The document summarizes findings from a study on the barriers and motivators to using open educational resources (OER) in German schools. The study involved focus groups with teachers from different school types. It found that while teachers see benefits to OER, there are also challenges. Teachers lack guidance on how to evaluate quality and appropriateness of OER. They also reported that OER are not always easily adapted to their needs and that technical and language barriers exist. The study concludes that more support is needed for teachers in areas like trust-building, adaptation, and accessing OER in order to increase adoption.

1. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)
Barriers and Motivators for Using OER in German Schools
Ulf-Daniel Ehlers
Thomas Richter

2. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)
Open(ing) Educational Practices
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mamk/587941395/

3. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)

4. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)

5. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
5
The BIG Shift!
The current focus in OER Initiatives is
mainly on building more access to digital
content
Too little consideration is given to how this
will support educational practices, promote
quality and innovation in teaching and
learning.

6. ‘Open Educational Practices (OEP)
constitute the range of practices
around the creation, use and
management of open educational
resources with the intent to improve
quality and innovate education. ‘

7. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
7
n 60 case Studies
n Can be obtained here…
n Screenshot from Cloudworks

8. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
8
Explorative Study: Successes and Failures of German
teachers by using OER
n Research Questions
o How do teachers in German schools use OER?
o What are motivators and barriers
o What can we do to support them?
n Research Scenario
o Informal expert group discussions in private atmosphere
o 4 groups, each representing one school/school type:
- 3 teachers, Grundschule (basic school) – 3 teachers
- 5 teachers, Hauptschule (“secondary modern school”)
- 4 teachers, Gymnasium (“high school”)
- 4 teachers, Berufsschule (“professionals’ school”)
o Discussions took between 1,5 (Berufsschule) and 3 hours
(Grundschule)

9. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
9
Explorative Study: Moderation questions
n OER General
o What in your view are Open Educational Resources?
n Educational scenario in school
o What is your (school type) educational scenario like?
n Experiences with OER & preferences
o Have you already used publicly available learning materials from the
Internet within your own courses (scenario)?
o In which way is material from the Internet useful for your preparation
of classes?
o What kind of materials do you preferably use?
n Access
o How (concretely) do you search for, decide the use of, and adapt OER?
Where did you experience problems?
n Management of OER / policies
o Do your school administrations or the federal government support the
use of OER? Are there related policies within your institution?
n Production of OER / User Generated Content

10. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
10
Explorative Study: Outcomes
n Have you ever used OER contents?
o All but one teacher have used “OER” contents / Moodle as LMS available
- Particularly for explaining recent events, e.g., 9/11, Iraq war, Tsunami
- Most, primarily use pictures & movies for illustration (no “full courses”)
- Benefits: research for & access to information much easier through Internet
o Difference between Open and publicly accessible Educational Resources unclear
n How do you search and decide for certain OER?
o All: German school-repository (“Schulen ans Netz”), additionally Google search
o English language and Internet for some teachers challenging
o Teachers often worry: Is the information correct / adequate or fake? Is it secure?
- How to decide?
- For building trust, they need a “quality seal” and a description on the
scenario specific OER are designed for
- Is the material secure? Fear to bring “digital vermine” into the schools
n User Generated Content
o Own generated content often uploaded to repository of “Schulen ans Netz”
o Almost (exception, Gymnasium) no use of licenses: “If it is available, it is free”
o Learner Generated Content (IT classes) if, just uploaded to Internet by learners
themselves

11. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
11
Explorative Study: Outcomes
n Use & Adaptation of OER
o Use rarely as e-Learning but printed, since computer classes are exception
o Consensus: “If adaptation apart of translation is needed, OER in most cases are
useless.”
- In lack of known target-group, uncertainty on adaptation needs
o Most information “just” in English language – for younger classes, translation is
necessary (challenge).
o In case of pictures (Information Graphics) language is a problem, when stored in
unchangeable format, e.g., pdf, jpg, … Powerpoint would be much more helpful
n Management of OER, support / policies
o No policies but no money available à OER are needed but use is not recognized
o Many contents (books) are preselected in curricula, OER mainly to spice up and
discuss / present recent incidences
o No further support from school management available
o No direct support from government apart of the initiatives “Schulen ans Netz” &
“Lehrer Online”
o In case of the Berufsschule “very difficult” because of “professional common
sense”
- Particularly for “Berufsschule” difficult, because of regional “preferences” on
methods and procedures: I something is available, it mostly doesn’t fit the
requirements

12. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
12
Conclusions
n Using Expert group-discussions for explorative study led to fruitful results
o Experts learned from each others and felt free also to talk about challenges
o Topics were raised within discussions that else might not have been discussed
n For the OER movement
o OER are welcome and needed in the context of German schools
o Teachers use and produce OER and would like to contribute more
- Need for technical support (e.g., public and easy to access sharing-servers
in the Internet
- Need for mechanisms that help building trust and ensure correctness of
information
- Need for assistance within adaptation processes
- Availability/Accessibility is no problem – decision processes because of
missing structures is a problem
n Legal background
o Clarification on policy level regarding the difference between “public availability”
and “openness” urgently is needed
n Practical issue
o If providing pictures (presentation slides) as OER, use changeable formats

13. Ulf-Daniel Ehlers & Thomas Richter, Barriers and Motivators for Using Open
Educational Resources in German Schools, Open Ed 2010, Nov. 2nd
13
We thank you for your attention!
Are there any remaining questions?
Contact: Thomas Richter
thomas.richter@icb.uni-due.de
Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)