Open Educational Resources:Recent experience developing

university courses in Barbados

Griff RichardsDirector,

Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute

Athabasca University CANADA

griff@athabascau.ca

ICT & Education Conference, Kazan 21 April 2010

Look OER Participants

University of the West Indies(Barbados)

What do we mean by

“Open”?

1970- Open Education = any adult could enroll, no prerequisite barriers

2000- Open Source = anyone could modify/ use computer code for free

Open Educational Resources = Free to use/ copy/ modify/ republish

Why Open Educational Resources?

1. The increasing demand for education (especially in the developing world) can not be met with current cost models.

OER can reduce costs of course development by using “free” content.

2. Academic papers on research results are mostly paid for by governments, but publishers own the copyright and limit circulation.

Open content can increase circulation of scientific knowledge.

OER Pilot Project

• “Is it practical to develop university courses using OERs?”

• University of the West Indies and Athabasca University

• March 2010 – Barbados – Use OERs to develop curriculum outlines for 6 courses

• Funding from Canada Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

UWI-AU Project Team

OER Pilot Project

Step 1 - Select 6 modules in area of common interest (Instructional Design)

Step 2 - Find and review available OER

from list of 30 relevant OER sites

Step 3 - Week long workshop of course developers/ experts to integrate OERs

Results of Search for relevant OER

1. Google.

Google search is fastest method for finding sources of OER.

2. Repositories (list at http://uwi-au.wikispaces.com/OER-Links )

Repositories provide deeper results,

but poor metadata makes them less efficient.

3. Format, Focus and content Quality is varied.

An OER may be relevant, but it may not fit the time, scope or audience.

4. Ownership and Usage rights are not clearly indicated.

e.g. Can I use it? Does OER contain other people’s content?

Lawrence Lessig: Creative Commons license enables re-use

http://www.openculture.com/2010/03/lawrence_lessig_tedxnyed.html

Results of OER integration into modules

1. Yes, there are an abundance of OER

We found OER for almost every topic!

2. Size is varied.

Some complete modules, others short resources.

3. Localization is the main issue.

Not all the resources could be easily adapted.

Language, Context and Length of Object main problems.

4. Introductions needed to provide context

An OER may be relevant, but most need explanation of relevance and directions on what learner is to do with them.

5. Most OER text or PPT slides – very little dynamic/ interactive content

Social content is difficult to integrate into a course.

Summary

• YES! OER are a viable option for quick and low cost course development

• OER provide both content and ideas for content development

• Providers need to pay more attention to CC licenses

• If you can’t find it, you should build it

and then give it away!

Back to Barbados

Open Educational Resources

Griff Richards, PhDDirector,

Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute

Athabasca University CANADA

griff@athabascau.ca

ICT & Education Conference, Kazan, 21 April 2010

http://uwi-au.wikispaces.com/