Slides to accomany a workshop at the I-HE2022 Conference in Athens, Greece (Oct 2022). The slides provide an overview of the ENCORE+ project logic and theoretical perspectives on innovation through open education. https://i-he2022.exordo.com/programme/presentation/75

1. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the
Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license except where otherwise noted.
ENCORE+: The Open Educational
Resources (OER) Innovation Ecosystem
21st October, 2022
Dr. Robert Farrow, The Open University (UK)
@philosopher1978

2. Welcome and Housekeeping
Purpose of this workshop
Inclusion in ENCORE+ research
Code of Conduct

3. Introduction to ENCORE+
European Network for Catalysing
Open Resources in Education
https://encoreproject.eu/

4. ENCORE+
ENCORE+ is a Knowledge Alliance project funded by the European
Commission under Erasmus+
Supporting the uptake of open education resources (OER)
Catalysing and sharing innovative practice across education and
business
Developing stakeholder communities for knowledge exchange
4

5. 5
Partners
● International Council for Distance Education (Norway)
● Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (Germany)
● The Open University (UK)
● Universidad Internacional De La Rioja (Spain)
● Knowledge 4 All Foundation (UK)
● Joubel (Norway)
● Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
● Instructure Global (UK)
● Dublin City University (Ireland)

6. Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning and research
materials in any medium – digital or otherwise – that are in the public
domain and/or released under an open license that permits no-cost
access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited
restrictions. They are free at the point of use and ‘free’ in the sense that
they provide users with greater freedoms in how resources are shared,
used, customised and iterated.
Compatible definitions of OER are provided by UNESCO, Hewlett
Foundation and OER Commons.
6

7. 5Rs of OER
The right to...
● Retain means that the resource can be freely copied, downloaded and stored;
● Reuse allows resources to be used in different contexts (classroom; home; online, &c.)
in an unaltered format;
● Revise conveys that the content can be altered, edited, revised or otherwise changed
(e.g. to update or translate a resource);
● Remix permits a resource to be combined with other resources to create something new
(e.g. an anthology, remix or ‘mash-up’);
● Redistribute enables the republishing and sharing of a resource (in original or altered
forms).
7

8. Benefits of OER
There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that OER have a positive effect on
learning and teaching without compromising quality (e.g. de los Arcos et al.,
2014; Hilton, 2016; Weller et al., 2015; Wiley, 2015).
When embedded in the right organisational culture, the benefits of OER include:
● Improved access to education and training
● Dramatically reducing the cost of educational and training materials
● Facilitating more diverse input into the creation of learning materials
● Efficient use and reuse of intellectual property
● Greater opportunity for synchronous and asynchronous learning
● Pedagogical innovation and critical reflection
8

9. Benefits of OER
There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that OER have a positive effect on
learning and teaching without compromising quality (e.g. de los Arcos et al.,
2014; Hilton, 2016; Weller et al., 2015; Wiley, 2015).
When embedded in the right organisational culture, the benefits of OER include:
● More flexibility in provision in education and training
● Facilitating translation and adaptation of resources for different markets
● More responsive design and calibration of education and training materials
● Flexible integration into learning management systems and platforms
● Transparency/publicity in the creation and use of educational resources
9

10. OER: Relation to I∙HE2022 Themes
● Lower cost routes to delivering online, blended distance learning
● Supporting student readiness through non-formal learning opportunities
● Providing access to education for disadvantaged peoples
● Supporting diversity and inclusion throughout learning and teaching
processes
● Removing barriers to collaboration between institutions, individuals, countries
10

11. OER in Europe
11
http://oerworldmap.org

12. OER in Europe
● OER World Map included details of 1400+ organisations, 900+ services, 500+
projects and 300+ policies in support of OER
● However, activity is typically uncoordinated, and happens in clusters
(national/regional, disciplinary, technological, etc.)
● Limited interactions between academia, public and private sectors
● Covid-19 has forced greater use of online learning and need for resources
which can be met by OER (but commercial companies have responded more
quickly)
12

13. ENCORE+ Background and Rationale
● The European Network for Catalysing Open Resources in Education
(ENCORE+) responds to the priorities of opening up and modernising the
European education and training sector through a coordinated European
OER ecosystem
● ENCORE+ brings together meaningful and focused human networks;
technological solutions for sharing and discovering OER; policy reviews;
quality criteria; and will generate business models which draw on the
affordances of OER to support innovation
● ENCORE+ supports uptake of OER through business and academia by
formulating value propositions for using OER in education, training and
business 13

14. 14
ENCORE+
Ecosystem
ENCORE+ functions as
a network catalyst for a
socio-technical ecosystem.
ENCORE+’s main mission is
to amplify existing OER
initiatives, projects, platforms
and networks by integrating
them across the four
thematic Circle strands and
three crosscutting integration
events.

15. 5 Key Challenges
15
Needs Actions Outcomes
Need 1: De-fragment
the OER
stakeholders
community in Europe
Mapping the OER ecosystem and
its stakeholders; modelling future
scenarios; consultation exercises;
whitepapers; integration events;
guides for innovation; integration
across education and
training; entrepreneurialism;
reporting
ENCORE+ network,
strengthening and
connecting existing
OER communities

16. 5 Key Challenges
16
Needs Actions Outcomes
Need 2: Strengthen
collaboration and
interoperability
among European
OER repositories
Providing a centralised hub for
OER content; new paradigms for
repository technologies
(interfaces; implementations;
protocols; content creation & re-
use; networking) authenticated by
the relevant communities to
support best practice
Integrated architecture
of a European OER
repositories
infrastructure

17. Theme: Technology
● How can we establish the right kind of interfacing and protocols?
● What can artificial intelligence approaches do for OER / OEP?
● How can technology support co-creation and sharing of content?
● How can sharing of content across platforms be facilitated/improved?
● Open-source API infrastructures for sharing content, metadata,
multimedia, learning pathways, etc.
17

18. 5 Key Challenges
18
Needs Actions Outcomes
Need 3: Support
development of OER
institutional
strategies in
European
businesses and
academia
Working with diverse stakeholder
base to identify, synthesise and
share strategies and business
models across business and
higher education
European guidelines
for developing effective
OER strategies in
business and
academia

19. Theme: Policies and Practices
● How/why is your organisation engaging with open educational
practices?
● Does your organisation have OER/Open Education policy? Why/why
not?
● What are the main barriers for large scale adoption of OER/OEP?
● What are the key enablers for large scale adoption of OER/OEP?
● Future strategies for open educational practices?
19

20. 5 Key Challenges
20
Needs Actions Outcomes
Need 4: Integrated
European OER
quality paradigm and
assurance
mechanisms
Identifying the key quality
concerns for future OER
repositories, communities and
users; piloting a new quality
framework focused on harnessing
and enabling OER innovation
European open &
community-led Quality
Review Framework for
OER

21. Theme: Quality
● How should we define OER quality? (content, ‘openness’, user-
friendliness, &c.)
● Harmonization / Developing a common European framework
● Identifying reliable, realistic systems of peer review / quality assurance
● How can OER repositories promote better user engagement?
● Achieving an interoperable European metadata and search engine strateg
21

22. 5 Key Challenges
22
Needs Actions Outcomes
Need 5:
Entrepreneurial
innovative
approaches and
business models
based on OER
Supporting innovation through
information exchange;
appropriate software and services
to enable pathways to innovation;
understanding of the drivers of
innovation; meaningful
interactions between relevant
stakeholders; providing a
showcase for innovation
European business
and start-up
community,
empowered to
innovate and improve
operations by
leveraging OER

23. Theme: Innovation and Business Models
● What are the main enablers/barriers for innovation with OER?
● Should we focus on core provision or radically rethinking markets?
● What does an innovation focused OER culture look like?
● What do future business models look like? What do we need to consider?
23

24. 24
ENCORE+
Ecosystem
ENCORE+ functions as
a network catalyst for a
socio-technical ecosystem.
ENCORE+’s main mission is
to amplify existing OER
initiatives, projects, platforms
and networks by integrating
them across the four
thematic Circle strands and
three crosscutting integration
events.

25. Stakeholders
25
Education
HEI leaders, decision makers
Learners (formal/informal)
Educators
Libraries / Collections /
Repositories
Instructional Designers /
Technologists
Copyright / Data Officers
Business
Course providers
Ed Tech companies
Service providers
Workers
Infrastructure providers
Publishers
Policymakers
Educational authorities
Ministries
Public bodies
Quality assurance agencies
Charities / NGOs
(macro/micro)
Funders / Philanthropy

26. Stakeholders (UPIG)
26
Users
Learners
(formal/informal)
Educators
Instructional Designers
/ Technologists
Workers
Providers
Libraries / Collections /
Repositories
Course providers
Ed Tech companies
Service providers
Infrastructure
providers
Publishers
Influencers
Funders/Philanthropy
Charities / NGOs
(macro/micro)
Lobbyists
Leaders
Policymakers
Governance
HEI leaders, decision
makers
Copyright/Data
Officers
Educational authorities
Ministries
Quality assurance
agencies
Regulators

27. Understanding Innovation &
Business Models

28. Understanding Innovation
Text
28
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurek
a_(word)#/media/File:Archimede_
bain.jpg
“Innovation is production or adoption,
assimilation, and exploitation of a value-
added novelty in economic and social
spheres; renewal and enlargement of
products, services, and markets;
development of new methods of
production; and the establishment of new
management systems. It is both a process
and an outcome.”
Crossan & Apayadin (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-
6486.2009.00880.x
Εὕρηκα!

29. Task-Artifact Cycle (Carroll et. al, 1991)
29
Tasks
Tasks specify the
requirements for artifacts
that can be useful in their
completion
New Requirements
Understanding of
requirements is always
evolving .
New Possibilities or
Constraints
Evolving contexts means
that new tasks/artefacts
are always emergent
Artifacts
Artifacts develop our
understanding of tasks,
and must adapt to new
use contexts

30. Forms of Innovation inspired by OER
(Coughlan, Pitt & Farrow, 2019)
31
https://doi.org/10.1080/02680513.2018.1552579

31. 32
Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003)
• Focused on spread of new technology & practices
• Adoption culture is required for innovations to
sustain
• Relative advantage; compatibility

32. 33
Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003)
• Focused on spread of new technology & practices
• Adoption culture is required for innovations to sustain
• Relative advantage; compatibility
OER has 5% K12 market
share in USA
https://www.onlinelearningsurv
ey.com/reports/k-
12_whatweteach.pdf

33. Gartner Hype Cycle
34
CC BY Olga Tarkovskiy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hype-Cycle-
General.png .

34. Gartner Hype Cycle
35
CC BY Olga Tarkovskiy https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hype-Cycle-
General.png .

35. 36

36. SAMR Framework applied to Open Textbooks
37
Subtitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition
Use Open Textbooks in place
of proprietary versions
(More than $1 billion saved in
the USA)
https://sparcopen.org/news/2
018/1-billion-in-savings-
through-open-educational-
resources/
Freely shared and
accessible online
Enhances access,
reduced
dependency on
grants and loans
Facilitates
pedagogical
experimentation
and iteration
Producing
revised/remixed
versions of lessons,
textbooks and
supplementary
resources (e.g.
assessments,
multimedia)
Collaboration across
institutions
Rethinking the textbook
as the standard
organisation of
curricula

37. Supporting Innovation with OER
● Raise awareness of open alternatives
● Empower individuals in ways that enable them to exercise autonomy
● Encourage experimentation in pedagogy and practice
● Develop constructive, critical learning cultures
● Think and act at the level of the ecosystem
● Leverage the power of networks
38
Farrow, R. (2017) Open education and critical pedagogy, Learning, Media and Technology, 42:2, 130-
146, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2016.1113991
Deimann, M., & Farrow, R. (2013). Rethinking OER and their use: Open education as Bildung. The
International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 14(3), 344-360.
https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v14i3.1370

38. OER Business Model Typology
(synthesis of Tlili et al., 2020; Padilla Rodriguez et al., 2018; Belleflamme & Jacqmin, 2015; Ubachs & Konings, 2016; Farrow, 2019)
39

39. Service Vectors for OER Innovation
40
Teaching Authentication
Training Accreditation/Recognition
Self-directed learning Proctoring
Lifelong learning Quality Assurance
Rapid reskilling Platformisation
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Course authoring
Forecasting & Needs analysis Authoring & Publication
Learning pathways Curation
TVET Translation

40. ICDE Open Innovation Framework
41

41. ICDE Open Innovation Framework
● Recommendation 1: Raise awareness to create legal frameworks and
guidelines at the federal level to increase openness in government and
public agencies. COVID-19 was a catalyst for increased use of OER
worldwide, and how this can continue and become a standard for arts
institutions should be addressed.
● Recommendation 2: In collaboration with relevant international
organizations, provide support to countries that adopt Recommendation 1.
We believe there is an urgent need to create a legal framework and policy
that promotes openness at various levels.
42

42. ICDE Open Innovation Framework
● Recommendation 3: Create an incentive structure for companies,
institutions, and individuals to create OER and open repositories. We have
recognized that the driving forces of the market make private institutions
and scientific companies reluctant to advocate for openness and promote
OER widely. Therefore, regulatory frameworks and incentives should
emphasize the benefits of Open Science collaboration and innovation.
● Recommendation 4: Translations and contextualization, are essential for
implementation and integration of Open Innovation.
43

43. ICDE Open Innovation Framework
● Recommendation 5: Update institutional documentation to ensure inclusion
of the three cornerstones. The three cornerstones require an operational
environment that encourages the creation, practice, and use of OER, Open
Science, and Open Innovation. Therefore, educational, and scientific
institutions are encouraged to review their policies and strategic documents
to incorporate a philosophy of openness that will, in due course, enable the
implementation of the recommendations of UNESCO OER, Open Science,
and Open Innovation.
44

44. Next Steps…

45. OER Innovation Evaluation Framework
Survey
Process
Results
Release CC
BY Framework
46
Final framework will include:
The Business Model Canvas (Fielt, 2013; Osterwalder, 2010)
Business Model for Sustainability (BMfS) (Täuscher & Abdelkafi, 2018)

46. OER Innovation Evaluation Framework
47
Who’s it for? Cases can be from any sector, including
projects, institutions, businesses or other
initiatives
Which countries? Anywhere in the world!
Scale of implementation? Micro (Institutional / Local)
Meso (Regional / Federal)
Macro (National)
International
What kind of information is requested? Strategic approach
Innovation drivers/barriers
Business models
Value propositions
Technologies used
Approach to teaching & learning
Impact & diffusion

47. Strategic Approach (Defenders and Prospectors)
(Miles & Snow, 1978; Orr et al., 2018)
48

48. OER-based
edupreuneurship business
models
Darwish, 2019
49

49. OER-based
edupreuneurship business
models
Darwish, 2019
Cross-referenced with SAMR
• Substitution ☞ Static
• Augmentation ☞ Interactive
• Modification ☞ Dynamic
• Redefinition ☞
Transformative
50

50. Please share/contribute to the survey!
https://openuniversity.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/encore-oer-innovation
Short URL: https://tinyurl.com/4hmd79yr
Background: https://encoreproject.eu/2022/09/21/encore-oer-innovation-
survey/
51

51. 52
52
https://encoreproject.eu/event_listing_category/circles-events/

52. 53
53
https://encoreproject.eu/event_listing_category/circles-events/

53. Final Thoughts
● There is a strategic direction provided by the UNESCO OER Declaration, but this is not
necessarily translating to policy at the EU level
● There is a need for more guidance at the practice level, e.g. iMOOC course for teachers
● ISMKE work on OER metadata standards
(https://www.iskme.org/index.php?q=services/oer-support) has a strong synergy with
technology focused work in ENCORE+ and should be explored further
● Similarly, the OER Discovery Group is doing work that could be integrated
https://sparcopen.org/news/2021/project-aims-to-make-oer-easier-to-find-with-common-
search-framework/
54

54. Supporting ENCORE+
● Complete/share the OER Innovation Survey
● Subscribe to project channels (newsletter, blog)
● Attend ENCORE+ Events
● Share your experiences and inspiration!
55

55. Project
partners:
Thank You!

56. Project
partners:
Contacts
Dr. Robert Farrow, The Open University
(UK)
rob.farrow@open.ac.uk / @philosopher1978
Website
For further and updated information
about this project please see:
www.encoreproject.eu
info@encoreproject.eu