OER1047 - Symposium
Symposium Short Papers (5):
“Made for sharing” – the changing world of learning and teaching
Chair: Nicola Siminson, Jorum – University of Manchester
Conference Theme: Open educational content, OER design, Open educational communities
Intended audience: Anyone involved in the creation of learning and teaching materials, repository managers, UK FE & HE members, OER interest. Teachers, Learning technologists etc.
Abstract: Since Jorum's inception, a shift has occurred in the world of learning and teaching resources – from cautious sharing, to a growing desire to make resources available openly – with Jorum playing its role throughout. Through a range of stimulating papers addressing all three conference themes, and subsequent discussions, participants will discover what makes individuals, institutions and communities share learning and teaching resources, and how Jorum supports these activities by adding value. Jorum is a JISC-funded national repository for learning and teaching resources, created by and for the community, and offers a long-term home for these resources, playing a key role in the UKOER programme . Jorum is run jointly by the national data centres Edina and Mimas . Jorum aims to be a benefits-led service. It provides and stores free resources to save teachers time, showcases an institution’s efforts, and increases the discoverability of resources through enhanced metadata. Jorum both hosts and points to resources, from individual files and content packages to web links, increasing the visibility of these resources. Creative Commons licensing, and the use of sharing tools such as Flickr, YouTube and SlideShare, are increasing. JorumOpen enables resources to be discovered and downloaded in the same open way, but by providing a trusted source of designated learning and teaching resources. Content within JorumOpen will be exposed to search engines such as Google later this year. As part of the OER movement, the Jorum Learning and Teaching Competition rewards innovation in the creation and sharing of resources. Held in conjunction with the ALT-C 2009 conference , the competition entrants have provided Jorum’s first fully open access resources, including the "English as a Lingua Franca" resource created by York St John University . Other material is on its way into JorumOpen, from resources created by the UKOER Programme, to RLO-CETL materials , to resources from individuals and institutions across the UK. Jorum exists both within a landscape of repositories, and a network of communities of practice (CoPs) which are developing around the creation and sharing of learning and teaching resources. Jorum is collaborating with a range of partners, organisations and initiatives, such as the Irish National Digital Learning Repository (NDLR) , demonstrating the importance of sharing learning and teaching resources. A CoP with which Jorum is involved is the Information Literacy Reusable Learning Objects (IL RLO) Sharing group , which has emerged from discussions at a recent IL conference , and is one of a series of initiatives originating from the University of Birmingham . The Sharing Learning Objects in Healthcare Special Interest Group (SLOHSIG) includes staff at the School of Nursing Educational Technology Group (SONET) , who have been creating repurposable resources for eight years. Subsequent discussion time will allow participants to ask questions of all the presenters, and the following issues will also be debated:
Background & rationale: Jorum is changing, and making OERs available via the new JorumOpen service. Jorum exists both within a landscape of repositories, and a network of communities of practice which are developing around the creation and sharing of learning and teaching resources, and Jorum is collaborating with a range of partners, organisations and initiatives. This symposium aims to bring together some of these partners to showcase their work, share their experiences and motivations, demonstrate the importance of sharing learning and teaching resources, and consider the impact of the Jorum service.
Main idea(s) to be explored: Through a range of stimulating papers and subsequent discussions, participants will discover what makes people, institutions and communities share learning and teaching resources, and how Jorum can support these activities and add value. We will address all three key conference themes (Open educational content; OER design; and Open educational communities).
How will discussion be facilitated? Following the 5 paper presentations, subsequent discussion time (facilitated by the symposium chair, Nicola Siminson) will allow participants to ask questions of all the presenters, and the following issues will also be debated:
Keywords: Jorum, JorumOpen, Edina, Mimas, Open Educational Resources, OER, OER design, Open educational content, Reusable Learning Objects, RLO, information literacy, metadata, repositories, sharing, contribute, deposit, strategic approach, Open educational communities, open access, community, Communities of Practice, CoP, UKOER Programme, Content, UK, FE, HE, Learning, Teaching, Open source, Licences, JISC, Learning Design, Teaching practices, Higher Education, Further Education, Healthcare, Design, Re-using, Objects, Resources, Creative Commons, Open access
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