Mainstreaming OER: policies, strategies or initiatives?

Giles Pepler, Sero Consulting

OER15Caerdydd, Cymru

14 April 2015

Outline of presentation

• The POERUP project• POERUP research• The road to Open-ness• Barriers to mainstreaming OER• Policy interventions• Initiatives• Concluding remarks

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Context and rationale for POERUP (early 2011)

• Over ten years of the OER movement• OER repositories in many countries, yet…• Lack of uptake by teachers and learners• Foreseen lack of funding (in EU)• Shift from development to community building and

articulation of OER practice

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POERUP outputs• Inventory of more than 500 OER initiatives worldwide (120

notable)

• 33 country reports – most updated in 2014• 7 case studies including Wikiwijs, ALISON (Ireland), OER U

(global) and FutureLearn (UK mostly)• 3 EU-level policy documents for universities, VET and schools• 8 policy documents for UK (x3), Ireland, France, Netherlands,

Poland – and Canada

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Focus of POERUP

• We take a broad definition of OER• The main objective: stimulating the uptake of OER through

policy, building on previous initiatives (such as OPAL, Olnet and SCORE) and linked to ODS, IIEP, IPTS, eMundus and non-EU initiatives

• Researching the policy pyramid …..

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The policy pyramid

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2012 UNESCO

declaration

EU policies (Rethinking

Education & Opening Up Education)

national policies; sub-national policies (home nations; Länder;

communidades autónomas; provinces; states)

Institutional, faculty and course policies

Mapping OER policies and other policy sightings ...

• Policies (as against initiatives) detected in 9 European countries – limited policies in others

• And in at least 9 countries outside Europe• Lots of policies in USA and China• At least 3 (non-European) countries with proposed policies• https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=z-3iKlfDOx58.

k9cGxYzGNaJw

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POERUP research – and beyond• Many countries seem to be doing little OER– But a lot under the radar (eg Open Access, teacher

repositories, schools ICT initiatives)– And some formerly inactive countries rushing ahead

• Even fewer have policies about or even directly relevant to OER

• Plenty of HE institutional policies, but France (and Wales and Slovenia?) the only EU countries with national policies

• No national policies (yet) for schools (Poland?) or VET

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Open-ness – a journey along a roadThe precise stopping points on the road are subject to debate but they might look

something like the following:• Online resources available at a fee• Online resources available by enrolling at an institution (with relevant

prerequisites)• Online resources available to broad categories of users (students, teachers,

citizens of a Member State)• Online courses or resources which require registration to access but anyone can

register – this is typically where MOOCs are found• Online resources free to access (thus Open Access in the sense of journals)• Online educational resources free to access but with restrictions on re-use• OER stricto sensu with ability of users to adapt and re-use• Higher levels of OER such as with open formats editable with open source tools• OER in the language of most relevance to the specific user.

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Mainstreaming OER: barriers to address

• Copyright and IPR• Knowledge and training – including teacher training at all levels• Contextual factors - economic, social and language issues• Certification and accreditation, including APL (Accreditation of Prior

Learning) and the ability to accredit knowledge and competences developed through online study and informal learning

• Funding mechanisms – at system and institutional levels• Sustainable business models• Most OER is in HE – the schools, FE and lifelong learning sectors have

been slower to follow

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(POERUP) Policy interventions?

• interventions that link OER to open access, to research and to standards.

• interventions that foster the phenomena (including access, cost and quality; but also others such as development and informed citizenry) that OER is said to facilitate (even if so far without sufficient evidence).

• interventions that serve to reduce or dismantle the barriers to creation of innovative institutions and innovative practice (including OER, MOOCs and open educational practices).

• See policy papers at http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Policies

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Mainstreaming OER?

Policies?

Government? Sector? Institution?

Strategies?

Initiatives?

Some evidence from this conference• Debbie Baff - Embedding OER & OEP across the HE Sector in Wales; Hannah Pudner -

Connecting learners and communities in Wales to OER; Paul Bacsich - Policy development to support OER in Wales; Lorna Campbell - Common Ground; Pete Cannell - Opening Educational Practices in Scotland; Jöran Muuß- Merholz - Is Germany taking the fast track to OER? Anna Stokowska - Use of OER in Polish schools

• Leigh-Anne Perryman - OEP and attitudes to openness across India• Alek Tarkowski - Landscape of OER Projects and Policies for primary and secondary

education in Europe; Mark Power - Opening up in the FE and Skills Sector; Alastair Clark - Working with Community Educators to find the OEP 'light bulb' moments

• Chrissi Nerantzi - Nothing stops us now or mainstreamed open educational practices • Terry McAndrew - Creating OER and embedding Open Practice - identifying challenges and

achievements for change • Dominik Lukes - Modes and models of production of OERs: The missing link to wider

adoption • Dominic Orr - What educational policy needs OER and what policy support does OER need?

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The value of initiatives• Spain and the UK are good examples of the impact of

initiatives ...• Many in Spain – e.g. INTEF and Agrega are just two of the

most prominent• In the UK, the Jisc/HEA OER programme spawned a number

of initiatives which continue to flourish beyond the cessation of grant funding – e.g. The North West England Consortium

• Initiatives can often be found ‘under the radar’• Community building is important

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Concluding thoughts• Policies can create frameworks and climate• Strategies can deliver policies - need for clear

implementation strategies to deliver policies. Back strategies with ongoing training and support for grassroots. Have defined but flexible milestones

• High level initiatives can interact with both to promote mainstreaming of OER. Institutional and grassroots initiatives can help change the culture – the development of OER communities at grassroots level is important

• Don’t bite off more than you can chew!

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Thank you for listening

Giles PeplerSero Consulting, for the POERUP team

http://www.poerup.infohttp://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Main_Page

Email giles.pepler@sero.co.uk