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The Ecology of Sharing: Synthesizing OER Research
The document discusses the need for a holistic approach to research on Open Educational Resources (OER) within an evolving educational ecosystem. It highlights the role of the OER Research Hub at The Open University in addressing evidence gaps related to OER adoption by focusing on collaboration, data-sharing, and fostering a community. Anticipated outcomes include improved understanding and advocacy for OER, as well as innovative partnerships to enhance educational practices.
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The Ecology of Sharing: Synthesizing OER Research
- 2. The Ecology ofSharing: Synthesizing OER Research Patrick McAndrew & Robert Farrow
- 3. HOW SHOULD WERESEARCH OPENNESS IN EDUCATION?
- 4. Is OER researchmore like this… The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology
- 5. WHY ‘ECOLOGY’? • The education ecosystem itself is changing • There exists an evidence gap relating to the widespread adoption of OER: benefits; barriers • Manifold factors with complex relationships between diverse elements • We need a holistic, flexible approach • OER/ecology metaphor recognises the lifecycles of OER creation and (re)use, evolution into new forms and adoption in new contexts • Emphasis on evolution, interconnectedness and interdependence
- 6. http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/2012/601 http://presentations.ocwconsortium.org/uk2012_250_pearce _students_as_content_scavenger/
- 7. ABOUT THE PROJECT TheOER Research Hub at The Open University combines: • A hub for research data and OER practice • A schedule of targeted collaboration with existing OER projects • An international fellowship programme • Facilitating networking, participation and advocacy in the OER world OER Hub is located at The Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University (OU) and the project draws on the general strengths of the OU as a provider, user and developer of OER. The project is based on research through collaboration and partnership
- 8. METHODS AND APPROACH • Motivating problem: an evidence gap relating to the benefits of / barriers to widespread OER adoption • A chance to put openness at the heart of research practice through collaboration and sharing • Building on research themes from OLnet: aggregated experiences into key challenges • Analysis of claims made in the OLnet Evidence Hub • Structured metaresearch: literature review, case studies • Consistently applied research instruments (surveys, interviews, focus groups) allows for scaling and comparison • Access to records of student retention & performance to measure impact • Research focused and synthesized through hypothesis-testing
- 9. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES Performance OERimprove student performance and satisfaction Patterns Open licensing is important in educational reuse 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
- 10. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES Indicators Informal learners select OER in a variety of ways 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
- 12. Research Sectors inOER Research Hub
- 13. Areas for collaborationsand fellowships in OER Research Hub
- 14. The Open University'sInstitute of Educational Technology
- 15. ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES • Greatertransparency and openness • Fostering fellowship, collegiality and community • The most complete ‘global’ understanding of OER impact • Research outcomes which inform new collaborations • A new and improved OER Evidence Hub • Better understanding of what works and why • Finding ways around barriers to OER • Aggregation of data relevant to OER advocacy
- 16. HOW TO GETINVOLVED Projects Can be added to the evidence hub with key findings and analysis, then linked up to the research hypotheses Fellowship An open call has been published on our website Research Make use of our openly licensed instruments and share data Data Can be released on an open licence and added to our evidence base Sharing The whole is greater than the sum of the parts: we can all benefit from openness
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- 18. REFERENCES • Andrewartha, H. G. and Birch, L. C. (1954). The Distribution and Abundance of Animals. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. • Coughlan, T., Pitt, R. & McAndrew, P., (2013) Building Open Bridges: Collaborative Remixing and Reuse of Open Educational Resources across Organisations. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press. • Daniel, J. (2012). Making Sense of MOOCs: Musings in a Maze of Myth, Paradox and Possibility. Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JiME). Retrieved from http://jime.open.ac.uk/jime/article/view/2012-18. • De Liddo, A., Buckingham Shum, S., McAndrew, P., and Farrow, R. (2012). The Open Education Evidence Hub: A Collective Intelligence Tool for Evidence Based Policy. In Proceedings of Cambridge 2012: Innovation and Impact - Openly Collaborating to Enhance Education. Cambridge, UK. • Hewlett (2010). Education Program Strategic Plan. Retrieved from http://www.hewlett.org/uploads/documents/Education_Strategic_Plan_2010.pdf .
- 19. REFERENCES • McAndrew, P., Farrow, R., Law, P. and Elliot-Cirigotis, G. (2012). Learning the Lessons of Openness, Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JiME) Cambridge OER 2012 special issue. Retrieved from http://jime.open.ac.uk/jime/article/view/2012-10. • McNiff, Jean and Whitehead, Jack (2002). Action research: Principles and practice. London: Routledge. • NAE (2013). NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/. • NSF (2011). A Report of the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure Task Force on Grand Challenges. Retrieved from http://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/taskforces/TaskForceReport_GrandChallenges.pdf. • Odum, E. P. (1971). Fundamentals of Ecology. London: Saunders. • OERRH (2013). OER Research Hub. Retrieved from http://oerresearchhub.org/. • OLnet (2013). Open Learning Network. Retrieved from http://www.olnet.org. • SCORE (2013). Support Centre for Open Resources in Education. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/score/.
- 20. REFERENCES • UNESCO/COL (2013). The UNESCO/COL OER Knowledge Cloud. Retrieved from http://oerknowledgecloud.org/. • Weller, Martin (2011). A pedagogy of abundance. Spanish Journal of Pedagogy, 249 pp. 223– 236. • Whyte, William Foote, Greenwood, Davyd & Lazes, Peter (1991). Participatory action research: Through practice to science in social research. In William Foote Whyte (Ed.), Participatory action research (pp.19-55). Newbury Park, California: Sage.
- 21. Institute of EducationalTechnology The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA www.open.ac.uk/iet