OER1065 Workshop

“Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open”

Helen Beetham, Lou McGill, Allison Littlejohn, Glasgow Caledonian University

Conference Theme: Open Educational Content

Intended audience: Everyone involved in the release and reuse of open educational content

Background & rationale: The JISC Open Educational Resources programme has funded almost 30 pilot projects to release open content from UK HE institutions and subject networks, and to evaluate the process for the benefit of the sector. This workshop offers an early opportunity to explore lessons learned and to try out a range of resources produced by the programme's synthesis and evaluation team.

Main ideas to be explored: 'Openness' as a feature of communities/organisations: What features of educational communities and institutions could be described as 'open', or precursors to full participation in 'open content' sharing? 'Openness' as a feature of content: What features of content allow it to be fully shared and reused in other contexts? Are these features enhancing of or inimical to specific pedagogical values (e.g. those which are strongly situated or context-based)? What are the implications for quality processes? 'Openness' as a value in education: What impact is 'open pedagogy' having, above and beyond issues of content, and how should we understand and promote this idea? 'Openness' as a feature of certain technologies and technology-based services: Are open web 2.0 solutions to content hosting over-riding the demand for deposit of content in open repositories? The workshop will build explicitly on Allison Littlejohn's keynote, allowing participants to further explore the idea of open scholarship and to examine emerging approaches to learning as knowledge sharing in open communities.

Activities participants will engage in:

• Discussion (issues as above)
• Exploration in themed sub-groups of four to six broad issues identified in evaluation (legal, technical, educational, cultural, organisational, ethical)
• Try and comment on staff development tools to support open content design, management, release and re-use
• Try and comment on organisational development tool: towards open content
• Personal reflection: values and priorities for open content

Intended outcomes:

• Better understanding of the issues involved in open content release
• Early exploration and chance to influence tools being developed for the sector
• Opportunity to define personal and organisational values and goals in relation to open content and open education

Keywords: open content, open learning, open education, open scholarship, JISC, OER, community, technology

References:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/oer
http://www.caledonianacademy.net/spaces/oer/