Good intentions: improving the evidence base in support of sharing learning materials Lou McGill Sarah Currier Charles Duncan Peter Douglas Open educational repositories: share, improve, reuse Thursday 26th March 2009

Resource producer

Primary consumer

Resource

Resource Supplier

Resource consumer

Resource sharing /

/ / acuna/ / Resource exchange

Repurposed resource

olexg/ / Context of use/re-purposing mesh/ / klara/ /

Learning materials 'sharing' implies intent – letting others use something of value that you have created or own (invested in) could share openly or with specific groups 'exchange' – parties offer/share some resource for mutual benefit re-use/re-purposing imply sharing but this may not always be a conscious intent

Intent Whilst sharing and exchange are processes (either conscious or not) it is the intent behind the various initiatives, activities and services that are important... is sharing learning resources really feasible – why has it been so hard to do?

The problem Millions (£) spent on creating learning content over more than a decade Interoperability has advanced enormously over the same period Barriers related to IPR have been identified and largely overcome (for example Creative Commons) Yet there is no single compelling business case for sharing resources

Conflicting views? “there is little tradition or articulated desire for sharing learning materials in the sector in the ways made possible by these technologies” TrustDR report, % of respondents to a 2006 survey re- purposed resources created by others CD-LOR Personal Resource Management Strategies Review

Improving the evidence base in support of sharing learning materials June – December 2008 Funded by Objective

Research Study Desk research and interviews Symposium on Implementing National Learning Resources Repositories Collating and analysing business models Development of business cases for a variety of business models

Early thoughts Sharing is not just about using formal repositories Learning resources interpreted broadly Business terminology not particularly relevant to learning & teaching practitioners We do need to understand the 'business' in terms of knowing our market and 'consumers'

Business models and cases Service –Various infrastructures that exist to support sharing Business model –a mechanism to illustrate various aspects of an existing service Business case –an articulation of the benefits of such a model

The paths we take Business models that exist now reflect the history of our work to encourage sharing of learning resources... Report offers an account of this history...

In-depth Case Studies OpenLearn, UK, Open University Jorum, UK, National Repository NDLR, Ireland, National Repository COLEG, Scotland, FE National Repository IRISS Learning Exchange, Scotland, Social Work IVIMEDS, International, Medicine SURF WBL, UK, Cross-institutional CELLS, Scotland, Cross-institutional, Life Sciences EdShare, Southampton, UK, single institution

Open Sharing Models Studied OpenLearn, UK JorumOpen, UK MIT OCW, US NZ OER, New Zealand Merlot, International OER Commons, International Connexions, Rice University US Knowledge Hub, Mexico BC Campus, Canada

Historical Models Studied SeSDL, National, Scotland, Subject: IT Staff Development HLSI, Regional, England IVINURS, International, Subject: Nursing JORUM+, National, UK Stòr Cùram, National, Scotland, Subject: Social Work

Business model template A template was developed to enable the articulation of a wide range of existing business models for sharing learning resources. –to identify common elements and key decision points –to highlight key points of connection between factors, decision making points, opportunities and stresses/restrictions.

Business model template

Finance models

Service models

Supplier/consumer models

Issues affecting models

Business Models Subject-based sharing –Communities of practice; shared curriculum Open sharing –No barriers; open access; open licences Institutional sharing Informal sharing Media-focussed sharing

Lifecycle Early experiments –Recognition of problems: IPR, culture, practice –Technology: interoperability, metadata Growing and changing –Landscape has changed significantly –Funding: sustainability, adaptability Maturing –Strong business cases

Business cases a mechanism to help people decide which business model/s to adopt as appropriate a process where they would automatically generate a context specific business case to support funding requests encourages an approach which starts with the needs (required benefits) not a preferred model no one model fits all and often a combination of models may be appropriate depending on the context Helps to prioritise benefits and recognise that by making some business model choices certain benefits are more difficult to achieve to support a dialogue within institutions by identifying what benefits the institution and wider community already enjoy from existing sharing activities.

Benefit levels Benefit for the global community (13) Benefit for the national community (13) Benefit for the educational institution (15) Benefit for individual teachers, tutors and learning support staff (8) Benefit for individual learners, students (11)

Impact of business cases Significant impact Some impact Possible with right conditions No impact

General benefits to globa l community OpenCoPSubject-basedInstitutionalNationalInformal Supporting subject- discipline communities to share Encourages innovation and experimentation Shares expertise and resources between developed and developing countries Supports re-use and re-purposing Supports community input to metadata through tagging, notes, reviews Supports effective retrieval through professionally created metadata Ensures trust through appropriate licensing

Business cases - Global CaseSubjectOpen Supporting subject-based communities to share Encourages innovation and experimentation Shares expertise and resources between developed and developing countries Supporting re-use and re-purposing Supporting continued development of standards and interoperability Supporting continued development of tools for sharing and exchange Supporting sharing and reuse of individual assets Helps develop critical mass of materials in particular subject areas Supporting ease of access through search engines such as Google

Business cases - National CaseSubjectOpen Cost efficiencies Decrease in duplication Supports cross-institutional sharing Provides access to non-educational bodies such as employers, professional bodies, trade unions, etc Supports a broad vision of sharing across the country Promotes the concept of lifelong learning Supports shared curricula Supports discovery of most used/highest quality resources Supports the notion that educational institutions should leverage taxpayers’ money by allowing free sharing and reuse of resources Mitigates the cost of keeping resources closed Mitigates the risk of doing nothing in a rapidly changing environment Supports sustained long-term sharing

Business cases - Institutional CaseSubjectOpen Increased transparency and quality of learning materials Encourages high quality learning and teaching resources Supports modular course development Maintaining and building institution’s reputation - globally Attracting new staff and students to institutions – recruitment tool for students and prospective employers Shares expertise efficiently within institutions Supports the altruistic notion that sharing knowledge is in line with academic traditions and a good thing to do Likely to encourage review of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment Enhancing connections with external stakeholders by making resources visible

Business cases - Teachers CaseSubjectOpen Increased personal recognition Supports sharing of knowledge and teaching practice Encourages improvement in teaching practice Supports immediate one-off instances of sharing Supports attribution Encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration and sharing Supports CPD and offers evidence of this

Business cases - Learners CaseSubjectOpen Easy and free access to learning material for learners Increased access options for students enrolled on courses (particularly remote students) Easily accessed through student-owned technologies Increased access for non-traditional learners (widening participation) Likely to encourage self-regulated and independent learning Likely to increase demand for flexible learning opportunities Likely to increase demand for assessment and recognition of competencies gained outside formal learning settings Likely to encourage peer support, mentorship and ambassadorial programmes

National sharing scenario Reflects government ideals of widening participation, encouraging effective utilisation of publicly funded collections of resources, promoting cross institutional collaboration, encouraging re-use and re- purposing and supporting lifelong learning Obviously a national approach would be required to facilitate these benefits but combining this with an open approach (on a national scale) could add many benefits, particularly if this meant open to learners as well as those supporting learning and teaching. A CoP approach could support sustainability, and a subject-based approach would also support the development of a critical mass in different subject areas. A possible model to support this scenario would be an open national repository with access by students, possibly opened wider than the UK with subject based community support mechanisms to encourage sharing of practice, deposit of materials and re-use/re- purposing.

Conclusions Report referred to in recent JISC OER call Develop toolkit for institutions building business cases Consider “intent” – know your objectives Recognise that these may change through the lifecycle of any repository Adapt, modify, sustain

Good intentions The vision of a world where teachers in HE, FE and WBL/CPD would share and re-purpose their learning materials, using the Web as a medium, with the support of interoperability standards, and repository platforms utilising those standards has been with us for many years. Despite our best efforts and good intentions we've not always moved forward as fast as we would have liked. And now we find that after all that work and, sometimes painful, experience our world has changed. The evidence suggests that the landscape of policy, technology, and learning and teaching practice may have changed sufficiently for us to realise the vision.

Good intentions report and business cases available at