Moving to using Open Educational Resources

Part of a panel discussion during Open Access Week

Cindy Ives, PhDDirector, Centre for Learning Design and Development

October 27, 2011

Last year’s presentation• Recent initiatives in…

1. producing and sharing open educational resources (Calculus)

2. using open educational resources in course materials (Physics)

3. finding and aggregating open materials for adaptation and inclusion in program development (Instructional Design)

What does Open mean?1. Open university administration

• Open admissions• Continuous enrollment

2. Open source software3. Open access publishing4. Open educational resources (OERs)5. Open pedagogies

• Inclusive design for accessibility• MOOCs

6. Open research practices7. Open government and open data

OERs in course design• External grant• 25 digital enhancements in 17 courses• Authoring interfaces for non-technical

developers• Licensed through Creative Commons• Available in LORs (Merlot, Curriki,

WikiEducator, AU OCW site)

Learning and instructional theory• Attention to difficult concepts/content:• Interaction theory (Anderson, 2003) • Visualization and multimedia (Mayer, 2005)

• Engagement for persistence:• Motivation (Clark, 1999, Keller, 2007)

• Practice:• with formative feedback for self-efficacy (Kluger &

DeNisi, 1998)

Design principles

• Attention to intellectual property, copyright • Inclusive (universal) design• Formative evaluation for iterative design• Visually attractive, simple to navigate

Example 1 – Decision tree

Decision tree on the iPad

Example 2 - AUTAT

References• Anderson, T. (2003). Getting the mix right again: An updated and theoretical rationale for

interaction. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(2). Retrieved from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/149/230

• Clark, R.E. (1999). The CaNE model of work motivation: A two-stage process of goal commitment and mental effort. In Lowyck, (Ed). Trends in Corporate Training. Leuven, Belgium: U of Leuven Press.

• Keller, J.M. (2007). Motivation and performance. In Reiser & Dempsey, (Eds). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology, 2nd ed., Pearson, 82-92.

• Kluger, A. & DeNisi, A. (1998). Feedback interventions. Toward the understanding of a double-edged sword. Current directions in Psychological Science, 7(3), 67-72.

• Mayer, R.E., Ed. (2005). The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press

Bibliography of the Athabasca River Basin (BARB):

Creating a Digital Tool that Promotes OERs and Knowledge Sharing

By

Dr. Lisa CarterTony Tin

Colin Elliott

What is OER

• Digital materials that can be re-used for teaching,

learning, research and more, made available for free through open licenses, which allow uses of the materials that would not be easily permitted under copyright alone.

WIKIPEDIA

About BARB

• Project Goals: Support OER by identifying, locating, and making research and scholarly resources and information on the Athabasca River Basin (ARB)

freely accessible to the general public. • Project led by Athabasca River Basin Research Center

with support from AU Library, Advancement Office, academic centers, and researchers, and CEMA (Cumulative Environmental Management Association).

• Five years project with funding from Imperial Oil Foundation, Suncor Energy, Athabasca University and Provincial Government.

Project Objectives

– To develop a highly utilitarian bibliographic database that will integrate a number of databases from various disciplines and will serve as the foundation for ARB research and Study.

– To preserve and digitize ARB research materials and resources, including audio, video, images and text.

Benefits to OERs

• Provide 24/7 free, easy access to ARB knowledge and information through the online bibliographic database.

• Facilitate sharing of knowledge, research, and scholarly communication through open access/OER.

• Online database resources are fully searchable, retrievable, discoverable, and reusable for research and study.

http://barbau.ca

Content

• About 25,000 entries including reports, journal articles, dissertations , and learning objects.

• Multi-disciplinary coverage includes:– Sciences

– Social Sciences

– Humanities

– Economics

Drupal

Drupal

• Biblio module• Google Charts module• Google Maps module• Analytics, Forms, FAQ, XML sitemap, Wysiwyg

Editor, Comment, Mobile, and Blog modules• Custom modules

Search

• Fast• Open• Full-text• Faceted• Geospatial

OAI

• Open Archives Initiative

• A framework to Share data• CONTENTdm and Drupal are both OAI-PMH

compliant

Open Educational Resources (OERs)