The Open Research Agenda

OE Global, Krakow, Poland12-14 April 2016

Purpose of Session

Community consultation exercise to better understand research prioritiesIntended to identify patterns across countries and stakeholders

Stealing research ideasSetting the agenda ourselves

As at 5 April 2016:

• 60 responses;

• Respondents from 17 known different countries across 5 continents:

United States, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Ecuador, Malta, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Portugal, Croatian, India, Macedonia, Ireland, Australia

Sample Overview

Roles

• One third of respondents described themselves as having only one role;

• Half of all participants who responded with ‘Other’ told us their role was wholly, or in part, as a librarian (3) or researcher (6);

• Almost half of all respondents described themselves as wholly or in part an educator and an advocate (n=27);

• Three quarters of respondents who describe themselves in whole or part as a policymaker also describe themselves as an advocate of OER (n=9)

Expertise & Experience

What are the most important areas for open education research over the next year?

Open practices

Mainstreaming OER

Research as…

Adaptation

Access

What are the most pressing questions that need to be answered?

Improving what we have already

“Can we do better than Title Author Source License citations? I long for dates and URLs.”

“OER Interoperability”

“Creating more tools for assessment.”

Using OER “Why people don't use OERs and very often prefer to start from scratch”

“Can we really make good use of OER reuse.? REALLY good examples of reuse and remix of OER needed.”

“How do we ensure work presented is that of the author”

“who are the gatekeepers for maintaining 'quality' OERs? How will copyright restrictions deal with OERs?”

“What are the barriers to remix…”

Impact“What are the benefits of using open resources? (Comparisons with traditional, non-open resources)”

“What value does the "open" (as opposed to "free") have in improving educational outcomes”

“Does the use of open educational resources lead to better student learning outcomes?”

“Something around value of OER policies - how do they make a difference? what/who is/are the key implementation drivers? Or are OER policies just meaningless statements that have no impact on actual educational practice and learning and teaching?”

“does OEP create better, more sustainable learning outcomes?”

Sustainability“Sustainability of institutional approaches to OER use. More mainstreaming rather than projects would convince me.”

“How can we create a sustainable, public, non-profit economic ecosystem for OER?”

“How do we foster and promote open cooperation - aka crossing the chasm from Sharing to learn…”

“how can learners develop self determined connectivist skills and mindset when institutions and venture capital seems hell bent on denying access to such opportunities”

Thinking BIG “1. What is the public (and private) return on investment (social, cultural, economic and environmental) for opening up education through more flexible delivery models? The evidence required here should be available through 'big data' that demonstrates over time the contribution opening up education and more flexible models of delivery make to society. For example, higher employment levels, increased tax revenue, greater civic participation and at a macro level GPD growth.”

“…what is the role of publishers in promoting or hindering open education? Also, what is the role of corporations (Google, Apple) and corporate charities (Bill Gates, Hewlett) in open ed promotion.”

“What are Employers views? How can we best collaborate to develop an open badge infrastructure that meets their needs ? Evidence that employers embrace and see the potential for open digital badges”

“Does Innovation in open learning widens the global knowledge gap?”

“Why are governments not mandating publically organisations to release everything under a sensible CC licence that allows attribution and re-purposing not for profit”

Beyond Borders…

“In developing countries, mindset to share resources is lacking along with the knowledge of Open licenses.”

“What are the reasons for the lack of production and uptake of OER in developing countries?”

“Are existing OERs being used in LMS? Are Australian universities creating OER resources? Do our (Australian) near neighbors like Pacific Island Countries (PIC) and Timor Leste have and use OERs?”

Beyond Borders…

Whether current understandings of open education (dominated by the Western world/global north) are harming educational progress in the global south. I worry that the strict rules which have been created around 'openness', particularly around remixing, are in fact only benefitting those in the global north. I also don't think that this is a question which can or should be answered by the OERHub, and indeed researchers working in the UK/US/much of Europe.

What’s next?

Image credits

"Life is Sharing" (CC-BY 2.0 Generic, Alan Levine) “Open” Chuck Cokerhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/caveman_92223/4016133284/ CC-BY-ND 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/“Advocacy” NYhttp://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/highlighted/a/advocacy.html CC-BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/“Remixing is Tasty” Gideon Burton https://www.flickr.com/photos/wakingtiger/3156791341 CC-BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/) Access key https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2014/04/02/10/16/key-303320_960_720.png