Talk given by Viv to OER12, Cambridge UK on using SEO techniques to make OER discoverable on the internet. Part of the UKOER Phase 3 project at De Montfort University, http://www.biologycourses.co.uk

1. Using Open Technologies to Support a
Healthy OER Life Cycle
Dr Vivien Rolfe, De Montfort University, vrolfe@dmu.ac.uk
Dr Simon Griffin, Griffin Internet Marketing, griffin.simon@gmail.com
CC BY-SA 2.0 (with the exception of the JISC and DMU logo)

2. Using Open Technologies to Support a
Healthy OER Life Cycle
Presentation for OER12 & OCWC12 Global combined conference
Cambridge UK, 16-18 April 2012

3. Background
• The Health and Life Science Open
Educational Resource (HALSOER) project
is releasing OER for STEM subjects
including Forensic, Biomedical and
Medical Science.
• Funded by UKOER Phase 3.

4. OER@DMU
• 2009 Virtual Analytical Laboratory (VAL)
(UKOER Pilot)
• 2010 Sickle Cell Open (SCOOTER)
(UKOER 2)
• 2010 TIGER (UKOER 2)
• 2011 SCORE Fellowships – Jacqui Williams, Viv
Rolfe

5. OER Lifecycle
Discovery
Publication Improvement
Nathan Yergler 2010

6. OER Lifecycle
Use (unchanged)
Discovery
Publication Improvement
Nathan Yergler 2010

7. OER Lifecycle
Where to search?
Repositories?
Google?
Discovery
Publication Improvement
How / where to share? Multiple file formats
Technology barriers
Nathan Yergler 2010

8. OER Lifecycle
• Creating a healthy OER life cycle is a challenge
and hurdles include discovery, driving reuse /
repurposing and encouraging publication.
• These activities need to be part of everyday
work to sustain and grow open education.
(Atkins, Brown, and Hammond 2007; D'Antoni
2008).

9. Using open technologies
Web 2.0
Open collaboration
Open source Open standards
CC BY ND Tambako the Jaguar
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/

10. Our approach to promote discovery
• For SCOOTER (UKOER2) and HALS
(UKOER3):
– OER housed on search engine optimised
sites (SEO).

11. Discovery…….
Rolfe & Griffin 2011

12. Summary
SCOOTER UKOER2 HALS UKOER3
Wordpress Direct Blog Wordpress Direct Blog
Static OER HTML pages OER Blog articles with RSS feed
Basic SEO Enhanced SEO (eZine
submissions, press releases)
Posterous Posterous
(Facebook/Twitter/Blogs) (Facebook/Twitter/Blogs)
Google Analytics for basic Enhanced monitoring of site
tracking of site performance performance
£ Pragmatic and time realistic ££ Enhanced SEO campaign

13. Discovery…….

14. Our approach to promote reuse /
improvement
• OER published in multiple file formats.
• Production of different modalities from one
OER in systematic way for content
leverage (Williams 2011).
• Clear © licensing instructions on websites
and each OER.

15. Reuse / improvement…

16. Reuse / improvement…

17. Reach and Impact (1st 3 months)
(Both on Page 1 of Google)
Analytics SCOOTER HALS UKOER3
UKOER2
Unique Visits 645 905
Countries 24 33
Mobile 3% 10%
Most Popular OER Education and Microbiology zone
young people with of inhibition
sickle cell 57 views
45 views

18. Referrals (Backlinks)
SCOOTER UKOER2 HALS UKOER3
en.wikipedia.org youtube.com
sicklecellanaemia.posterous.com medev.ac.uk
heacademy.ac.uk prod.cetis.ac.uk
dmuscooter.wikispaces.com bestsciencedirectory.com
prod.cetis.ac.uk biology-courses.posterous.com
dmu.ac.uk directorymaximizer.com
ezinearticles.com education.ezinemark.com
google.co.uk ezinearticles.com
google.com facebook.com
facebook.com newswiretoday.com
pr-inside.com
scoop.it

19. Community Data
Views / Comments SCOOTER HALS UKOER3
/ Follows UKOER2
Youtube Channel To date: 3177 To date: 567
(Genetics animation (Queen’s visit talk
285 views) 157 views)
SlideShare Simon Dyson Sickle
Presentations
479 views
Facebook “Insights”
Likes 50 74
Friends of Fans 29,000 21,500
Feedback via Email, Twitter, Facebook, SurveyMonkey

20. Have we promoted discovery?
• Use of open technology enhances OER
discovery globally and non-selectively.
• We can target users through Twitter and
Facebook (subject specialists, students
etc).
• You get what you pay for! The more time
spent, the greater the rewards.

21. Have we promoted reuse /
improvements?
• Publishing multiple file formats and
distributing to other sharing sites should
assist reuse.
• To early to say which file formats are most
popular and flexible.
• This makes our OER OPEN,
INTEROPERABLE and ACCESSIBLE.

22. OER Lifecycle
SEO boosts Google ranking
RSS feeds distribute OER
Posterous network
Discovery
Publication Improvement
Evidence? Multiple file formats
Clear © signposting
Nathan Yergler 2010

23. Conclusion
• Open technologies can support a healthy
OER lifecycle and evaluation of these
strategies is the next step.
• Evolving pragmatic time realistic strategies
relevant to our work setting is essential.
• The results will be disseminated in the
UKOER 3 final report.

24. Contact us!
vrolfe@dmu.ac.uk
Twitter @DMUViv
CC BY SA Jacob Escott, HALS Project, DMU.

25. Resources
• Yergler NR (2010). http://openaccess.uoc.edu/webapps/o2/handle/10609/4852
• Atkins DE, Brown JS and Hammond AL (2007).
http://www.hewlett.org/uploads/files/Hewlett_OER_report.pdf
• D'Antoni S (2008).
http://learn.creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/oer-way-forward-final-version.
• Williams P (2011). Content Leverage System. Available:
http://download.marketsamurai.com/AS_AT110823TS01AS_Leveraged_Content_Creation.p
• HALS Project Website: http://www.biologycourses.co.uk
• Rolfe V and Griffin SJ (2011b). A Guide to SEO
http://www.sicklecellanaemia.org/teaching-resources/resources/scooter80/SCOOTER80a_S