Understanding Open Educational Resources
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UUnnddeerrssttaannddiinngg OOppeenn EEdduuccaattiioonnaall RReessoouurrcceess Understanding Open Educational Resources 53 Understanding Open Educational Resources Understanding Open Educational Resources 1 Understanding Open Educational Resources Understanding Open Educational Resources Lessons Prepared by Neil Butcher and Andrew Moore Neil Butcher & Associates Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA http://www.nba.co.za/ Edited by Sanjaya Mishra, PhD Education Specialist, eLearning Commonwealth of Learning CANADA 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, 2015 © 2015 by the Commonwealth of Learning. Understanding Open Educational Resources is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence (international): http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-sa/4.0. For the avoidance of doubt, by applying this licence the Commonwealth of Learning does not waive any privileges or immunities from claims that it may be entitled to assert, nor does the Commonwealth of Learning submit itself to the jurisdiction, courts, legal processes or laws of any jurisdiction. ISBN 978-1-894975-72-8 Published by: COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING 4710 Kingsway, Suite 2500 Burnaby, British Columbia Canada V5H 4M2 Telephone: +1 604 775 8200 Fax: +1 604 775 8210 Web: www.col.org E-mail: [email protected] 2 Understanding Open Educational Resources Table of Contents Lesson 1 – Introduction to Open Educational Resources ......................................... 5 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 Learning Outcomes ................................................................................... 6 1.2 Definition of OER .................................................................................................. 6 Check Your Progress....................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Benefits of Open Education and OER ................................................................ 9 1.4 History and Development .................................................................................. 11 Check Your Progress..................................................................................................... 13 1.5 Challenges of Using OER ................................................................................... 13 Check Your Progress..................................................................................................... 15 1.6 Institutions Promoting OER ............................................................................... 15 1.6.1 The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ....................................... 16 1.6.2 UNESCO ................................................................................................... 16 1.6.3 Commonwealth of Learning .................................................................. 16 1.7 Significant Projects/Initiatives ........................................................................... 17 1.7.1 OER Impact Map ..................................................................................... 17 1.7.2 OpenLearn ................................................................................................ 17 1.7.3 OERu ......................................................................................................... 18 1.7.4 UNESCO–COL OER Chairs ................................................................... 18 1.8 Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................. 18 Answers to Check Your Progress ............................................................................... 19 Lesson 2 – Copyright and Open Licensing ................................................................ 20 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 20 2.1.1 Learning Outcomes ................................................................................. 20 2.2 Understanding Copyright .................................................................................. 21 Check Your Progress..................................................................................................... 22 2.3 Open Licensing .................................................................................................... 22 2.4 The Creative Commons Licensing System ...................................................... 23 Check Your Progress..................................................................................................... 27 2.5 Promoting Open Licensing: Policy, Advocacy and Capacity Building ....... 28 2.5.1 Policy ......................................................................................................... 28 2.5.2 OER Advocacy ........................................................................................ 29 2.5.3 Capacity Building .................................................................................... 30 Check Your Progress..................................................................................................... 31 2.6 Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................. 31 Answers to Check Your Progress ............................................................................... 32 3 Understanding Open Educational Resources Lesson 3 – Finding and Evaluating OER ................................................................... 33 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 33 3.1.1 Learning Outcomes ................................................................................ 33 3.2 Types of OER ....................................................................................................... 34 3.3 Directories, Platforms and Repositories .......................................................... 35 3.4 Searching for OER .............................................................................................. 37 3.4.1 Dedicated OER Search Tools ................................................................. 37 3.4.2 Advanced Search .................................................................................... 38 Check Your Progress.................................................................................................... 40 3.5 Evaluating OER .................................................................................................. 40 Check Your Progress.................................................................................................... 42 3.6 Using OER ........................................................................................................... 42 3.6.1 Reuse ........................................................................................................ 43 3.6.2 Revise ........................................................................................................ 43 3.6.3 Remix ........................................................................................................ 43 3.6.3.1 Remix Game ................................................................................ 45 3.7 Quality Assurance of OER ................................................................................ 45 3.7.1 TIPS Framework: Quality Assurance Criteria for OER ..................... 45 Check Your Progress ................................................................................................... 46 3.8 Summary and Conclusion ................................................................................. 47 Answers to Check Your Progress .............................................................................. 47 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 48 Websites ........................................................................................................................... 50 4 Understanding Open Educational Resources Lesson 1 Introduction to Open Educational Resources 1.1 Introduction The fact that you are reading this lesson suggests that you have heard of open educational resources (OER). Currently, there is a lot of buzz about OER. Some see them as totally revolutionising how we bring learning materials into our education system and use them, while others see OER from a more pragmatic perspective. Before we start looking at OER, including their origin, benefits and challenges, it is important to consider the problems that we are facing today in education. While these problems range, in different countries, from lack of access to poor quality, there is a common thread in most: low availability of good-quality educational materials. Although learning materials are available, the cost of access in many locations is very high and increases each year. For example, the cost of college textbooks in the United States increased 82 per cent between 2002 and 2013— three times the rate of inflation.1 According to the College Board, in the 2014–15 academic year, students in the USA spent about USD 1200 each on textbooks.2 Another study indicated that 65 per cent of U.S. students do not buy textbooks