Fostering the Exploitation of Open Educational Resources

Abstract

The central concept behind Open Educational Resources (OER) is opening up the access to educational resources for stakeholders who are not the usual target user group. This concept must be perceived as innovative because it describes a general economic and social paradigm shift: Education, which formerly was limited to a specific group of learners, now, is promoted as a public good. However, despite very good intentions, internationally agreed quality standards, and the availability of the required technological infrastructure, the critical threshold is not yet met. Due to several reasons, the usefulness of OER is often limited to the originally targeted context. Questions arise if the existing quality standards for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) actually meet the specific requirements within the OER value chain, if the existing quality standards are applicable to OER in a meaningful way, and under which conditions related standards generally could support the exploitation of OER.We analyze quality standards for TEL and contrast the life cycle model of commercial learning resources against the life cycle model of OER. We investigate special demands on quality from the context of OER and, taking the former results into account, derive emergent quality criteria for OER. The paper concludes with recommendations for the design of OER and a future standard development.

Open informational ecosystems: The missing link for sharing resources for education

“…With the easy ways to communicate knowledge over the internet traditional business models of valorizing knowledge have been questioned. Richter and Veith (2014) describe changes in the value creation chain in the production of digital assets for learning. Tuomi (2013) points out that some goods even enhance their value the more people have access to them and the more they are being used.…”

Toward a Critical Approach for OER: A Case Study in Removing the ‘Big Five’ from OER Creation

“…The UNESCO definition of OER specifies adaptability as a key factor (2002, p. 24). In spite of this, existing work suggests that most OER material is created on a context-specific, as-needed basis, without downstream reuse in mind (Richter & Veith, 2014). Hilton III et al (2010) emphasize the importance of the ability to "unlock" OER for adaptation and evolution.…”

Evaluareed: desarrollo de una herramienta para la evaluación de la calidad de los recursos educativos electrónicos

“…En este sentido, es apreciable el incremento de recursos electrónicos con fines educativos que se han desarrollado en los últimos años, especialmente en el ámbito de la formación universitaria, y la tendencia a su publicación en abierto (Scanlon, 2014), dando lugar a los denominados Open Educational Resources, "materiales utilizados para apoyar la educación que pueden ser consultados, reutilizados, modificados y compartidos por cualquier persona" (Downes, 2011). Así, desde comienzos de este siglo, muchas instituciones de alto nivel, como la Unesco o la Unión Europea, están apostando por la promoción de este tipo de recursos y por la financiación de proyectos orientados a su producción, colección, presentación, calidad, y gestión (Richter y McPherson, 2012;Richter y Veith, 2014). …”