OERs: The Value Proposition

Open Educational Resources: The Value proposition

Prof. Rory McGrealAthabasca University

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License(some images fair dealing)

What to learn: Openness

Evolution: FREE Education

COSTS

Evolution: FREE EducationAn asymptotic curve

COSTS

Zeno’s dichotomy paradox

Free to the learner

Evolution: Free Education

Growth of the WWW

http://www.anywhere.com

Reach an infinite audienceReach an infinite audience

Tim Berners-Lee

Evolution: Free Education

“Death of Distance”

• Global Global telecommunicationstelecommunications• SatellitesSatellites• WirelessWireless• InternetInternet

Atlas of Cyberspaces

History of copyright

They hang the man and flog the womanWho steals the goose from off the commonBut leaves the greater villain looseWho steals the common from off the goose.

Anonymous 1764 or 1821?

Stealing the Goose

An Act for the Encouragement of Learning

Statute of Queen Anne 1710

Remove barriers to access

• No one owns creative works• Creations belong to everyone• Creations are public goods

Intellectual Property

Privileged Monopoly

• imposing duties• restricting freedom• inflicting burden on users Waldron

Intellectual Property ?ORa manifestation of government intervention in social relations May

Law & Policy

Enable us

To shout “MINE” ever more loudly, to convulse ever more uncontrollably and hit each other with ever larger toys.

D. Wiley

Benefits of Sharing• Preserves authors’ rights– Openness makes plagiarism difficult; No incentive – Attribution– No need to lie about source– Institutional marketing – Services not content – Expands creator’s careers

OER

Toys?Sony’s PSP GO

Mobile phone

CD Shape

Gizmondo

= 2 jiffies or 200 milliseconds

Why OER?

Why OER?• DRM (digital rights management)• Digital licenses

digital restrictions management?

DRM (Digital Rights Management)

You CANNOT• Copy & paste, annotate, highlight• Text to speech• Format change• Move material • Print out• Move geographically• Use after expiry date• Resell

• DRM restricts our freedom

• Can we not own & control our own property?

But our device is our PROPERTY

Nielsen.com

But, we’re innocent!

Swiss-copyright.ca

Digital Licenses•Copy & paste, annotate, highlight• Text to speech or hyperlink• Format change• Move material to another computer• Print out• Move geographically• Use after expiry date• Resell

• Prohibited to show your content to others • Must accept that you have NO rights

• Owners have NO liability even if product doesn’t work• Owners can “invade” your computer without permission• Collect & use personal data• User has a “privilege” to use the product not own it

Open ETextbooks•Copy & paste, annotate, highlight √• Text to speech or hyperlink √• Format change √• Move material to other computer √• Print out √• Move geographically √• No expiry date √• Reuse/Remix/Mash √

•Retain privacy and digital rights √√Essential for E-learning im

plementations

Access Rights?Vendors can control how, when, where, and with what specific brands of technological assistance audiences are able to access content

You buy but you don’t g

et – D. Wiley

• student owns nothing, can share nothing, save nothing, sell nothing• subscription ends – ALL ends•publishers own student data, notes, highlights• students can’t transfer data

Commercial Learning Service or Rent-a-book

US Version per month+20 000 movies $ 7.99

+45 000 TV shows $ 7.99

+15 000 000 songs $ 9.99

TOTAL $25.97

ONE Biology text $20.25

-David Wiley

When you subscribe to content through a digital service, the publisher achieves complete and perfect control over you and your use of their content

-- David Wiley

Attack on Personal Property

Openness is the skeleton key that unlocks every attempt at vendor control and lock in - D. Wiley

MOOCs

A Canadian First

ITC 23%

Arts 28%

Community learning

What technology has done more to destroy human community than any other?

Could it be the portable book?

Community or accessibility?

Mobile learning

Free Education

Wireless Access

Mobile learning?

+2 billion Internet connexionsWorld population: 7 billion

¼ of the world’s populationhttp://www.soil-net.com/album/Places_Objects/slides/Globe%20Planet%20Earth%20NASA.jpg

Global Internet usage

International Telegraph Union 2012

Global Mobile phone subscriptions

Internet Users

International Telecommunications Union 2012

Web usage worldwide

3.81%Worldwide

Chad 29%Nigeria 25%Sudan 22%

Mobile Signal Coverage

Percentage of the world's population covered by a mobile cellular signal, 2003 compared to 2010

Mobile Telephony

Mobile learning

4.5 billion mobile subscriptions1.5 billion mobile internet users

1/3 only access internet via mobile

90% of world population is covered by cellular

More time spent on Internet

with Mobile

than with desktops

More time spent on Internet

with Mobile

than with desktops

The world is going mobile

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1048/1022720488_0a1b779fc8.jpg

Design for Mobile FIRST

4G Mobile Phones

• Computer in your phone• Phone in your computer?

Tablets

Google AndroidiPad MiniSamsung

Tablets

Shenzhen Tablet <$75

Aakash India <$50

Ypy Brazil <$75

Sakshat $20 laptop

Affordable Computing

India to unveil the £7 laptopGovernment hopes its mini-computer, the world's cheapest, will bridge the digital divide between rich and poor

One Tablet per Child

Negroponte et al.

E-Books

OPENNESS

Digital convergence:

TV

Email

Electronic book

Computer

Telephone

Radio

WWW

Fax

Clock

Camera

Handy 21 Oxygen project MIT

PDA

Nokia5510

Game player

bandwidth

features performance

functionality

usability

accessibility

A Balancing Act

Kent Anderson, Scholarlykitchen.org

Mobile Learning requires OER

OER•Copy & paste, annotate, highlight √• Text to speech or hyperlink √• Format change √• Move material to other computer √• Print out √• Move geographically √• No expiry date √• Reuse/Remix/Mash √

•Retain privacy and digital rights √√Essential for M

-learning implementations

the International experience

•$2 billion for OER

Netherlands

POLAND

Avoir Project

INDIA• National Repository of Open

Educational Resources <http://nroer/home/>

• S.N.D.T. Women’s Univ. (Mumbai)

• B.A.O.U. (Gujarat)

Washington State

Utah

California

the Canadian experience

OER in Canada: A POERUP Report

D. QuirkR. McGrealT. Anderson

Athabasca University

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License(some images fair dealing)

Policies for OER UPtake

OER

•OER•Open access•Open user-generated works•Open data•Open Glam(Galleries, Libr., Arch. Museums)•Open government•Open policies•Open licences•Open licence tools (CC)•Open standards•Open Source

Paul Stacey

Paul Stacey

Open Access & OER“Despite the mounting support for

open access, Canada has lagged behind with only a handful of pilot projects from the federally-funded research agencies . . . it is time for those agencies to make a firm commitment to open access.”

Canada Report

• Provincial• No Government policies• Few initiatives• Policy proposals (HEIs)

Open Data Canada• Innovation• Leveraging public information • Develop consumer/commercial

products• Better use of broadband• Research• Informed decisions for consumers

THE BIG Canadian SPLIT

• School Level vs Higher Education Ministries• Paris Declaration on OER

• BC Campus licence• Online Programme Development Fund• 40 First year post-secondary courses as OER

First Major OER initiative

Alberta

• $2 million for OER • Post-secondary

OER Barriers

Barriers: Fear• Competition• Loss of students/jobs• Loss of revenue/control• Criticism by peers• lack of economic models • Accountability

With Paul Stacey

Barriers: Confusion• Business model• How open licences work • Collaboration strategies • Autonomy• Evidence of effectiveness • Terminology (OA,OER, PD etc.)

With Paul Stacey

Barriers: Effort• Finding OER• Finding quality resources • How it saves time or money?• Specific academic contexts • Localisation

With Paul Stacey

Barriers: Special Interests• Publishers • Copyright collectives• Textbook authors $$$• “Not invented here” • Copyright officers• ????

With Paul Stacey

OER Incentives

Incentives: YES• Updating at any time - quality• Copy, paste, annotate highlight,

print• Mix, mash, alter, localise• Format shifting• Move content/share/collaborate • Cost savings – open texts

With Paul Stacey

Incentives: YES• Increased access to education• Students can better assess/plan • Showcase profile/brand• Convert lurkers into students• Accelerate learning • Reduce faculty preparation time

With Paul Stacey

How to participate?

How to participate internationally?

Rory McGreal Fred Mulder

UNESCO Chairholders in OER Partners

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License(some images fair use)

Wayne Mackintosh Tel Amiel

https://oerknowledgecloud.com/

OER: Successful Practices

Fred Mulder

PhD in the study of OER

Susan D’Antoni

Global OER Graduate Network

Characteristics• Umbrella for PhD research on OER in a global network of

universities / researchers (decentralized model)• Addressing fundaments, design, applications, context,

evaluation, etcetera, linked to a wide range of disciplines • Key are the PhD candidates, both full-time and part-time• Joint supervision by 2-3 experts / (co-)promoters• Rely on QA system of the promoter’s university & country• Knowledge dissemination with the GradNetwork label• Lightly supervised by a GradNetwork Board

Cape Town December 2013

Why OERu?Present systems are unsustainable.

Present systems are not scalable for universal education.

We must find new more cost-effective learning systems with higher quality.

OER will form part of this solution:

How many learners??

The issue

Learners who access OER and acquire knowledge/skills cannot have their learning assessed and accredited

The view from an OERu partner

Traditional modelTraditional model OERu model

learners

The mini-MOOCFriesen & Murray

Challenges

Challenges• Economic crisis– Decrease in investment in education &

innovation– Promotion of OER becomes more

challenging– National programmes are declined,

downsized, or not started

POERUP team

Opportunities & further work • Opportunities– The rise of MOOCs – a new business model– FutureLearn in the UK

• Further work– In-depth analysis on OER policies & practices– In-depth research into end-users of OER

POERUP team

Reality & support

Information

http://poerup.org

http://col.org

Priorities NOT Principles

"Let's put all this hype about change and transformation in perspective. It's underhyped."

"There's something coming after us, and I imagine it is something wonderful.” "

Danny Hillis, Wired

Change

« le ch

angemen

t s’im

pose, la

surv

ie est

une optio

n; faite

s le b

on choix »

Franço

is Tav

enas,

ancie

n recte

ur de l

’Univers

ité Lav

al

“Change is m

andatory, s

urvival is

an

option. M

ake the r

ight choice

.”

Franço

is Tav

enas,

ancie

n recte

ur de l

’Univers

ité Lav

al

General Eric Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, U. S. Army

So, let’s wake up and smell the coffee

rory@athabascau.carory@athabascau.cahttp://www.col.org/resources/publications/Pages/detail.aspx?PID=446

THANK YOU