Opal case study 02 the support centre for open educational resources score uk

Template Sections for completion: Case Study Title: The Open University - SCORE – The Support Centre for Open Resources in Education. Case Study Country: United Kingdom Type of organisation described by the case study, The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) recently announced that it was giving The Open University (OU) £7.8 million from its Strategic Development Fund to enhance its national role. The HEFCE grant will be used for three projects. Of significant interest to the OU OpenLearn work is the Support Centre for Open Resources in Education project. Address of organisation Higher Education Shared Solutions The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA Hyperlink to organisation www.open.ac.uk/sharedsolutions http://www8.open.ac.uk/score/ Hyperlink to case study source: http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=16464 Case Study Contributed by: Paul Mundin Case Study Sections: Please complete Section 1 – mandatory. Please complete whichever of Sections 2-10 is/are relevant to the case study. From an analytical perspective we are looking for the following generic questions to be answered in the case study: • What constitutes open educational practice in this case study? • What are the elements of innovation in educational practice? • How is OER being used to innovate educational practice? • How is open educational practice used to improve quality? Sections 1-10

1. Mandatory - A brief summary of the institution to be used as a case study About 500 words please on a description of the institution, its OER history and approach. SCORE will focus on sharing OU expertise in Open Educational Resources (OER) with other universities. People are increasingly learning using freely available online content on sites such as the OU OpenLearn web-site and social networks. Universities need to harness these networks in order to develop students’ learning. This is where the OU comes in – leading collaborations to develop OER resources and services, as well as to lower course development costs. SCORE will give staff from across the higher education sector the opportunity to work with experienced Open University staff on developing and using open educational resources. Professor Andy Lane, Director of OpenLearn commented that ‘Open educational resources involve sharing knowledge between teachers and with learners and that involves much collaboration and cooperation’. Jonathan Darby, Project Director of the OU National Role Programme said it was ’Essentially setting up a national centre to provide a focus for the development of the Open Educational Resources community within higher education; to promote good practice - to provide opportunities for others to engage with us in the development of the whole field’. 2. Quality – OER/OEP How does the institution approach quality in OER? Is there any current indication of a quality concept or process? Does the institution perceive quality from the perspective of the quality of open educational resources or the quality of open educational practice? How does the institution show quality through OEP versus quality of OEP? What methods, concepts and practices are used to enhance the quality of OEP? 3. Innovation How can OER/OEP innovate educational practices? What current innovative practices are there in the institution? Please do not regard innovation from just a technology perspective! 4. Policy What are the current OER/OEP policy arrangements at institutional and national level across Europe/the World? 5. Actors What actors are involved in OER/OEP? Is there any evidence to show that OER actors do not always promote OEP but “only” access to OER? A central part of SCORE is its fellowship scheme. It expects to fund 36 fellowship projects between 2010 and 2012 with two thirds drawn from outside the OU. Fellows work is expected to inform, influence and impact on OER policy and practice across the higher education sector. Projects may be

‘stand-alone’ or involve collaborations with other fellowship projects to address important themes in OER activity. Based flexibly at the OU in Milton Keynes, fellows can draw on the OU’s expertise in creating, sharing and using OER. They will receive support from the SCORE team, mentors and the OU’s OER fellowship community (which includes Open Learning Network (OLNet international fellows). 6. Initiatives What OER/OEP initiatives can be evidenced? Is there any evidence to show that OER initiatives do not always promote OEP but “only” access to OER? 7. Open Educational Practices Can you identify some case studies/ descriptions which form the illustrative base for a more general model of OEP? SCORE (The Support Centre for Open Resources in Education) has been set up as part of the Shared Solutions initiative (www.open.ac.uk/sharedsolutions), to inform and enable best policy and practice around the use of open educational resources (OER). Shared Solutions is HEFCE-funded from 2009-2012 with the objective of developing solutions to address sector-wide challenges. In doing so it draws on OU expertise and competences, such as its success in setting up OpenLearn (openlearn.open.ac.uk). SCORE aims to establish and support a community of practice around the effective use of OER to change and improve teaching and learning policies and practices. The driving question for SCORE is: • How can we build on the perceived potential of OER to help create new teaching and learning policies and practices within and between HEIs? This high-level question is refined into three sub-issues: • How can we make changes to teaching and learning policies for the benefit of HE in the UK through the planned adoption of OER practices? • How can we make changes to learning and teaching practices for the benefit of lecturers, students and adult learners more generally? • How can we build and sustain new and existing communities of practitioners that embrace OER as a key element in opening up education? 8. Tools and Repositories What tools and repositories are being used to deliver OER/OEP? For example GLOW, Connexions

Are there any other special tools for OER/OEP? e.g. Cloudworks, in which practices can be discussed and validated? Are there any tools for Visualisation? e.g CompendiumLD Are there any tools for Argumentation? e.g. Cohere 9. Strategies Can you identify any strategies for organisations to use OER/OEP? Can you identify any business models that promote OER/OEP? 10. Current barriers and enablers What are the barriers to the use of OER/OEP? Is there any evidence to how these barriers have been overcome? What are the enablers to the use of OER/ OEP?

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Opal case study 02 the support centre for open educational resources score uk

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