Web Today, Gone Tomorrow: How can we ensure continuing access to OERs? [1099] Members : #OER16

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Tue, Apr 19 2016, 2:00pm – 3:30pm

Authors: Lorna Campbell, Vivien Rolfe, David Kernohan, Pat Lockley, and Leo Havemann

Room: Salisbury

Theme: Strategic and reputational advantages of openness

Type: Workshop or panel

Description

The sustainability of open education projects and (OER) is increasingly becoming a topic of urgency, as epitomised by a recent online discussion that resulted in ongoing reflection and commentary (Campbell 2015). There is much to consider regarding technical and curatorial aspects of OER sustainability, and the notion of self-hosting, creating lots of copies for dispersal over the internet, and aligning with the features of OER aggregators such as Solvonauts.org, all appear to be appropriate strategies to adopt (Campbell 2015, Rolfe 2015).

Sustainability may be defined as the ability of a project to “continue its operations” and “accomplishing goals” (Wiley, 2007), and this was a key criteria of the HEFCE-funded UKOER Programme (2009 – 2012), in order to provide “options for sustainability after funding ceases” (UKOER, Jisc, 2015b).

It is important to draw upon the knowledge of the #UKOER community to reflect on whether the programme did indeed achieve the sustainability of project outputs and survival of OER, and the relative success, or otherwise, of the approaches adopted.

This panel session will invite experts to offer different perspectives on dimensions of practice, from technological aspects, to institutional and cultural angles, framed against the backdrop of the UK educational policy landscape. The panel will pose a series of short presentations around these themes, and invite audience engagement to determine the views and approaches that could usefully be adopted by the open education community going forwards.

The outcomes of this panel session will help inform the community on the current status of OER initiatives, and whether in the true spirit of OER, resources have continued to be shared, repurposed and disseminated over time. The question might therefore arise, what does sustainability mean in relation to OER, and indeed, is it pertinent to care?

The panel will be chaired by David Kernohan, Followers of the Apocalypse. Speakers are:

Viv Rolfe, University of West England – OER sustainability and vulnerability.
Simon Thomson, Leeds Beckett University – use of larger scale repositories for long term OER access.
Pat Lockley, Pgogy – deposition rates in OER repositories and distribution channels (video).
Leo Havemann, Birkbeck College – have OER repositories ‘worked’? If not, how can they be improved?
Lorna M. Campbell, University of Edinburgh – the Scottish approach to OER repositories and sustainability.

References

Atenas, J and Havemann, L (2014) Questions of quality in repositories of open educational resources: a literature review. Research in Learning Technology 22 Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v22.20889

Campbell L (2015) The Challenge of OER Sustainability. Available: https://lornamcampbell.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/the-challenge-of-oer-sustainability/

Havemann, L. and Atenas, J. (2014) MOOCs must move beyond open enrolment and demonstrate a true commitment to reuse and long-term redistribution. LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog. London School of Economics. Available: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/03/07/is-it-time-for-moocs-to-open-up/

Jisc, (2015b) Academy/JISC Open Educational Resources Programme Phase 3. Available: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140702233839/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/ukoer3.aspx

Rolfe V (2015). OER Sustainability Challenges: Do the OER Shuffle. Available: http://vivrolfe.com/blog/oer-sustainability-challenges-do-the-oer-shuffle/

Wiley, D. (2007) On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education. Paper commissioned by the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) for the project on Open Educational Resources. Available: www.oecd.org/ dataoecd/33/9/38645447.pdf

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