The document discusses openness initiatives in distance education. It provides an introduction to key concepts of openness like open educational resources (OERs), MOOCs, and open source software. It then outlines the aims and methods of the study, which involved a content analysis of 46 articles from the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) journal. The results of the study found that research areas focused on issues like instructional design, management and organization, and educational technology. Studies also centered on themes such as OERs, MOOCs, connectivism, and open education. Most studies used qualitative or mixed methods approaches.

1. Openness Initiatives in Distance
Education
Gülay EKREN
Sinop University, Sinop, Turkey
gekren@sinop.edu.tr
Evrim GENÇ KUMTEPE
Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey
egkumtepe@anadolu.edu.tr

2. Sinop University in Sinop/Turkey

3. Anadolu University in Eskişehir/Turkey

4. Introduction
Orientation to openness
• The term «openness»
• Open University, Connexions Project, MIT Open
CourseWare
• Openness initiatives
• open content, open educational content, open
textbooks, open learning resources, open educational
technologies, open academic resources, and open
courseware, open class, open school, open university
and open educational software tools
• OERs, MOOCs, open source softwares
• International organizations: Open Education Resources
Universitas (OERu)

5. Aims
• The main aim of the study: to increase awareness on
issues, themes, time period and research methods of
openness initiatives in the field of distance higher
education
• issues worked about openness in distance education
researches
• themes centered in associated with openness
• time period that has been worked more related to
openness
• types of methods have been used more related to
openness

6. Method
• Criteria for inclusion:
• implementation in the context of distance higher
education
• examination the effect of openness on distance
education.
• use of quantitative, qualitative, mixed or other
methods.
• providing necessary information for openness in its
abstract.
• A content analysis research
• Inductive method of content analysis (Elo and
Kyngas, 2008)
• 46 articles examined from IRRODL (The International
Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning)

7. Method
• The research areas are divided into three categories
including micro, meso and macro levels (Zawacki-
Richter, Beck and Vogt, 2009)
Micro level: Openness in
teaching and learning
Meso level: Openness in
management, organization
and technology
Macro level: Openness in
distance education systems
and theories
 instructional design
 interaction and
communication in
learning communities
 learner characteristics
 management and
organization
 costs and benefits
 educational technology
 innovation and change
 professional development
and faculty support
 learner support services
 quality assurance
 access, equity, and ethics
 globalization of education
and cross-cultural aspects
 distance teaching systems
and institutions
 theories and models
 research methods in
distance education and
knowledge transfer

8. Results
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Macro
Meso
Micro
• The themes that worked in this study by classifying
research areas in macro, meso and micro levels

9. Results
• Research areas related to openness in distance higher
education

10. Results
• Themes of researches related to openness in distance
higher education

11. Results
• Distribution of researches related to openness in
distance higher education by years

12. Results
• Methods of researches related to openness in
distance higher education
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
2000 2002 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Mixed
Qalitative
Quantitative

13. • This study has examined openness through the
lens of an international, open-access, peer-
reviewed journal; IRRODL.
• The researches related to openness are increasing
from 2009 to 2015
• Such areas: instructional design, management and
organization, educational technology, and theories and
models.
• Mostly instructional design.
• The themes focus on the issues such as OERs, MOOCs,
connectivism, open education, open and distance
learning or just openness.

14. • Future researches are needed such areas:
• Globalization of education and cross-cultural aspects,
research methods in distance education and
knowledge transfer in macro level
• learner support services in meso level
• In the following stage of this study, as well as
IRRODL, the other famous journals in distance
education will be analyzed:
• The American Journal of Distance Education (AJDE),
• The European Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning (EURODL),
• The International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education (IJDE),
• Distance Education (DE),
• The Journal of Online Learning and Technology (JOLT),
• Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning (OL),
• The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE).

15. • Anderson, B., & Simpson, M. (2012). History and heritage in distance education. Journal of Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning, 16(2), 1-10.
• Bozkurt, A., Akgun-Ozbek, E., Yilmazel, S., Erdogdu, E., Ucar, H., Guler, E., ... & Aydin, C. H. (2015). Trends in distance education research: A content
analysis of journals 2009-2013. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(1).
• Butcher, N. & Hoosen, S. (2014). How Openness Impacts on Higher Education. UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.
Retrieved from http://iite.unesco.org/pics/publications/en/files/3214734.pdf
• Cape Town Open Education Declaration (2007). Retrieved from http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration
• Educause (2011, November). 7 Things You Should Know About MOOCs. Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7078.pdf
• Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of advanced nursing, 62(1), 107-115.
• Kanwar, A, Kodhandaraman, B. & Umar, A. (2010). Toward Sustainable Open Education Resources: A Perspective From the Global South, American
Journal of Distance Education, 24:2, 65-80,
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Scientific Conference, 1, 309-318.
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MIT Press.
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23:3, 139-150.
• Miyazoe, T., & Anderson, T. (2013). Interaction equivalency in an OER, MOOCS and informal learning era. Journal of Interactive Media in Education,
2013(2).
• Petrovic, N., Jeremic, V., Cirovic, M., Radojicic, Z. & Milenkovic, N. (2014). Facebook Versus Moodle in Practice, American Journal of Distance
Education, 28(2), 117-125.
• Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). The emergence of open-source software in China. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed
Learning, 8(1).

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• Wiley, D., & Hilton III, J. (2009). Openness and the Future of Higher Education. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distributed
Learning, 10(5). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/788/1412
• Zawacki-Richter, O., Bäcker, E. M., & Vogt, S. (2009). Review of distance education research (2000 to 2008): Analysis of research areas, methods,
and authorship patterns. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 10(6), 21-50.
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Hypermedia and Telecommunications, 1, 1065-1071.
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https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/poland-pioneering-worlds-first-national-open-textbook-program
• Unesco Paris OER Declaration (2012, 22 June). Retrieved from
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/Events/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_01.pdf
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