This document summarizes the work of the OER Research Hub project, which aims to build the most comprehensive picture of open educational resource (OER) impact through open collaboration. The project uses open methodologies like open licensing, open data, and open dissemination. It has several hypotheses about how OER may impact areas like student performance, access, and institutional policies. The project promotes open collaboration through activities like sprints, open licensing of research materials, and an open online course about open research. Both benefits and challenges of the open approach are discussed.

1. From theory to
practice: can openness
improve the quality of OER
research?
OpenEd 2014
Beck Pitt
Bea de los Arcos
Rob Farrow
The Open University (UK)

3. "Common Good" on Graffiti Wall at
OKFest14, Berlin (CC-BY 4.0 Beck
Pitt)
• Open methodologies
• Open licensing
• Open data
• Open Dissemination
• Open Collaboration

4. What is the OER Research Hub?

5. • 2-year open research project funded by William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Aiming to build the most comprehensive picture of OER impact
• Open collaboration model across different educational sectors
• Global reach but with a USA focus
• Fellowship Scheme
• Researching openness in the open
CC-BY 4.0 Bea de los Arcos
oerresearchhub.org
#oerrhub @OER_Hub

6. Our Hypotheses
Keyword Hypothesis
Performance OER improve student performance/satisfaction
Openness People use OER differently from other online materials
Access OER widen participation in education
Retention OER can help at-risk learners to finish their studies
Reflection OER use leads educators to reflect on their practice
Finance OER adoption brings financial benefits for students/institutions
Indicators Informal learners use a variety of indicators when selecting OER
Support Informal learners develop their own forms of study support
Transition OER support informal learners in moving to formal study
Policy OER use encourages institutions to change their policies
Assessment Informal assessments motivate learners using OER

7. Open Collaboration

9. Project Co-PILOT

10. Agile Working

11. Photo Credits: Mozfest13 Beck Pitt CC-BY 4.0
Sprints
• Open to experimentation with different ways of working
• Improve quality of research and project outputs by collectively focusing on
and progressing outstanding tasks as a group
• Repurpose agile working techniques and share experiences via blogging

12. Open Licensing

13. Researching in the Open: Researcher Pack
Research Instruments available in the open:
• Ethics manual
• Interview and Focus Group Questions
• Survey Questions
• Open Consent Forms

14. Researching in the Open: Sharing Practices and
Methodologies
“Building Communities” Photo credit: Beck Pitt CC-BY
Screenshots of OER Research Hub and ROER4D websites
• Creating synergies and building
relationships
• Improves practice and
methodologies
• Continuous evaluation and
reflection on our practice

15. Dissemination: Sharing Evidence
and Research Practice in the Open

16. Openness facilitates impact and builds networks
Blog posts on research,
collaborations & findings
Slideshare
and
YouTube
Open Access
Journals
Infographics
OER Impact
Map
Research
instruments,
methodology
& reports
Twitter and Facebook
Scoop.It &
Storify

17. OER Impact Map
http://oermap.org

18. Picture credits: Bea de los Arcos CC-BY
OER Impact Map
http://oermap.org

20. Open and Collaborative



Researcher
Pack
#openresearch
https://p2pu.org

21. • Four-week course (with badge!)
• Improving quality and sharing experiences: community feedback and review
• 139 participants from around the world
• 3937 page views of course materials during three week sign-up period
• Course openly available for others to use and develop

22. Mozilla at Mozfest14 CC-BY 4.0 Beck Pitt
Benefits and Challenges of Open
Benefits of Openness:
• Open Collaboration and agile practices enable responsiveness
• Sharing openly continuously improves the quality of research and outputs
• Sharing and collaborating builds and extends networks
• Openness as a habit and virus: the more we practiced openness the more
open the project became
• Community is central to openness
Challenges of Openness:
• Preparation of data and other documents in useable formats can take time
• Flexibility Vs. ensuring data is comparable
• Sampling and control groups

23. Thanks for Listening!
http://oerresearchhub.org
http://oermap.org
Twitter: @BeckPitt, @celTatis,
@philosopher1978, @OER_Hub

24. References/Bibliography
McAndrew, P. Becoming more agile researchers: experiences from researching OER (June 2013,
http://www.slideshare.net/openpad/agile-research-for-open-education-reso) (Accessed 6 June 2014, 12.25)
Perryman, L-A. Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known: nine surveys for OER Research (June
2013, http://oerresearchhub.org/2013/06/19/somewhere-something-incredible-is-waiting-to-be-known-nine-surveys-
for-oer-research/) (Accessed 6 June 2014, 12.23)
SPARC Open Access to Scholarly and Scientific Research Articles Factsheet
http://www.sparc.arl.org/sites/default/files/Open%20Access%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf
(Accessed 3 November 2014, 16:29)
Trotter, H. ROER4D Question Harmonisation Process
(May 2014, http://roer4d.org/892) (Accessed 6 June 2014, 12.26)
All photos CC-BY 4.0 OER Research Hub unless otherwise stated
“OER-archery” at CNX2013
Photo credit: Beck Pitt, CC-BY

25. in service of The Open University