OER1011 Oral Presentation ppt

CORRE: A workflow framework for transforming teaching materials into OERs

Samuel Nikoi and Tania Rowlett - Beyond Distance Research Alliance. University of Leicester

Conference Theme: Open Educational Content

Abstract: Openness has become a defining quality of the 21st century associated with values such as freedom, participation, empowerment, collaboration and lifelong learning (Straub 2008). In the Higher Education sector, this has resulted in the development and dissemination of Open Educational Resources (OERs). Currently there are over 3000 open access courses from over 300 universities worldwide (Yaun, MacNiel and Kraan 2008), providing flexible content that can be adapted to local needs and conditions (Downes 2006). Authoring tools such as eduCommons, LAMS, GLO Maker II, Xerte and COMPENDIUM; licenses such as Creative Commons; and repositories such as ITunes U and OER Commons enable institutions and individuals to generate and access OERs. For many academics new to open learning, a major challenge is transforming existing teaching materials into OERs (Lane 2006). Many questions arise, including re-contextualising materials, usability under appropriate licenses, format accessibility, availability across different learning platforms and domains, and trackability. In this article we present and discuss an integrated workflow framework developed to answer some of these questions. Our CORRE framework (Content-Openness-Reuse/Repurpose-Evidence), for transforming existing materials into OERs derives from the OTTER project, one of the JISC institutional strand OER projects. CORRE has four main stages, each defined by a set of criteria matched to indicative evidence:

• Content focuses on gathering and screening existing teaching materials for turning them into OERs.
• Openness assesses the legal, pedagogical and technical perspectives of transforming existing content into OERs.
• Reuse/Repurpose, the sociocultural dimension, involves validation of transformed materials with academic partners and potential users.
• Evidence addresses questions related to sustainability in terms of the value and usefulness of an OER through a process of tracking using multiple survey mechanisms.

The value of CORRE lies not simply in its suitability as an agile method (Boyle 2006) for transforming existing teaching materials into OERs, but more importantly, in its use of indicative evidence for assessing the quality, accessibility, adaptability and potential impact of OERs.

Keywords: OER; academic attitudes; learning design; open access; open education; independent learning; copyright; sustainability; reuse; repurpose.

References:
1. Boyle, T., (2006). An Agile method for developing learning objects. In L. Markauskaite, P. Goodyear, & P. Reimann (Eds.) Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education: Who’s Learning? Whose Technology? (pp. 91-99). Sydney: Sydney University Press.
2. Downes, S., (2006). Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects. vol 3. 2007. pp. 29 – 44.
3. Lane, A., (2006). From Pillar to Post: exploring the issues involved in repurposing distance learning materials for use as Open Educational Resources. Found at: http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/document.cfm?docid=9724 [ Accessed: 22 October 2009]
4. Straub, R., (2008). Is the World Open? Found at: www.elearningpapers.eu. 1 Nº 8. pp. 1-5. [ Accessed: 19 October 2009]
5. Yaun,L., MacNie, S., and Kraan, W., (2008). Open Educational Resources – Opportunities and Challenges for Higher Education. Found at : http://learn.creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/oer_briefing_paper.pdf[ Accessed: 19 October 2009]