Enhancing Learning through OER and Open Platforms [1096] Members : #OER16

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Wed, Apr 20 2016, 11:45am – 1:00pm

Authors: Colin Madland

Room: Prestonfield

Theme: Strategic and reputational advantages of openness

Type: Presentation

Description

Bliss, Robinson, Hilton, III, & Wiley (2013) suggest that there are four primary categories of effects from OER use, including cost, outcomes, use, and perceptions. These four categories, which form the acronym COUP may be useful in identifying strategic advantages of openness.

Cost
Given that some students report not purchasing textbooks because of their high cost, and there is evidence that having early access to resources during a course leads to improved learning, Wiley (ND) argues that reducing costs is a clear win for OER.

Outcomes
In light of evidence that OER do reduce student costs, (Bliss et al., 2013) suggest that researchers and practitioners examine how the use of OER affects the attainment of student learning outcomes.

Use
Key to the definition of OER is the fact that they are either in the public domain, or they have been released under an intellectual property license that permits users to exercise five specific rights or permissions to the resource, including the right to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute the materials or platforms. These permissions, collectively known as the 5Rs, may provide opportunity for faculty to teach with OER differently, and for students to engage in different kinds of learning activities than they might with commercially produced resources or platforms.

Perceptions
Also important in promoting the adoption of OER is understanding how both faculty and students perceive OER in comparison to commercial resources. Several studies have examined these questions with the predominant perception being that OER and commercial resources are generally equal in terms of perceived quality and effectiveness (Bliss et al., 2013).

Open platforms are learning environments that are deployed using open source software, such as WordPress or MediaWiki, and can be accessed by the general public from the open web.

Goal of the Session
The focus of the presentation will be on the strategic advantages of openness in relation to the use of open platforms to deploy courses built with OER.

Specific attention will be given to how the success of learners in open courses is dependent on the alignment of the design of the activities and the use of both open resources and open platforms (the ‘Use’ component in the COUP framework).

Participants will engage with ideas for implementing more effective learning activities using the remix hypothesis (Wiley, 2015) to categorize the different ways that faculty can use OER in conjunction with open platforms to enhance learning.

Survey data were gathered internationally, regionally, and locally and supplemented by interviews with select local faculty.

References

Bliss, T. J., Robinson, T., Hilton, J., III, & Wiley, D. (2013). An OER COUP: College teacher and student perceptions of open education resources. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2013(1). doi:http://doi.org/10.5334/2013–04

Wiley, D. (ND). Defining the ‘open’ in open content. Retrieved from http://www.opencontent.org/definition/

Wiley, D. (2015). The Remix Hypothesis. Retrieved from http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3813

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