A distributed content repositories model and a decisions support system for learning objects in Latin-America

This paper describes a content object and metadata repositories model, which provides an alternative to search and to access repositories developed in Colombia and Latin America. Along with the repositories model, an initial design of a decision support system for repositories is presented. In order to preserve the autonomy of each repository, a common web services interface is considered

Stewardship of the evolving scholarly record: from the invisible hand to conscious coordination

The scholarly record is increasingly digital and networked, while at the same time expanding in both the volume and diversity of the material it contains. The long-term future of the scholarly record cannot be effectively secured with traditional stewardship models developed for print materials. This report describes the key features of future stewardship models adapted to the characteristics of a digital, networked scholarly record, and discusses some practical implications of implementing these models. Key highlights include: As the scholarly record continues to evolve, conscious coordination will become an important organizing principle for stewardship models. Past stewardship models were built on an "invisible hand" approach that relied on the uncoordinated, institution-scale efforts of individual academic libraries acting autonomously to maintain local collections. Future stewardship of the evolving scholarly record requires conscious coordination of context, commitments, specialization, and reciprocity. With conscious coordination, local stewardship efforts leverage scale by collecting more of less. Keys to conscious coordination include right-scaling consolidation, cooperation, and community mix. Reducing transaction costs and building trust facilitate conscious coordination. Incentives to participate in cooperative stewardship activities should be linked to broader institutional priorities. The long-term future of the scholarly record in its fullest expression cannot be effectively secured with stewardship strategies designed for print materials. The features of the evolving scholarly record suggest that traditional stewardship strategies, built on an “invisible hand” approach that relies on the uncoordinated, institution-scale efforts of individual academic libraries acting autonomously to maintain local collections, is no longer suitable for collecting, organizing, making available, and preserving the outputs of scholarly inquiry. As the scholarly record continues to evolve, conscious coordination will become an important organizing principle for stewardship models. Conscious coordination calls for stewardship strategies that incorporate a broader awareness of the system-wide stewardship context; declarations of explicit commitments around portions of the local collection; formal divisions of labor within cooperative arrangements; and robust networks for reciprocal access. Stewardship strategies based on conscious coordination involve an acceleration of an already perceptible transition away from relatively autonomous local collections to ones built on networks of cooperation across many organizations, within and outside the traditional cultural heritage community

Training in scientific writing and open access publishing: the NECOBELAC project experience in Europe and Latin America

This document reflects the activity of the NECOBELAC project with special reference to the training strategy intended to improve scientific writing and create awareness on Open Access (OA) publishing models. The acronym NECOBELAC stands for Network of COllaboration between Europe and Latin American Caribbean countries. The project was funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development in the area “Science in Society” for the years 2009-2012, and was coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the National Institute of Health in Italy. NECOBELAC represents a consolidation initiative in support of OA dissemination practices of scientific output in public health. The report is divided into two parts, the first one describes the project strategy and results achieved, the second one regards the NECOBELAC topic maps that were utilized as training tools in scientific writing and OA publishing

Training in scientific writing and open access publishing: the NECOBELAC project experience in Europe and Latin America

This document reflects the activity of the NECOBELAC project with special reference to the training strategy intended to improve scientific writing and create awareness on Open Access (OA) publishing models. The acronym NECOBELAC stands for Network of COllaboration between Europe and Latin American Caribbean countries. The project was funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development in the area “Science in Society” for the years 2009-2012, and was coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the National Institute of Health in Italy. NECOBELAC represents a consolidation initiative in support of OA dissemination practices of scientific output in public health. The report is divided into two parts, the first one describes the project strategy and results achieved, the second one regards the NECOBELAC topic maps that were utilized as training tools in scientific writing and OA publishing

A Latin American Critical Conceptual Model on the Adoption of Open Educational Resources

A conceptual model on OER adoption is presented, as the substantive theoretical synthesis of a Grounded Theory study, whose purpose was to identify which factors influence the adoption of OER among teachers in Latin American universities. Main theoretical-methodological bases are rooted and analised, in comparison with the traditional approach identified in the most recent literature. From a double “emic” perspective on agency and structure, the faculty and the university institution, the resultant conceptual model includes four categories influencing the adoption of OER among professors in Latin American universities: 1) Construction of Teacher Professional Identity; 2) Practices and Transformations in the Curriculum; 3) Creation, Use and Opening of Digital Educational Resources; and 4) Social Representations about Repositories of OER. Properties and dimensions of each category are presented and described. The critical conceptual model may be adopted by researchers from all regions who seek to unveil and decolonise the hidden curriculum of OER.S

A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities

Examines the state of the foundation's efforts to improve educational opportunities worldwide through universal access to and use of high-quality academic content

Open educational resources : conversations in cyberspace

172 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.Libro ElectrónicoEducation systems today face two major challenges: expanding the reach of education and improving its quality. Traditional solutions will not suffice, especially in the context of today's knowledge-intensive societies. The Open Educational Resources movement offers one solution for extending the reach of education and expanding learning opportunities. The goal of the movement is to equalize access to knowledge worldwide through openly and freely available online high-quality content. Over the course of two years, the international community came together in a series of online discussion forums to discuss the concept of Open Educational Resources and its potential. This publication makes the background papers and reports from those discussions available in print.--Publisher's description.A first forum : presenting the open educational resources (OER) movement. Open educational resources : an introductory note / Sally Johnstone -- Providing OER and related issues : an introductory note / Anne Margulies, ... [et al.] -- Using OER and related issues : in introductory note / Mohammed-Nabil Sabry, ... [et al.] -- Discussion highlights / Paul Albright -- Ongoing discussion. A research agenda for OER : discussion highlights / Kim Tucker and Peter Bateman -- A 'do-it-yourself' resource for OER : discussion highlights / Boris Vukovic -- Free and open source software (FOSS) and OER -- A second forum : discussing the OECD study of OER. Mapping procedures and users / Jan Hylén -- Why individuals and institutions share and use OER / Jan Hylén -- Discussion highlights / Alexa Joyce -- Priorities for action. Open educational resources : the way forward / Susan D'Antoni

Report on Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

This report is developed under the project MOOC-Maker. This is a project funded by the European Commission Erasmus+ which has as main purpose to develop capabilities for the Construction of Management Capacities of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) in Higher Education and conduct research about the initiatives developed. This report is the result of the research activity developed in the work package WPD1.12 of the project. The present report presents an exploration regarding the open educational resources and its relation with the MOOCs, including aspects related to its re-use and recognition of authorship. This information will allow us to present a current panorama as the basis of the actions to be taken in the project. With the development of this panorama the following report aims at contributing to the main objective of the project that is to “improve the quality and access to teaching-learning programs through the implementation of high quality MOOCs that address the development of competencies and knowledge that are required in today’s learners”.Co-funded ERASMUS + PROGRAME Refª. 561533-EPP-1-2015-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JPinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Análisis comparativo de políticas públicas en modelos de acceso abierto en América Latina. El caso de Brasil y Argentina

Aquest article presenta les polítiques públiques en models d’accés obert a l’Argentina i el Brasil, països pioners en el tema, com a exemples del desenvolupament a l’Amèrica Llatina. La tècnica de recerca implementada és la comparació. S’interrelaciona el marc legal i polític dels sistemes d’accés obert en cadascun dels països d’estudi, des dels camps d’educació, ciència, cultura i govern. Es conclou que els processos de polítiques públiques, malgrat les dificultats tecnològiques i legals, proveeixen i massifiquen la informació i el coneixement de qualitat.This article presents public policies for open access models in Argentina and Brazil, two countries that have pioneered the subject in Latin America. The methodology used is comparative documentation, whereby the legal and political frameworks of open access systems are contrasted, paying special attention to the education, science, culture and government sectors. The main conclusion is that, in spite of technological and legal difficulties, public policies provide accessible information and quality knowledge.Este artículo presenta las políticas públicas en modelos de acceso abierto en Argentina y Brasil, países pioneros en el tema, como ejemplos del desarrollo en América Latina. La técnica de investigación implementada es la comparación. Se interrelaciona el marco legal y político de los sistemas de acceso abierto en cada uno de los países de estudio, desde los campos de educación, ciencia, cultura y gobierno. Se concluye que los procesos de políticas públicas, a pesar de las dificultades tecnológicas y legales, proveen y masifican la información y el conocimiento de calidad

Information Technology Standards in eResearch: A Conceptual Model of the Primary Adoption Process in Higher Education Organizations

Current research on IT standards tends to focus on their lifecycle: from the development and selection, to their implementation and use. This work proposed an interdisciplinary perspective to analyze primary adoption process in the eResearch domain. As organizations are the core entities in the innovation process, the analysis of IT standards adoption was applied to eResearch infrastructures within higher education organizations. The core argument was built on the adopter s viewpoint as it provides the most explanatory process about adoption. Two international case studies probed the suitability of a model to identify the determinant role of factors like external and internal networks, top management support and organization structure. This dissertation delivers new insights that contribute to bring certainty about one relevant context of standards adoption