Patrick McAndrew discusses various traps that educational repositories can fall into, including focusing too much on search functionality, metadata, audience size, and technical systems. He recommends being open, allowing participation, involving experts and users, keeping things simple, building on others' work, and asking the right questions rather than seeking unattainable goals. Educational repositories should learn from the past without reinventing wheels and focus on openness, routes for participation, and testing new ideas.

1. Current directions in
educational repositories:
my perspective
Patrick McAndrew
Institute of Educational Technology

2. www.open.ac.uk

3. Iet.open.ac.uk/courses

5. 6m visitors since launch

8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/trushu/3712280049

9. The legacy trap

10. Search
Solving search
trap
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pulpolux/151695072

11. Metadata Trap

12. Build it and they will come trap
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk

13. The system is everything trap

14. http://www.flickr.com/photos
/marcemarc/2385399277/ The one
stop shop
trap
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcemarc/2385399277/

15. Forgetting
the past
trap

16. The Holy Grail trap
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiritual_marketplace/2207966935

17. The brick wall trap
Viscious circle
• Head brick wall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43204851@N00/182910562

18. The brick wall trap
Viscious circle
• Head brick wall

20. Reasons to be cheerful?

21. Be Open

22. Openness
works
http://www.flickr.com/photos/psd/1805374441/

23. Learning does happen

25. Listening to others

26. Testing ideas

27. Keep it simple

28. How many different types of
learning and teaching approaches
do you need?

29. How many different types of
learning and teaching approaches
do you need?
Think…
Pair…
Share

30. Build on the
work of others

31. Look for the unexpected
700
600
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100
0
Content Social

32. Ask…

33. Traps
• Searching – beat Google
• Metadata – for the good of others
• Audience – they will emerge from use
• System – the backend takes over from the frontend
• One stop shop – ignores reality
• Forgetting the past – avoid reinventing the wheel
• Holy Grail – seeking what does not exist
• Brick wall – carry on regardless

34. Advice
• Openness – be open
• Participation – routes in
• Involve others – experts and users
• Keep simple – hide complexity
• Build on work of others – mashup don’t build
• Find the right questions

36. Dr Patrick McAndrew
The Open University
Institute of Educational Technology
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
olnet.org