Questions of quality in repositories of open educational resources: a literature review

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials which are freely available and openly licensed. Repositories of OER (ROER) are platforms that host and facilitate access to these resources. ROER should not just be designed to store this content – in keeping with the aims of the OER movement, they should support educators in embracing open educational practices (OEP) such as searching for and retrieving content that they will reuse, adapt or modify as needed, without economic barriers or copyright restrictions. This paper reviews key literature on OER and ROER, in order to understand the roles ROER are said or supposed to fulfil in relation to furthering the aims of the OER movement. Four themes which should shape repository design are identified, and the following 10 quality indicators (QI) for ROER effectiveness are discussed: featured resources; user evaluation tools; peer review; authorship of the resources; keywords of the resources; use of standardised metadata; multilingualism of the repositories; inclusion of social media tools; specification of the creative commons license; availability of the source code or original files. These QI form the basis of a method for the evaluation of ROER initiatives which, in concert with considerations of achievability and long-term sustainability, should assist in enhancement and development. Keywords: open educational resources; open access; open educational practice; repositories; quality assuranc

ICOPER Project - Deliverable 4.3 ISURE: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, embodied in the ICOPER CD&R

The purpose of this document is to capture the ideas and recommendations, within and beyond the ICOPER community, concerning the reuse of learning content, including appropriate methodologies as well as established strategies for remixing and repurposing reusable resources. The overall remit of this work focuses on describing the key issues that are related to extending effective reuse embodied in such materials. The objective of this investigation, is to support the reuse of learning content whilst considering how it could be originally created and then adapted with that ‘reuse’ in mind. In these circumstances a survey on effective reuse best practices can often provide an insight into the main challenges and benefits involved in the process of creating, remixing and repurposing what we are now designating as Reusable Learning Content (RLC). Several key issues are analysed in this report: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, building upon those described in the previous related deliverables 4.1 Content Development Methodologies and 4.2 Quality Control and Web 2.0 technologies. The findings of this current survey, however, provide further recommendations and strategies for using and developing this reusable learning content. In the spirit of ‘reuse’, this work also aims to serve as a foundation for the many different stakeholders and users within, and beyond, the ICOPER community who are interested in reusing learning resources. This report analyses a variety of information. Evidence has been gathered from a qualitative survey that has focused on the technical and pedagogical recommendations suggested by a Special Interest Group (SIG) on the most innovative practices with respect to new media content authors (for content authoring or modification) and course designers (for unit creation). This extended community includes a wider collection of OER specialists. This collected evidence, in the form of video and audio interviews, has also been represented as multimedia assets potentially helpful for learning and useful as learning content in the New Media Space (See section 4 for further details). Section 2 of this report introduces the concept of reusable learning content and reusability. Section 3 discusses an application created by the ICOPER community to enhance the opportunities for developing reusable content. Section 4 of this report provides an overview of the methodology used for the qualitative survey. Section 5 presents a summary of thematic findings. Section 6 highlights a list of recommendations for effective reuse of educational content, which were derived from thematic analysis described in Appendix A. Finally, section 7 summarises the key outcomes of this work

UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science

1. The aim of this Recommendation is to provide an international framework for open science policy and practice that recognizes disciplinary and regional differences in open science perspectives, takes into account academic freedom, gender-transformative approaches and the specific challenges of scientists and other open science actors in different countries and in particular in developing countries, and contributes to reducing the digital, technological and knowledge divides existing between and within countries. 2. This Recommendation outlines a common definition, shared values, principles and standards for open science at the international level and proposes a set of actions conducive to a fair and equitable operationalization of open science for all at the individual, institutional, national, regional and international levels. 3. To achieve its aim, the key objectives and areas of action of this Recommendation are as follows: i. promoting a common understanding of open science, associated benefits and challenges, as well as diverse paths to open science; ii. developing an enabling policy environment for open science; iii. investing in open science infrastructures and services; iv. investing in human resources, training, education, digital literacy and capacity building for open science; v. fostering a culture of open science and aligning incentives for open science; vi. promoting innovative approaches for open science at different stages of the scientific process; vii. promoting international and multi-stakeholder cooperation in the context of open science and with view to reducing digital, technological and knowledge gaps

Projeto OBAA: Uma abordagem com objetos de aprendizagem interoperáveis baseados na web e na televisão digital

O presente artigo descreve os estudos realizados no projeto OBAA – Agente Baseado em Objeto de Apren- dizagem. São apresentadas algumas definições de objetos de aprendizagem, repositórios, televisão digital interativa e multiagentes do sistema. Normas para construir objetos de aprendizagem e programas de televisão digital foram investigadas e analisadas, a fim de se especificar um novo padrão multiplataforma sobre o qual é construído o conteú- do que pode ser usado na web e televisão digital

A note on organizational learning and knowledge sharing in the context of communities of practice

Please, cite this publication as: Antonova, A. & Gourova, E. (2006). A note on organizational learning and knowledge sharing in the context of communities of practice. Proceedings of International Workshop in Learning Networks for Lifelong Competence Development, TENCompetence Conference. September 12th, Sofia, Bulgaria: TENCompetence. Retrieved June 30th, 2006, from http://dspace.learningnetworks.orgThe knowledge management (KM) literature emphasizes the impact of human factors for successful implementation of KM within the organization. Isolated initiatives for promoting learning organization and team collaboration, without taking consideration of the knowledge sharing limitations and constraints can defeat further development of KM culture. As an effective instrument for knowledge sharing, communities of practice (CoP) are appearing to overcome these constraints and to foster human collaboration.This work has been sponsored by the EU project TENCompetenc

From collaborative virtual research environment SOA to teaching and learning environment SOA

This paper explores the extension of the CORE VRE SOA to a collaborative virtual teaching and learning environment (CVTLE) SOA. Key points are brought up to date from a number of projects researching and developing a CVTLE and its component services. Issues remain: there are few implementations of the key services needed to demonstrate the CVTLE concept; there are questions about the feasibility of such an enterprise; there are overlapping standards; questions about the source and use of user profile data remain difficult to answer; as does the issue of where and how to coordinate, control, and monitor such a teaching and learning syste

The UNFOLD Project. Understanding and using Learning Design

A booklet with 131 pages about the UNFOLD Project and IMS Learning DesignThe UNFOLD project was born in January 2004, to support the adoption of open eLearning standards catering for multiple learners and flexible pedagogies, our focus being IMS Learning Design (IMS LD). We have provided access to resources through the site http://www.unfold-project.net, where you can find news, documents, information about events, links, ... while http://moodle.learningnetworks.org is the site for Learning Network for Learning Design-LN4LD (OUNL, 2004) housing more structured materials with (learning) activities and forums.UNFOLD Project. www.unfold-project.ne

Harnessing Openness to Improve Research, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Colleges and universities should embrace the concept of increased openness in the use and sharing of information to improve higher education. That is the core recommendation of this report. The report was produced by CED's Digital Connections Council (DCC), a group of information technology experts that advises CED's business leaders on cutting-edge technologies