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OpenER: A Dutch Initiative on OER
Fred Mulder
Robert Schuwer
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Agenda
Goal Approach Results Lessons learned Future
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Goal
Lower treshold to participate in formal Higher Education by offering free courses
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Approach (1)
courses of 25 study hours each (= 1 EC) a user-friendly on-line delivery system substantial marketing and PR to create
awareness with the Dutch population about OpenER and the OUNL
opportunities for formal assessment and certification as a starting point for a Higher Education study
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Financials
The OpenER-experiment received grants from The Directorate Learning and Working,
established by the Dutch Ministery of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministery of Social Affairs
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation To a total of approx. €660,000.
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Measurements
Main question:
Did OpenER had any effect on participation in formal Higher Education?
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Some figures
Launch on December 5, 2006 generated a lot of publicity
Several 100,000’s unique visitors 12% returning 24 courses online (4 – 45 hours / course) 5700 users registered voluntarily Costs for creation €3000 - €30,000 Formally ended June 2008
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Examination
Five courses offered the possibility to do a formal examination, earning a certificate.
This service costs €50 for a user. 85 learners applied for a formal examination. 32 actually took the test, 29 of them passed (as of
end 2008)
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Examination (2)
Reasons for the low number of applicants Courses were offered free, without any
guidance, support or intervention Reported by users:
Certificate not important for me I am retired The course I studied did not have this possibility Employer did not find that important
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Proof of the pudding
Question on electronic order form for regular OUNL courses:
Was taking a free OpenER course a cause to order this course?
During period of 13/2/2008 to 30/6/2008: 9,3% of about 1600 buyers answered yes.
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Reasons for not starting
Financially (‘training is expensive’) Time (‘study takes too much time with my fulltime
job’) Type of knowledge (‘other interests, more on skills
than cognitive’) No goal (‘I consider this supplementary’) Age (‘No ambitions anymore. I am 79 years old.’)
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Lessons learned (1)
For some users another language than the Dutch language is a barrier.
Courses of 4 hours were considered too short to get a good idea of what it means to study a subject on this level of education.
For courses that were fully webbased and did not offer the possibility to print out the course text, users asked for a printed version.
Errors in the courses were reported by the learners. Read aloud versions were hardly used. Main cause
reported was the automatic generation of a read aloud version of a webpage (using Readspeaker) with errors in pronunciation.
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Lessons learned (2)
Change of attitude to open courses within OUNL Objectives for publishing open courses for
faculties The courses should give a good picture of the
main subject areas in our faculty. The courses should show how entertaining
learning can be The courses should also be attractive for our
own students.
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Three greatest challenges
Rely on quality awareness of authors Authors are already used to making self study
material Support of top management is crucial Producing open courses should be a regular task
at faculties Higher delivery reliability Not dependant on few enthusiastic people
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Main question remaining
Sustainability: business model for offering free courses Can it ever be without grants? Someone has to pay for it (the tax payer?)
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Future (1)
Continuation with modest extension Taskforce OER OUNL
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Future (2)
• Extra: Spinoza series: Hall-of-Fame of Dutch scientists (Spinoza Prize Winners)
• Goal: make the work of eminent scientists more well-known for non-scientists
• Give a signal that these scientists find OER important
• Currently: 2 courses online
