Open Educational Resources in the Commonwealth 2016
Open Educational Resources in the Commonwealth 2016
B. Phalachandra and Ishan Abeywardena Open Educational Resources in the Commonwealth 2016
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to promote the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies.
Commonwealth of Learning, 2016
©2016 by the Commonwealth of Learning. Except where otherwise noted, Open Educational Resources in the Commonwealth 2016 is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.
For the avoidance of doubt, by applying this licence the Commonwealth How to cite: of Learning does not waive any privileges or immunities from claims that it Phalachandra, B., & Abeywardena, I.S. (2016). Open Educational Resources may be entitled to assert, nor does the Commonwealth of Learning submit in the Commonwealth 2016. S. Mishra & I.S. Abeywardena (Eds.). Burnaby, itself to the jurisdiction, courts, legal processes or laws of any jurisdiction. Canada: Commonwealth of Learning. Authors B. Phalachandra, PhD Ishan Abeywardena, PhD Acknowledgement Professor Adviser, Open Educational Resources This project is funded as part of Grant #2015-2585, generously made by Wawasan Open University Commonwealth of Learning The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, USA. Malaysia Canada Published by Editors Sanjaya Mishra, PhD Ishan Abeywardena, PhD COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING Education Specialist, eLearning Adviser, Open Educational Resources 4710 Kingsway Commonwealth of Learning Commonwealth of Learning Suite 2500, Burnaby Canada Canada British Columbia Canada V5H 4M2 Copy Editor: Dania Sheldon, DPhil Telephone: +1 604 775 8200 Administrative Support: Patricia Schlicht Fax: +1 604 775 8210 Publications Co-ordination: Sparrow McGowan Web: www.col.org E-mail [email protected] Design and Layout: Alex Hennig ISBN: 978-1-894975-86-5 Foreword
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is the only Understanding the current status of the development, use and reuse of OER intergovernmental organisation with the mandate to is critical in identifying the challenges of fostering use and informing efforts promote the development and sharing of open and to promote openness. Within this context, the present study was conducted distance learning (ODL) knowledge and expertise. COL as part of COL’s OER for Skills Development initiative, which is generously works in the 52 Member States of the Commonwealth, supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, to establish a which span all regions of the globe –– from the Caribbean baseline of OER activities in the Commonwealth. The study attempts to to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Its mission is to answer six key questions stemming from four recommendations of the 2012 help Commonwealth Member States and institutions Paris OER Declaration. COL believes that systematic capacity building, driven harness the potential of technologies for expanding access by appropriate policy frameworks at national, institutional and project levels, to quality education and training. COL believes that learning is the key to is a major driving force for the successful adoption of OER, as reiterated in this sustainable development and that it must lead to economic growth, social report. inclusion and environmental conservation. COL’s long-term vision is for institutions and organisations across the Access to relevant, quality learning resources is key to learning, yet the ability Commonwealth to develop and use OER-based courses and materials in order to provide access at the necessary scale is proving a challenge to many in the to provide access to quality education and training that lead to opportunities developing world. COL has identified the development of open educational for sustainable livelihoods for all Commonwealth citizens. I thank the authors, resources (OER) as a potential answer to these challenges. OER provide editors and all respondents to our survey for contributing to this important governments, institutions, organisations and individuals with access to some study, which I hope will be an important milestone in our journey towards of the best materials available globally, allow them to adapt the materials to achieving lifelong learning for all by 2030. fit local contexts, and reduce the costs associated with materials and course development. OER increase access to education for those who need it the most, such as the underprivileged and the marginalised. COL publishes its materials under open licences, and an increasing number of our partners are doing likewise. Professor Asha Kanwar President and Chief Executive Officer Commonwealth of Learning
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 iii Key findings
The key findings are as follows: material before using it. OER originating from Text materials are considered the easiest reputable institutions, which have established to adopt and reuse (76%), followed by lecture Participation in OER-related training quality assurance mechanisms, were generally notes (54%) and slides (53%). activities is high for faculty/teachers in vocational perceived as good-quality OER. institutes (64%) and to a lesser extent in open Sixty-two per cent of respondents considered universities (54%). However, respondents who had Ninety-four per cent of respondents emphasised “easy to download” to be the most not participated in OER-related training programs that open licensing is important when using important factor for adopting OER. were the highest users or consumers of OER a resource in their teaching. In terms of the Respondents indicated that in terms of ease of (47%). Further probing revealed that 39% of those Creative Commons licences, respondents were adaptation, Word (85%), PDF (52%) and HTML who had not received training had learned about most confident about explaining the CC BY (37%) (21%) formats are preferred. OER through self-study, whilst 43% had learned licence, followed by the CC0 Public Domain about OER by working with colleagues on related licence (32.5%). They were not very comfortable Seventy-eight per cent of respondents frequently activities. with explaining the CC BY-NC-ND licence used search engines to find OER, whilst only (36%). In general, the confidence level about 22% used repositories. Amongst the search Training does empower teachers to develop and explaining the meaning of different types of engines, Google was used more frequently (89%) help others develop OER, which increases OER licences was low. than other search engines. The most commonly production. However, OER workshops are short used repositories were: OER Commons (36%), in most cases, with few hands-on activities. There Seventy-two per cent of the respondents don’t Wikimedia Commons (32%) and COL’s Directory of are also gaps in the development of OER openly share their teaching materials. Only Open Educational Resources (COL-DOER, 23%). throughout the Commonwealth. 12% allow reuse and revision of their teaching materials, whilst 15% don’t allow reuse and Respondents indicated that they experienced Sixty-five per cent of respondents indicated that revision, even though the materials are publicly most difficulty withfinding appropriate open they had used OER for teaching and learning, and available. textbooks (46%), course modules (40%) and 60% had used OER to supplement existing lessons. videos (39%). Lack of information on the quality of OER (46%) Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents indicated and the scarcity of OER in video and audio formats These findings are further elaborated in the report. that the use of OER results in cost savings for (44%) are the biggest challenges in using students. OER. The majority perceived OER to be a good Respondents indicated that lack of time, lack of solution to improve quality and minimise awareness and low Internet connectivity are the costs related to a course or programme; 82% main barriers to using OER. Interestingly, they found OER to be of good or excellent quality. did not consider lack of rewards or recognition to Fifty-six per cent of respondents preferred to be a major barrier. check the authenticity and credibility of a
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 iv Participation in OER- related training activities: Highest consumers of OER: Use of OER: 47% 65% FOR of respondents TEACHING & LEARNING CC BY CC BY-SA CC BY-ND CC BY-NC CC BY-NC-SA CC BY-NC-ND CCO-Public had not Domain 64% IN 54% VOCATIONAL IN OPEN participated in 60% TO Confidence level about explaining different licences is low INSTITUTES UNIVERSITIES SUPPLEMENT say OER OER-related EXISTING 82% training LESSONS is of good or excellent quality programs Reuse, revision, remixing and Perceptions redistribution Teachers of OER using OER 72% 94% of respondents Training empowers Open licensing There are gaps in 68% 56% don’t openly teachers to develop the development of COST prefer to check the is important share their SAVINGS and help others develop OER throughout the FOR authenticity and when using a resource teaching OER, which increases Commonwealth STUDENTS credibility of a material in their teaching materials OER production before using it
Main barriers to using OER: OER easiest to adopt and reuse: Most difficult to find: lack of time, lack of awareness and low Internet connectivity 46% 40% 39% 76% 54% 53% OPEN COURSE VIDEOS TEXTBOOKS MODULES TEXT LECTURE SLIDES MATERIALS NOTES
How OER The challenges Adopting & are found: sharing Locating & materials 78% 22% retrieving SEARCH REPOSITORIES the biggest challenges ENGINES OER in using OER: Ease of adaptation: preferred formats Most important factor 46% 44% for adopting OER: The most commonly used repositories were: Lack of Scarcity 62% 89% 36% 32% 23% information on the of OER in Wikimedia COL’s Directory of “easy to quality of OER video and audio Commons Open Educational 85% 52% 21% download” Resources formats WORD PDF HTML (COL-DOER). Acknowledgements
The Commonwealth of Learning wishes to thank Professor Naveed Malik (Pakistan), Professor We also thank Mr Prakash Armugam (Malaysia), Dr Jane-Frances Agbu (Nigeria), Mr Germain Cornelia Muganda (Tanzania), Dr Evode Mukama Dr Mohan Das (India), Ms Jasmine Emmanuel Anthony (Saint Lucia), Mr Dhiraj Bhartu (Fiji), (Rwanda), Mr Masauko Nkolokosa (Malawi), Dr (Malaysia), Dr S.S. Jena (India), Professor Dr Karen Ferreira-Meyers (Swaziland), Mrs Marcia Stewart (Jamaica), Ms Katharina P. Taloka Madhulika Kaushik (Malayisa), Ms Chng Lay Kee Vandanah Gooria (Mauritius), Mr Uduak Inyang- (Tuvalu), Mr Chawapa Thabo (Botswana), Mr R. (Malaysia), Dr Mohan Menon (India), Dr Manas Udoh (Nigeria), Professor Mostafa Azad Kamal Thyagarajan (India), Mr George Jonathan Mael Ranjan Panigrahi (India), Professor R. Santhiram (Bangladesh), Dr Emma Kruse-Vaai (Samoa), Dr Toka (Vanuatu) and Mrs Analupe Voi (Tonga) for (Malaysia), Professor Rajaram Sharma (India) and Sasikala Kugamoorthy (Sri Lanka), Professor Latifah assisting us in the data collection. Dr Sharad Sure (India) for peer-reviewing the Abdol Latif (Malaysia), Mr Zahid Majeed (Pakistan), survey instrument.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 vi Table of Contents
Foreword...... iii
Key Findings...... iv
Acknowledgements...... vi
Executive Summary ...... 2
Introduction...... 3
Profile of Survey Respondents...... 7
Key Findings...... 9
Summary...... 16
References...... 17
Appendix: Survey Questionnaire...... 18
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 1 Executive Summary
This study was conducted as part of the OER for use of OER. After a review of previous studies, As part of the data collection strategy, Fluid Skills Development1 project of the Commonwealth six research questions were formed to analyse Survey was used and 20 champions were of Learning (COL), supported by The William the status of OER in the Commonwealth, based engaged to facilitate data collection across the and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The objective on four recommendations in the 2012 Paris OER Commonwealth. A total of 1,220 responses were of the study was to collect baseline data from Declaration. A survey instrument was developed received, of which 657 were complete. Of these Commonwealth institutions with respect to: the and peer-reviewed to collect data from the 657 respondents, 374 were women (56.92%) development, use and reuse of OER; the availability stakeholders. and 282 were men (42.92%). They belonged of support; and the challenges of fostering the to 214 institutions from 28 countries across the Commonwealth. 1 See https://www.col.org/programmes/open-educational- resources.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 2 Introduction
Education systems globally are facing pressure livelihoods and a better quality of life. The lack of providers of education and training to expand their to increase access to affordable quality education access to relevant learning resources, especially for enrolment of young people. Without education and training. Governments have endorsed women, has further compounded the problem of and job-related skills, young people and adults international agreements in support of education under-educated citizens. The ability to access the cannot benefit from employment opportunities as a fundamental human right, leading to the right content in a timely manner is an important that offer a decent income. Another important Education for All goal, which advocates for an aspect of lifelong learning. component of this challenge is the lack of access inclusive approach to education and training. to high-quality, relevant learning materials to By 2012, 621 million young people in developing Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), adopted support education and training. The International countries were not in education, employment by the international community, strives to “ensure Telecommunication Union points out that “lack of or training (World Bank, 2012). Lack of skills inclusive and equitable quality education and content is the major barrier that governments need and high rates of unemployment are major promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by to tackle” (ITU, 2010). concerns for many Commonwealth countries. 2030. However, many governments are finding For example, over 20% of the youth population The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has it difficult to meet the obligations set out in these in sub-Saharan Africa, which is about 200 million, identified the development of relevant open agreements. In particular, countries are facing are either unemployed or in low-paid/precarious educational resources (OER) as a potential route for challenges in providing quality skills training jobs (Afeti, 2014). This has put great pressure on overcoming these impediments and has addressed at scale to help citizens achieve sustainable
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 3 this in its six-year strategic plan (Commonwealth Open Educational Resources giving a clearer indication of the range of of Learning, 2015) by focusing on the skills possibilities under this definition: sector. According to an OECD report titled In 2002, the UNESCO forum defined open Open Educational Resources: A Catalyst for educational resources as Innovation (Orr, Rimini, & van Damme, 2015), They are educational materials and re- OER can contribute to addressing six key sources that are offered freely, are openly educational challenges presently of concern the open provision of educational resources, available to anyone and, under some to education systems: (i) fostering the use of enabled by information and communication licences, allow others to reuse, adapt and new forms of learning for the 21st century; (ii) technologies, for consultation, use and adapta- redistribute them with few or no restric- fostering teachers’ professional development tion by a community of users for non-commer- tions. OER can include lecture notes and and engagement; (iii) containing the public cial purposes. (UNESCO, 2002, p. 24) slides, lesson plans, textbooks, handouts and private costs of education; (iv) continually given to students, videos, online tutorials, improving the quality of educational resources; podcasts, diagrams, entire courses, and The World OER Congress 2012, organised jointly (v) widening the distribution of high-quality any other material designed to be used in by COL and UNESCO with the support of The educational resources; and (vi) reducing teaching and learning. Thus, the scale of William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, published barriers to learning opportunities. The report OER can vary significantly. They can be as the 2012 Paris OER Declaration, which makes ten concludes that policy support is necessary large as a textbook or as small as a single recommendations in four areas for promoting the for OER to reach their full potential as social photograph. They can make up an entire use of OER. These areas are advocacy and awareness innovations. It further elaborates that policy course or curriculum or can be used to en- generation, OER policies, capacity development and makers should focus on the existence and hance existing textbooks. (Hoosen, Moore, research. discoverability of OER, the new role of teachers & Butcher, 2016, p. 2) in the context of OER, new quality assurance The UNESCO Paris OER Declaration defines OER as procedures and more research. COL plays a Butcher (2015) has explained the meaning of OER major role in several ways: advocating for OER; in simpler terms: supporting governments, institutions and teaching, learning and research materials in organisations in developing policies in this area; any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in identifying models for OER use; and supporting the public domain or have been released under the concept of Open Educational Resources capacity building so that more institutions and an open license that permits no-cost access, (OER) describes any educational resources organisations develop and use OER. use, adaptation and redistribution by others (including curriculum maps, course materi- with no or limited restrictions. (UNESCO, 2012) als, textbooks, streaming videos, multime- COL strongly believes that OER gives dia applications, podcasts, and any other governments, institutions and organisations materials that have been designed for use broader access to the best globally available Even with this definition, what constitutes an OER in teaching and learning) that are openly materials. In turn, these materials can be can still be subject to interpretation, and OER are available for use by educators and students, repurposed locally to reduce the costs sometimes confused with other learning resources. without an accompanying need to pay roy- associated with materials development, However, a more practical description of OER was alties or licence fees. (Butcher, 2015, p. 5) resulting in better opportunities for youths to provided by Hoosen, Moore and Butcher (2016), develop their skills.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 4 According to Weller (2010), OER can be classified TABLE 1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS as “big” and “little.” The former contain explicit teaching aims, are produced institutionally, are RECOMMENDATIONS FROM RESEARCH QUESTIONS usually of high quality, can often be used without THE PARIS OER DECLARATION adaptation but are translated into other languages. Foster awareness and use of OER. 1. To what extent are teachers trained in reusing, revising, remixing and Conversely, little OER are produced individually redistributing OER? with low-cost resources, have low production Support capacity building for quality and are shared through a range of third- the sustainable development of 2. What are teachers’ perceptions with respect to the quality and cost-efficiency of party sites. Little OER are usually adapted because quality learning materials. OER, and what are the various quality assurance mechanisms used? they can easily be used in different contexts. Promote the understanding 3. What is the level of facilitation in the reuse, revision, remixing and redistribution Kurelovic (2016) has claimed that OER improve and use of open licensing of educational materials across the Commonwealth through open licensing? the quality of education, accelerate the flow of frameworks. 4. What are the opportunities and challenges faced when developing, using, knowledge and increase the number of people evaluating and re-contextualising OER? involved in educational processes such as informal and lifelong learning. Another main value of OER 5. How have institutions taken advantage of evolving technology to create is that “they can be used worldwide independently opportunities for sharing materials which have been released under an open licence in diverse media? of the system of education and national curricula ´ frameworks” (Grodecka & Sliwowski, 2014, p. Facilitate the finding, retrieving 6. What are the tools used to locate and retrieve OER that are specific and relevant to 30). Caswell, Henson, Jenson and Wiley (2008) and sharing of OER. particular needs? have claimed that the move towards the use of OER can significantly reduce the costs of learning. Thus, OER have the potential to broaden access and provide equity in education. This is especially The UNESCO Paris OER Declaration provides ten Assurance Guidelines for Open Educational important for developing countries within the recommendations on how to foster and promote Resources: TIPS Framework (Kawachi, 2014), Commonwealth. OER in a global context. To analyse the status of Exploring Faculty Use of Open Educational Resources OER within the Commonwealth, we formed six at British Columbia Post-secondary Institutions research questions based on the Declaration’s four (Jhangiani, Pitt, Hendricks, Key, & Lalonde, 2016), The Study recommendations and our review of past studies and A Study of the Current State of Play in the Use (Table 1). of Open Educational Resources in the Asian Region The study was conducted as part of COL’s OER for (OER Asia, 2012). After the tool was drafted, it was Skills Development initiative, supported by The sent to 12 experts in the field for review. The tool William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The objective DEVELOPMENT OF THE SURVEY was finalised after we incorporated the suggestions was to collect baseline data from Commonwealth INSTRUMENT and feedback received from the reviewers. The institutions with respect to the development, use and We developed a survey instrument to collect data finalised tool is provided in the Appendix. reuse of OER, the availability of support for OER, and after reviewing several studies and documents the challenges that education practitioners face in available in the field. These included:Quality fostering the use of OER.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 5 SAMPLE AND DATA COLLECTION TABLE 2. NUMBER OF PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS As part of the data collection strategy, 20 NUMBER OF champions were engaged to represent the REGION COUNTRY INSTITUTIONS Commonwealth. The champions were responsible Africa Botswana 3 for collecting data from their respective institutions (11 Countries, 93 Institutions) and other targeted institutions in their countries. Kenya 42 The online survey, which was hosted on Fluid Malawi 9 Surveys,2 was open to respondents from 1 to 25 Mauritius 8 May 2016. Namibia 2 Nigeria 9 Rwanda 11 South Africa 3 Technical/Vocational Swaziland 1 Institutions Tanzania 4 Schools Zambia 1 Higher Education Asia Bangladesh 3 Institutions (5 Countries, 57 Institutions) India 18 Malaysia 20 Pakistan 14 FIGURE 1. RESPONDENTS BY THE NATURE OF THEIR HOME INSTITUTIONS Sri Lanka 2 Caribbean Jamaica 9 (2 Countries, 24 Institutions) A total of 1,220 people responded to the online Saint Lucia 15 survey, resulting in 657 complete responses. Of Pacific Australia 4 these, 374 respondents were women (56.92%), 282 (7 Countries, 32 Institutions) Fiji 5 were men (42.92 %) and one chose not to select a Kiribati 1 gender category. They belonged to 214 institutions Samoa 5 from 28 countries across the Commonwealth Tonga 6 regions, as shown in Figure 1 and Table 2. Tuvalu 5 Vanuatu 4 Europe UK 6 2 See http://fluidsurveys.com/. (1 Country, 6 Institutions) Americas Belize 1 (2 Countries, 4 Institutions) Canada 3
Total: 28 Countries 214 Institutions
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 6 Profile of Survey Respondents
Figure 2 indicates the Commonwealth regions’ The respondents’ ages varied from 20 to 60+ years. As Figure 4 indicates, the majority (51%) of perspective. The highest number of respondents Figure 3 shows that almost 67% were in the 30–49 respondents held a master’s degree and 24% were from the African region (11 countries), age group, which is probably the most critical held a PhD, together constituting 75% of the followed by Asia (five countries) and the Pacific period for this profession, corresponding to the respondents. (seven countries). This is partly because there establishment and maintenance stages in Super’s were variations in the number of countries and theory on the Stages of Career Development institutions that participated in these regions, as (Gordon & Steele, 2015). indicated in Table 2. Bachelor’s Degree 60+ Diploma/Certificate 20s Doctorate (PhD) 50s Master’s Degree
FIGURE 2. RESPONDENTS BY 30s COMMONWEALTH REGIONS 40s FIGURE 4. RESPONDENTS’ LEVEL OF QUALIFICATION
FIGURE 3. AGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
Africa Asia Europe Pacific Americas Caribbean
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 7 Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents were Fifty-five per cent of respondents indicated that Figure 3 shows that 67% of the respondents were teachers, working at different levels of educational their main job involved delivering courses in a in the 30–49 age group, whilst another 18% were institutions. Researchers, administrators, face-to-face environment, 43% presented courses in the 50–59 age group. Hence, almost 57% of the curriculum developers and instructional designers in a blended environment, and 36% delivered their respondents had more than nine years of teaching constituted almost 25%; this category represents courses online. Additionally, 39% were involved in experience, whilst about 17% had between six and the essential support staff of educational conducting workshops and training programmes eight years (Figure 7). institutions (Figure 5). (Figure 6).
Administrator
Curriculum planner/developer
Instructional designer
Researcher
Teacher at degree college Under 2 years 3–5 years 6–8 years 9–11 years Above 11 years
Teacher at postgraduate degree college or university Delivering online Delivering Delivering Organising FIGURE 7. RESPONDENTS’ TEACHING EXPERIENCE courses courses in courses in face to workshops/ Teacher at school level blended face environment training environment programmes Others FIGURE 6. THE NATURE OF THE WORK BEING CARRIED OUT BY RESPONDENTS FIGURE 5. RESPONDENTS’ JOB POSITION
The profiles of the respondents indicated that a large percentage of them were experienced and highly qualified. We therefore believe that their perceptions and responses are indicative of the present status of OER in the targeted institutions of the Commonwealth.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 8 Key Findings
Table 1 outlines the research questions of the study with reference to four of the ten recommendations made in the 2012 Paris OER Declaration (UNESCO, 2012). In this section, we attempt to answer the research questions based on the survey findings, with a view to assessing the extent of the four recommendations’ implementation.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 9 The highest rates of teacher and faculty participation in OER-related training are QUESTION 1: To what extent among staff of vocational institutes and are teachers trained in open universities. reusing, revising, remixing and redistributing OER?
With respect to the percentage of participation of teachers/faculty in OER-related training 64% IN 54% activities (Figure 8), the participation of the staff in VOCATIONAL IN OPEN vocational institutes is highest (64%), followed by INSTITUTES UNIVERSITIES staff in open universities (54%).
As Figure 8 indicates, the percentage of Find OER in the Commonwealth 2016 respondents who had participated in OER-related at col.org/oer training varied amongst the institutions. However, from Figure 9 we see that the respondents who With respect to contributions to OER, Figure 9 shows had not participated in OER-related training that training does empower teachers to develop and Pacific programmes were the highest users or consumers help others develop OER. We also found that most of
of OER, at 47%. Further probing showed that 39% the workshops were short and emphasised only the Europe of this cohort had learned about OER through basics, with few hands-on activities.
self-study, whilst 43% had learned about OER by Caribbean working with other colleagues on related activities. We further realised that there are gaps in the de- velopment of OER throughout the Commonwealth (see Figure 10). Asia
Vocational institute Helped others to Americas use OER University Helped others to develop OER Africa School and other institutes Used OER
Open university Developed and Helped others to use OER used OER Helped others to develop OER Used OER Developed and used OER Open school Developed OER Developed OER
FIGURE 10. PARTICIPATION IN OER ACTIVITIES OER programme participation: NO YES OER training participation: NO YES BY REGION FIGURE 8. PARTICIPATION IN OER TRAINING ACTIVITIES FIGURE 9. PARTICIPATION IN OER ACTIVITIES
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 10 82% OF Question 2: What are the RESPONDENTS FOUND perceptions of the quality OER TO BE OF GOOD OR and cost-efficiency of EXCELLENT QUALITY. OER, and what are the various quality assurance mechanisms used?
In response to the question “For which of the following purposes have you used OER in the context of your teaching/training,” 65% of respondents indicated that they did so for teaching and for Find OER in the Commonwealth 2016 at col.org/oer learning, and 60% for supplementing existing lessons. Only 22% used OER to download a course, as shown in Figure 11. Further probing found that In terms of the perceived quality of OER, the partici- 68% of the respondents felt using OER results in cost pants preferred to check the authenticity and credibil- Very good savings for students, 5.7% felt this was not the case ity of a resource first (see Figure 14). OER originating Good Not very good and 26.3% did not know. from a reputable institution with established quality Poor assurance mechanisms were generally perceived as Not sure Figure 12 shows us that the respondents perceived good OER. Surprisingly, only 26% checked whether a as I have not done any comparison OER to be a good solution for improving quality and resource had previously been used by others. minimising costs related to a course or programme. Figure 13 shows that 82% found OER to be of good Improve quality FIGURE 13. PERCEIVED QUALITY OF OER or excellent quality. Minimise the cost of offering a To prepare for my teaching and learning course/programme To supplement my existing lessons or course work To provide eLearning materials to online Enhance institutional reputation learners To find instant solutions to a difficult teaching topic Increase inclusiveness To give to learners compulsory/optional self-study materials Enhance personal reputation To make my teaching culturally diverse
As assets within a classroom lesson Other To download a course Discussion Comparison Reflecting on Checking Authenticity with with standard the content whether the and Other colleagues books or based on material credibility of Benefits of developing OER Benefits of using OER proprietary your earlier was used by the material materials readings others
FIGURE 11. PURPOSES FOR USING OER FIGURE 12. PERCEIVED BENEFITS OF DEVELOPING AND FIGURE 14. CHECKING THE QUALITY OF OER USING OER
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 11 Confidence explaining Creative Commons Question 3: What is the level of facilitation in the licences is low. reuse, revision, remixing and redistribution of educational materials across the Commonwealth through open licensing?
With respect to open licensing, we found that CC BY CC BY-SA CC BY-ND CC BY-NC CC BY-NC-SA CC BY-NC-ND CCO Public Domain 94% felt it was important when using a resource Find OER in the Commonwealth 2016 in their teaching. In terms of Creative Commons at col.org/oer licences, we found that the respondents were most confident in explaining the CC BY (37%) and CC0 reuse and revision, even though the materials were »» “Personal work and effort should not be copied; Public Domain (36%) licences. They were not very publicly available. only resources can be shared.” comfortable (15%) with explaining the CC BY-NC- »» “I don’t know how to make a document viewable ND licence (see Figure 15). The following are some of the reasons mentioned by the respondents for not sharing their teaching by the public.” In general, the confidence level in explaining the materials publicly: »» “I have received no training on how to share meaning of different types of licences was low. them.” Our findings are further confirmed through Figure »» “I don’t know how to share OER.” »» “I am not confident.” 16, which shows that 72% of the respondents »» “I lack the knowledge to integrate them in the did not openly share their teaching materials system.” publicly. Only 12% allowed reuse and revision of their teaching materials, whilst 15% did not allow Do you share any of your teaching materials publicly?
YES, they are publicly viewable but I don’t have a licence on them that allows them to be revised and reused
YES, they are publicly viewable and I put a licence on them that allows them to be revised and reused
NO, I don’t share any of my teaching materials with anyone but students
NO, but I share them with colleagues or others when asked CC BY CC BY-SA CC BY-ND CC BY-NC CC BY-NC-SA CC BY-NC-ND CCO Public Domain FIGURE 15. CONFIDENCE IN DEFINING AND EXPLAINING LICENCE TYPES FIGURE 16. SHARING OF TEACHING MATERIALS AS OER
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 12 Question 4: What are the opportunities and challenges faced when developing, using, evaluating and re- contextualising OER? Time, awareness and low Internet connectivity are the Respondents indicated that “not having information about the quality of OER” (46%) main barriers to using OER. and “not having enough OER in video and audio Lack of software, hardware or rewards and format” (44%) were the biggest challenges they recognition were not considered major barriers. faced in using OER, as shown in Figure 17. Find OER in the Commonwealth 2016 at col.org/oer As Figure 18 indicates, lack of time, lack of awareness and low Internet connectivity were the main barriers to using OER. However, lack of software, hardware or rewards and recognition Lack of time were not considered major barriers. Lack of awareness
Low Internet connectivity
Not having information about the quality Lack of skill in searching for OER of OER Lack of skill in integrating OER with any design Not having enough OER in other formats, such as video and audio Lack of skill in adopting OER Missing the support to help me to work through open course material Lack of administration support
Resources not being aligned with professional standards and regulations Lack of software
Unable to get colleagues to accept the use of OER Lack of reward and recognition
Other Lack of hardware
FIGURE 17. CHALLENGES FACED IN USING OER FIGURE 18. BARRIERS TO USING OER
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 13 What makes an OER Question 5: How have institutions taken more likely to be used? advantage of evolving technology to create 61% opportunities for sharing SAID “EASY TO materials which have been DOWNLOAD” released under an open licence in diverse media?
Amongst the different OER types available, the Find OER in the Commonwealth 2016 at col.org/oer respondents believed that text materials were the easiest to adopt and reuse (76%), followed by lecture notes (54%) and slides (53%), as shown in felt that positive user ratings or comments about Figure 19. The resource being easy to download the resource were important. Further, the Word
We also found that 62% considered “easy to format was identified as the easiest to adopt, at A description of learning objectives or download” to be the most important factor for 85%, followed by PDF at 52% and HTML at 21%, outcomes being provided adopting OER (Figure 20). Surprisingly, only 32% making it the least favourite. The resource being created/uploaded by a reputable/trusted institution or person
The resource being recently created, uploaded or updated
The resource having a Creative Commons licence
The resource having an open licence allowing adoption
Use of interactive or multimedia content in the resource
Positive user rating or comments about the resource
The length/complexity of the resource
Text Audio Video Images Graphics Open Slides Lecture materials textbooks notes FIGURE 19. TYPES OF OER THAT ARE EASY TO ADOPT AND REUSE FIGURE 20. FACTORS CONSIDERED WHEN ADOPTING OER
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 14 What are the most difficult OER to find? Question 6: What are the tools used to locate and 46% 40% 39% retrieve OER that are SAID OPEN SAID COURSE SAID VIDEOS TEXTBOOKS MODULES specific and relevant to particular needs?
Seventy-eight per cent of respondents frequently used search engines to locate OER, whilst only 22% used repositories. Amongst the search engines, the participants used Google more frequently (89%) than other search engines, as Find OER in the Commonwealth 2016 shown in Figure 21. at col.org/oer
Amongst the repositories, the most commonly used was OER Commons (36%), followed by Wikimedia Commons (32%) and COL-DOER (23%), as shown in Figure 22. OER Commons
Based on their experience, respondents felt that open Wikimedia Commons textbooks (46%), course modules (40%) and videos COL-DOER (39%) were the most difficult to find (Figure 23). NROER
MERLOT
Connexions Video Audio Quiz Images Open Course Jorum items books modules Google Boundless FIGURE 23. OER MATERIALS THAT ARE HARD TO FIND Google Advanced
Yahoo! Others Bing other FIGURE 22. OER REPOSITORIES COMMONLY USED
FIGURE 21. SEARCH ENGINES USED
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 15 Summary
This Open Educational Resources in the It is encouraging to see that faculty/teachers and low Internet connectivity are the main barriers Commonwealth 2016 report provides the current are using OER for their teaching and learning. to using OER. Interestingly, lack of rewards or status of the development, use and reuse of Furthermore, they perceive OER to be of good recognition is not considered a major barrier. OER, the availability of support for education quality and view them as a means of reducing Ease of download is considered to be the most practitioners, and the challenges to fostering costs related to courses and programmes. important factor for adopting OER. In this context, the use of OER in the Commonwealth. The key Respondents consider that the biggest challenge search engines are used more than repositories findings from the 657 completed responses from to OER use is not having information about the to locate the necessary resources. Based on 28 countries, across 214 institutions, portray the resources’ quality. The participants prefer to use their experience, the respondents felt that open OER landscape in these regions and highlight the OER from reputable institutions that have some textbooks, course modules and videos were the shortcomings that need to be addressed through form of established quality assurance mechanism. most difficult OER to find. Text materials in Word future COL interventions. The findings show that The findings also show that the general format are preferred above others when it comes training and capacity building in OER increase understanding of open licensing is low, which in to adopting OER. OER production. However, gaps remain in the turn has contributed to teachers not sharing their development of OER within the Commonwealth. material publicly. Lack of time, lack of awareness
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 16 References
Afeti, G. (2014, August 27). Skilling Africa: The Retrieved from http://mythbusting.oerpolicy. OER Asia. (2012). A study of the current state of play paradigm shift to technical and vocational skills eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/OER_ in the use of open educational resources in the development. Association for the Development Mythbusting.pdf Asian region. Retrieved from https://oerasia. of Education in Africa. Retrieved from http:// Hoosen, S., Moore, D., & Butcher, N. (2016). Open org/index.php?option=com_content&view=ar www.adeanet.org/en/blogs/skilling-africa-the- educational resources (OER) guide for students ticle&id=9&Itemid=11 paradigm-shift-to-technical-and-vocational- in post-secondary and higher education. Orr, D., Rimini, M., & van Damme, D. (2015). skills-development Vancouver, Canada: Commonwealth of Open educational resources: A catalyst for Butcher, N. (2015). A basic guide to open educational Learning. Retrieved from http://oasis.col.org/ innovation. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. resources (OER). Vancouver, Canada: handle/11599/2093 doi:10.1787/9789264247543-en Commonwealth of Learning & UNESCO. ITU. (2010). World telecommunication/ICT development UNESCO. (2002). Forum on the impact of open Retrieved from http://oasis.col.org/ report 2010. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. courseware for higher education in developing handle/11599/36 Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/ countries: Final Report. Paris, France: Author. publications/wtdr_10/material/WTDR2010_ Caswell, T., Henson, S., Jensen, M., & Wiley, D. UNESCO. (2012). 2012 Paris OER Declaration. Paris, Cover_e.pdf (2008). Open educational resources: Enabling France: World OER Congress. Retrieved from universal education. The International Review of Jhangiani, R., Pitt, R., Hendricks, C., Key, J., & http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/ Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 9(1). Lalonde, C. (2016). Exploring faculty use of MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/Events/Paris%20 Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index. open educational resources at British Columbia OER%20Declaration_01.pdf php/irrodl/article/view/469/1001 post-secondary institutions. BCcampus Research Weller, M. (2010). Big and little OER. In Open Ed 2010 Report. Victoria, Canada: BCcampus. Commonwealth of Learning. (2015). Commonwealth Proceedings. Barcelona, Spain: UOC, OU & of Learning strategic plan 2015–2021. Kawachi, P. (2014). Quality assurance guidelines for BYU. Retrieved from http://openaccess.uoc. Vancouver, Canada: Author. Retrieved from open educational resources: TIPS framework. edu/webapps/o2/bitstream/10609/4851/6/ http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/826 CEMCA. Retrieved from http://oasis.col.org/ Weller.pdf handle/11599/562 Gordon, V. N., & Steele, G. E. (2015). The undecided World Bank. (2012). World development report 2013. college student: An academic and career advising Kurelovic, E. K. (2016). Advantages and limitations of Washington, DC: Author. challenge (4th ed.). Springfield, IL: Charles C. usage of open educational resources in small Thomas. countries. International Journal of Research in Grodecka, K., & S´liwowski, K. (2014). Open Education and Science, 2(1), 136–142. educational resources mythbusting. Open Educational Resources Policy in Europe.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 17 Appendix: Survey Questionnaire
Baseline Survey Study of the Capacities of organisation solely concerned with the promotion identified by individual. All responses will be Teachers with Respect to the Development, and development of distance education and compiled together and analysed as a group. Use and Reuse of Open Educational Resources open learning. COL is helping developing nations Your feedback will contribute to enhancing the (OER) within Targeted Institutions of the improve access to quality education and training. understanding of OER practices and is likely to Commonwealth The expected outcome of this survey study is to provide input for potential future collaborations Welcome to this baseline survey study on understand the current state of education/higher between COL and your institution. open educational resources, conducted by the education institutions, open schools, technical Please complete the survey by 20 May 2016. If you Commonwealth of Learning (COL). and vocational education and training (TVET) have any questions or concerns, please contact Dr institutions, and open universities across the COL is an intergovernmental organisation created Ishan Abeywardena, Adviser, Open Educational Commonwealth with respect to OER development, by Commonwealth Heads of Government to Resources, at the Commonwealth of Learning, at use and reuse issues, challenges and available promote the development and sharing of open +1 604 775 8263 or [email protected]. support systems. learning and distance education knowledge, I look forward to your cooperation and support. resources and technologies. We thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this survey. The survey will take about 30 Regards, Hosted by the Government of Canada and minutes to complete. Your responses are voluntary headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, and will be confidential. Responses will not be Professor B. Phalachandra Canada, COL is the world’s only intergovernmental Consultant to the Commonwealth of Learning
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 18 About You Your highest educational qualification
Name: Diploma/Certificate
Designation/Position: Bachelor’s degree
Qualifications (academic and professional). Please list all: Master’s degree
Institution: Doctorate (PhD)
City: Other, please specify ______
Country: Which of the following apply to you?
Address for correspondence: Working in open school/institution
Working in vocational school/institute
Email address: Working in open university
Phone number with country code: Other, please specify ______
Age Which of the following apply to you?
20-29 Please choose all that apply
30-39 Teacher at school level
40-49 Teacher at degree college
50-59 Teacher at postgraduate degree college or university
60 and above Researcher
Gender Administrator
Male Curriculum planner/developer
Female Instructional designer
Other Other, please specify ______
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 19 For how many years have you been in this profession? Did you attend any programmes (seminars/workshops) relating to OER?
Under 2 years Yes
3-5 years No
6-8 years *If your response is “No” for the question above, how did you acquire knowledge about OER? 9-11 years Self-study Above 11 years Working with colleagues on OER-related activities Did you attend any programmes (seminars/workshops) relating to OER organised by the Commonwealth of Learning? Other, please specify ______
Yes Your experience of OER searching No While searching for OER, which of the following would you use more *If your response is “Yes,” please answer the following questions. frequently?
• Which local institution organised the programme? Search engines
• When was it (month and year) organised? OER repository
Programme duration: From your experience of searching for OER for study/teaching, which types of materials are very hard to find? • Where was it conducted (place/location)? Please choose all that apply. • What were the inputs/issues discussed? Videos • Were there any hands-on activities in the programme? Audios Yes Quiz items No Images
Open books
Course modules
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 20 Which of the following search engines do you usually use? Your Use of OER
Google Which of the following apply to you?
Google advanced search Please choose all that apply.
Yahoo! Developed OER
Bing Developed and used OER
Other, please specify ______ Used OER
Which of the following OER repositories do you usually use? Helped others to develop OER
Please choose all that apply. Helped others to use OER
Connexions In which of these situations have you used OER?
MERLOT Teaching (classroom/tutorial)
Jorum Course development
Boundless Training
Wikipedia Commons Research/Publication
OER Commons Others, please specify ______
COL Directory of Open Educational Resources (DOER) In which of these ways, if any, have you created OER?
National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) Please choose all that apply.
Others, please specify ______ Created open educational resources for students’ study or teaching
Created resources and published them on an open licence
Added a resource to a repository
Added comments to a repository regarding the quality of a resource
Added comments to a repository suggesting ways of using a resource
Organising workshops/training programmes
Have not created any open educational resources
Other, please specify ______
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 21 Which of the following are barriers in developing and using OER? Which of the following apply to you?
Please choose all that apply. Please choose all that apply.
Lack of time Delivering online courses
Lack of awareness Delivering courses in a blended environment
Lack of skills in searching for OER Delivering courses in a face-to-face environment
Lack of skills in adopting OER Organising workshops/training programmes
Lack of skills in integrating OER with my design What benefits do you envisage in developing OER?
Low Internet connectivity Please choose all that apply.
Lack of hardware Enhance personal reputation
Lack of software Enhance institutional reputation
Lack of reward and recognition Minimise the cost of offering a course/programme
Lack of administrative support Improve quality
Which, if any, of the following types of OER have you used for teaching/ Increase inclusiveness training/course development? Others, please specify ______Please choose all that apply. What benefits do you envisage in using OER? Curriculum/Syllabus Lecture notes Please choose all that apply. Assessment Lesson plans Enhance personal reputation Open textbooks Tutorials Enhance institutional reputation Whole course Quizzes Minimise the cost of offering a course/programme Elements of a module or a course E-books Improve quality Videos Data sets Increase inclusiveness Audio podcasts Learning tools, instruments and Others, please specify ______plug-ins Images Others, please specify Infographics ______ Interactive games
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 22 Your Experience with OER Based on your experience, which of the following are easier to adopt and reuse? From your experience of using OER, how difficult are they to adopt (use/ reuse)? Please choose all that apply
Difficult Text materials
Not difficult Audio
Don’t know as I have not used/reused Videos
For which of the following purposes have you used OER in the context of Images your teaching/training? Graphics Please choose all that apply. Open textbooks To prepare for my teaching/training Slides To supplement my existing lessons or coursework Lecture notes As “assets” (e.g., images or text extracts) within a classroom lesson Based on your experience, which of the following formats are easier to To give to learners as compulsory/optional self-study materials use/adopt and reuse?
To provide eLearning materials to online learners Please choose all that apply
To download a course Word
To make my teaching more culturally diverse PDF
To find an instant solution to a difficult teaching topic HTML
Others, please specify ______ Others, please specify ______
Before using OER, what steps do you follow to check their quality? Which challenges, if any, did you face in using OER?
Please choose all that apply Please choose all that apply.
Discussion with colleagues Resources not being aligned with professional standards or regulations
Comparison with standard books or proprietary materials Unable to get colleagues to accept the use of open educational resources
Reflecting on the content based on your earlier readings Missing the support to help me work through open course materials
Checking whether the materials have been used by others Not having information about the quality of OER
Authenticity and credibility of materials Not having enough OER in other formats, such as video and audio
Others, please specify ______
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 23 Which of the following factors would make you more likely to select a How important is open licensing to you when using resources in your particular resource while searching for open educational content? teaching?
Please choose all that apply. Very important
The resource being recently created, uploaded or updated Important
The resource being easy to download Unimportant
A description of learning objectives or outcomes being provided In the context of your role as an educator (teacher/researcher/course developer), what barriers, if any, have you encountered when using OER in The resource being created/uploaded by a reputable/trusted institution or person your institution?
The resource having a Creative Commons licence Please write your answer here:
The resource having an open licence allowing adaptation
The length/complexity of the resource
Use of interactive or multi-media content (e.g., video or quiz) in the resource
Positive user ratings or comments about the resource Do you share any of your teaching materials publicly?
Which of the following Creative Commons licences are you confident in Please choose all that apply. defining and/or explaining? No, but I share them with colleagues or others when asked. Please choose all that apply. No, I don’t share any of my teaching materials with anyone but students. CC BY Yes, they are publicly viewable, and I put a licence on them that allows them to be CC BY-SA revised and reused.
CC BY-ND Yes, they are publicly viewable, but I don’t have a licence on them that allows them to be revised and reused. CC BY-NC Other, please specify ______ CC BY-NC-SA If you have answered “Yes” to the question above, please explain the reasons behind CC BY-NC-ND your answer here: CC0 Public Domain
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 24 Based on your experiences, how would you rate the quality of OER when Institutional Policies Concerning OER compared with traditional, proprietary materials? Does your institution have an OER policy? Very good Yes Good No Not very good Being developed Poor Did your institution organise any programme to orient faculty about OER? Not sure as I have not done any comparison Yes While delivering offline/online courses, what kind of materials do you use? No Developed by self If your response is “Yes,” list the content/title of the programme. Developed in the institution
Downloaded from OER repository What are the different policies and practices, if any, your institution has in Downloaded from the Internet relation to OER?
Others, please specify ______Please write your answer here:
Did you share the OER developed by you with others?
Yes
No In the context of your role as an educator, what kinds of policies would help you to be more open? If your response is “No,” what were your reasons for not sharing? Please write your answer here:
The Impact of Using OER
Do you believe that your students have saved money by using OER? Would you be willing to provide more information related to your work on OER, if contacted? Yes Yes No No Don’t know
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 25 Photo Credits
Cover: “Rural Educational Services 2009-10,” by ramakrishnamathulsoor, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkmulsoor/3649431721. Page vi: “Third grade students during class at Norsup Primary School. AusAID supports education projects on Malekula Island,” by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10730018193. Page 2: “Children take part in an exercise in groups inside a BRAC primary school in Manikganj. DFAT funds a range of core programs including its education work primarily in formal education,” by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10684966815. Page 3: “Kids browsing through the books,” by Pratham Books, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/prathambooks/3761111036. Page 7: “Typing II,” by OER Africa, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/oerafrica/8164335301. Page 9: “IMG_2628.jpg,” by OER Africa, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/oerafrica/7787947160. Page 11: “book_stacks,” by Hung Thai, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/96055807@N02/10893926256/. Page 13: “Student Internet Cafe,” by OER Africa, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/oerafrica/8200315762. Page 14: “Yolanda in grade 10 uses the computers at One Small Bag, a youth centre in Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila,” by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10660459014. Page 15: “UFV CEP architectural shots,” by University of the Fraser Valley, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/ufv/8072256467/. Page 16: “School Kids,” by Bond009, is licenced under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/bond009/869951286/. Page 18: “Year 3 students wait patiently in Dashura Primary school in Manikgunj, Bangladesh. AusAID funds a range of core programs including its education work primarily in formal education,” by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is licensed under CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10660200216.
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE COMMONWEALTH 2016 26
This study was conducted as part of the OER for Skills Development project of COL, supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The objective of the study was to collect baseline data from Commonwealth institutions with respect to the development, use and reuse of OER; the availability of support; and challenges faced in fostering the use of OER. Six research questions were formed, after reviewing previous studies, to analyse the status of OER in the Commonwealth, based on four recommendations of the 4710 Kingsway, Suite 2500 2012 Paris OER Declaration. Burnaby, BC V5H 4M2 Canada
Tel: +1.604.775.8200 Fax: +1.604.775.8210 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.col.org
November 2016