion: what can you do to increase the benefits of OER for students?

Session 1: “OER 101”: Open session on defining OER

Open Educational Resources are… A.Anything I can find on the Web for use in teaching and learning? B.Free, web-based resources? C.Resources that are published under an open licence? D.Both B and C? E.None of the above (I have a better definition)

OECD defines OER as… “Digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and self- learners to use and reuse for teaching, learning and research” (OECD, 2007, p. 133)

Session 2: Presentation: major OER initiatives in Europe, based on research from POERUP project (

POERUP partners Sero, UK University of Leicester, UK Open University of the Netherlands Althabasca University, Canada University of Lorraine, France SCIENTER, Italy EDEN, Hungary

Context and rationale Over ten years of the OER movement Hundreds of OER repositories worldwide Evaluation shows lack of uptake by teachers and learners Shift from development to community building and articulation of OER practice

POERUP focus Stimulating the uptake of OER through policy Building on previous initiatives (OPAL, OLNET) Producing country reports and case studies Evaluating successful OER communities

POERUP will produce: An inventory of more than 100 OER initiatives 11 country reports and 13 mini-reports ( in-depth case studies 3 EU-wide policy papers

Differences in education, internet, e-learning Diversity of educational contexts Diversity of internet provision Diversity of use of e-learning – Distance Learning is a feature of educational system, Canada and Australia – State of e-learning below EU average, Hungary CountryInternet (in 2011)Broadband (in 2011) Australia87%83% UK73%71% Italy62%52% Hungary66%61%

Differences in policy support OER to be a policy priority in the near future The Ministry of Education had clear OER strategies OER as part of educational strategy planning documents – National Education Technology Plan, United States – Wikiwijs Programme Plan , Netherlands Most institutions don’t have an OER strategy

Differences in funding Funding from governments: – JISC/HEA 3-phase OER Programme with around 100 OER initiatives, UK – Wikiwijs Programme, Netherlands – Digital School Programme, Poland Funding from state or province governments: – BC campus initiative, British Columbia, Canada – Open licensing of public sector information, state governments, Australia Institutionally supported initiatives: – OpenCourseWare Consortium – OERu – iTunes U – MOOCs Funding goes to HE/FE, little goes to schools

Emerging themes Shift from development to OER practices Shift from basic OER awareness to OER maturity and embedding Broader notion of open practices – open learning, teaching and research Use of social and participatory media to foster OER communities

Session 3: A “moving debate” about the potential impact of OER on students and academics in Europe

Statement 1: OER will have a major impact on students' learning in the next five years. I agree I disagree Undecided

Statement 2: OER are better quality than commercially published textbooks. I agree I disagree Undecided

Statement 3: I will use more OER in my teaching/learning in future. I agree I disagree Undecided

Session 4: Brainstorm and discussion: what can you do to increase the benefits of OER for students and what are the challenges to uptake?

What can we all do to increase the benefits of OER for our students? Key points:

What are the challenges to uptake? Key points:

Useful references POERUP Website: Wiki: OECD report OECD. (2007). Giving knowledge for free - the emergence of Open Educational Resources: OECD, available online at Guidelines for OER in HE OLNET: OPAL:

Further information