This project was financed with the support of the European Commission. This publication is the sole responsibility of the author and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Social networking and game mechanics of OER Repositories: present & future

Katerina Zourou and Giulia Torresin, Web2Learn, Greece12th EdReNe Seminar, Copenhaghen, October 20-21, 2015

ExplOERer: Supporting OER re-use in learning ecosystems

ExplOERer project:2-year EC- funded project under E+ programme (2014-2016)•ExplOERer promotes OER sustainability through OER adoption and re-use in professional practice. •Types of learning contexts addressed: adult education, higher education and the workplacePartners•Gothenburg University, Sweden•Web2Learn, Greece•The Open University•Centrum Cyfrowe. Projekt: Polska •Flemish Ministry of Education, Belgium – KlasCement community

Output 3: designing tools to incentivize OER re-use

Output 3 dedicated to “Social networking and gaming capacities of OER” Better understand the role of social networking and gaming as triggers to OEP(information getting viral through SN & G mechanics)Approach repositories of OER from a design perspective and analyze the potential of incentivized models of learning (gaming/social networking mechanisms) in OEPDevelop, implement and test a set of social networking and gaming features in two existing Repositories of OER: LORO http://loro.open.ac.uk and KlasCement http://klascement.net/ )

Previous research

User engagement in educational repositoriesSome recommendations:-analysing user behaviour-enabling friending-simplifying navigation and interfaces-using rewarding systems etc.-

Designing artifacts to incentivize OER re-use

– Step 1: development of a matrix containing social networking and gaming features

– Step 2: quantitative analysis of ROER against the matrix • 60 ROER in “small“ and “big” European languages

– Step 3: preliminary results regarding social network & gaming features contained in each repository.

– Step 4: Forthcoming: analysis other types of open learning spaces (crowdsourced communities, MOOCs) against the same matrix of of SN & G features

– Step 5: user feedback regarding those features- do they facilitate OER re-use from a user perspective?

•We have divided features under 4 macro- categories : •Social networking features of the repository•Features facilitating networking•User-related game mechanics•Resource-related game mechanics19 features overall(contact us for further details on the typology)

Matrix: features facilitating (social) networking

Some of the features facilitating (social) networking

Creating a user profile

Liking users

Having a friends list

Open API

Displaying a stream of activities

Some of the gaming features

Earning badges

Tagging a resource

Collecting points

Liking or rating a resource Challenges

Preliminary Results I

Preliminary Results II

Most represented features

OilProjecthttp://www.oilproject.orghttp://www.oilproject.org

Photodentrohttp://www.photodentro.edu.grhttp://www.photodentro.edu.gr

KlasCementhttps://www.klascement.net/https://www.klascement.net/

Some thoughts to take away

• Approaching OER (re-)use from a design perspective => tools & infrastructures rather loose and basic

• There are few SN & G mechanics overall- not a one-fits-all strategy among ROERs. Cultural dependence? Attitudes to sharing? Further investigation is ongoing.

• Community engagement doesn’t come naturally: role of designing features in enhancing community dynamics

• ROER in small languages (KC, Photodentro) doing well in designing enablers of OER (re-) use

• More to come : implementation/testing of a set of SN & G features into LORO and KlasCement

Thank you!

References •Anderson, J. & Rainie, L. (2012). "Gamification and the Internet". Pew Research http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media/Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Future_of_Internet_2012_Gamification.pdf •Zourou, K. & Lamy, M.-N. (2013) « Social networked game dynamics in web 2.0 language learning communities », Alsic, Vol. 16, http://alsic.revues.org/2642 •Zourou, K.2014. Social networking and gaming capacities of OER. http://www.slideshare.net/ExplOERer/social-networking-and-gaming-capacities-of-oer-output-3-slides

Staying in touch

@web2Learn_eu

Web2Learn_euhttp://web2learn.eu/