v rolfe - open education and technical opportunities - october 2012
DESCRIPTION
Presentation from OPENED12, October 2012, Vancouver. "Beyond Content".TRANSCRIPT
Are there Technical Barriers to Open Education?
Open Education Conference “Beyond Content”October 16-18th 2012, Vancouver
45 minute presentation by:Dr Viv Rolfe BSc PhD
National Teacher Fellow 2012&
Philip TubmanALT Learning Technologist of the Year 2012
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/celt/celtweb/learning-technologist-of-the-year-2012
technology
• De Montfort University• Education establishment
since 1870• 25,000 students• Arts, Science, Business and
Law, Technology• The Queen visited in March
2012!
Concept
• For open education to flourish, users of OER need to be able to discover them, to be able to use and adapt them, and to share their derivations (Yergler 2010 ).
• ALMS analysis (Hilton III, Wiley et al 2010)• Access to editing tools• Level of expertise• Meaningfully editable• Source files
OER Lifecycle
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Nathan Yergler 2010
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Use (unchanged)
Reality?
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Use (unchanged)
Technical BlockadeWhere to search?Repositories?Google?
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Use (unchanged)
Technical Blockade
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
Where to search?Repositories?Google?
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Use (unchanged)
Technical Blockade
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
Where to search?Repositories?Google?
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Use (unchanged)
Technical Blockade
How / where to share? Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
Where to search?Repositories?Google?
Discovery
• University of Nottingham RLO database – a web search is the most popular route of discovery . OER portals were rarely used e.g. Jorum (Windle 2012).
• Repositories are fragile – (150 UK universities?). Review of repositories over last 10 years, 11 were discontinued and only 2 were over 5 years old (Friesen 2009).
Our Approach2009 VALLab skillsUKOER Funding Phase 1Static HTML site
2010 SCOOTERBlood disordersUKOER Phase 2SEO website
2011 HALSMedical sciences, forensicsciences, nursing, midwiferyUKOER Phase 3SEO website
Our “Bite-sized” SEO Strategy
Rolfe & Griffin 2011
Promoting Discovery• SEO (search engine optimisation) - means of
improving a website’s visibility in Google (mainly) rankings.
• Drive organic traffic via targeted keywords and back links (URL on other sites).
• Social networking strategy – Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, Pinterest, YouTube.
• Penguin and Panda updates place importance on authority, profiles, Google +.
• ££££££££££££££$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Two Examples
SCOOTER UKOER2 HALS UKOER3
Wordpress Direct Blog Wordpress Direct Blog
Static OER HTML pages OER Blog articles with RSS feed
Basic SEO Enhanced SEO (eZine submissions, press releases)
Posterous (Facebook/Twitter/Blogs) Posterous(Facebook/Twitter/Blogs)
Google Analytics for basic tracking of site performance
Enhanced monitoring of site performance
£ Pragmatic and time realistic ££ Enhanced SEO campaign
Reach and Impact of our OER?
• Rapid global distribution.
• Visitor volume via website, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
• Non-targeted audience.
• No technical barrier to discovery – everyone knows how to search.
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Use (unchanged)
Technical Blockade
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
Where to search?Repositories?Google?
Improvement? PROBLEM!
• Many resources ARE NOT OPEN!
– Unusable technical formats (SCORM packaged, QuestionMarkPerception quizzes).
– Lack of instructions for use / unpackaging.– Articulate Presenter files interoperable on
iPad.
Publish in multiple formats!
And…
• Republished at the click of a button – altho’ transcribing takes time.
• OER reusable and in different formats for distribution (other file sharing sites) and is ACCESSIBLE and INTEROPERABLE.
Technical Blockade
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Where to search?Repositories?Google?
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriersStaff training
How / where to share?
Clear Instructions for Users
• Clear © licensing instructions on websites and each OER.
• Clear instructions on how and where to share e.g. version numbers? Simple sharing on YouTube?
“The future for learning” (DMU student)
“Thanks, I always wanted to know how amicroscope worked” (Trash collector, US)
“I feel proud of the fact that I study at DMU” (DMU student)
“I shall be delighted to hand over all pictorial resources relating tosickle cell disease so that it can be accessed” (Retired Nurse Counsellor)
“ Improve my quality of teaching resources in terms of (C), in tune with what students want to look at, clearer learning objectives” (Academic staff)
“Raised my appreciation of the problems that students experience – about delivering stuff” (Academic Staff)
Summary
• Remove technical hurdles – make OER discoverable, reusable (accessible, and interoperable) and easy to share.
• Continue evaluating:– Which file formats work?– Where do people most find OER?– Are OER being repurposed and shared?
References• Downes S (2006). Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources. Interdisciplinary
Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects (3), 29-44.
• Friesen, N. (2009) ‘Open educational resources: new possibilities for change and sustainability’, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 1–14.
• HALS (Health and Life Science Open Educational Resources). Available July 2012: http://www.biologycourses.co.uk
• Hilton III, J, Wiley D, Stein J and Johnson A. (2010) The four 'R's of openness and ALMS analysis: Frameworks for open educational resources. Open Learning 25(1), 37–44.
• Hylén J (2006). Open educational resources: Opportunities and challenges. Open Education Conference Proceedings. Available: http://www.knowledgeall.com/files/Additional_Readings-Consolidated.pdf
References
• Rolfe V and Griffin SJ (2011). A Guide to SEO http://www.sicklecellanaemia.org/teaching-resources/resources/scooter80/SCOOTER80a_SEO_Guidelines.pdf
• Windle R 2012. Understanding and Supporting the Reuse of OER with Health Sciences. SCORE Fellowship Report. http://ebookbrowse.com/richard-windle-score-fellowship-final-report-web-version-pdf-d381773057
•
• Yergler NR 2010. Search and Discovery : OER's Open Loop. Available July 2012: http://openaccess.uoc.edu/webapps/o2/handle/10609/4852
LeicestershirePolice
Thank YouStaff and students
Funders
Collaborators
Thank You Vancouver!
Twitter@DMUViv
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