OER1036 Oral Presentation prezi

Evaluating the Practice of Opening up Resources for Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences

Dr Darren Marsh (C-SAP), Ms Anna Gruszczynska (C-SAP)

Conference Theme: Open educational communities

Abstract: This paper is based on the preliminary findings of the C-SAP OER project “Evaluating the Practice of Opening up Resources for Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences”, part of the subject strand of JISC/HEA Open Educational Resources Programme. The paper adopts a case-study based approach and engages with the theme of open educational communities as it emerged in the context of the project. The C-SAP OER project has endeavoured to adopt a critical social science perspective on the processes, motivations, and incentives for sharing digital educational resources. In our exploration of the challenges connected with sharing materials and/or practice in the context of OER we draw upon insights gained from the model of academic peer review (while remaining aware of its limitations with regard to openness/inclusivity). Within that model, research is seen as a collective endeavour whereby previous insights are publicised both to share the immediate ‘discovery’ and to allow future research to build on its new insights. Accordingly, the C-SAP OER project attempts to develop ways in which teaching and learning resources can move from a model of tacit, individualised production and consumption to one whose assumptions are shared so that the resources to be made ‘open’ are as fully appreciated as possible. At the same time, such a culture shift is hardly a straightforward process. Therefore, on the basis of a our small-scale study (six institutional partners within the CSAP OER project) – we would like to engage with the questions posed in the call for papers and explore the challenges of sharing open content within the social science community. We would also like to share preliminary results of our exploration of Web 2.0 affordances and pedagogic frameworks to support sharing OERs. Finally, this paper will also address the on-going concern of the project team – what (if anything) is special about the social science disciplines with regard to sharing OERs?

Keywords: Web 2.0, pedagogy, OER, sharing, social sciences, sustainability