Teachers’ Use and Acceptance of Gamification and Social Networking Features of an Open Repository

Abstract The affordance of social interaction has been a part of open online repositories of teaching and learning resources for nearly two decades. Repositories are built not only to collect and disseminate materials, but enable users to collaborate and review, comment on and rate the content they access. However, research indicates that (a) most users do not participate in this type of generative use, and (b) the possibility of social interaction does not necessarily signal active participation in social interaction. In recent years the positive effects of gamification and social networking elements on user engagement have come to the fore in educational settings. From this stance, a quantitative study was conducted to assess users’ acceptance of the existing game mechanics of a large national repository of educational resources, their attitudes towards the inclusion of extra features, and teachers’ motivation to share openly. Our results indicate that teachers do not see open repositories as social networks, but as libraries of resources, and are likely to share if rewarded by intrinsic rather than extrinsic factors. Abstract in Spanish La posibilidad de interacción social viene formando parte de los repositorios abiertos de recursos para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje durante casi dos décadas. Los repositorios existen no sólo para recoger y diseminar materiales educativos, sino que también permiten a los usuarios colaborar, comentar y evaluar el contenido al que acceden. Sin embargo, estudios de investigación señalan que (a) la mayoría de usuarios no participan en este tipo de comportamiento generativo, y (b) la oportunidad de interacción social no conlleva necesariamente la activa participación en la interacción social. En los últimos años el impacto positivo de la ludificación y otros elementos característicos de las redes sociales sobre el compromiso del usuario han pasado a un primer plano en contextos educativos. Es por eso que se realiza este estudio cuantitativo para determinar cómo los usuarios de un repositorio nacional de recursos didácticos valoran las estrategias de juego del sistema, su actitud ante la inclusión de nuevas estrategias, y qué les motiva a compartir abiertamente. Los resultados indican que los profesores no consideran los repositorios abiertos como redes sociales sino como bibliotecas de recursos, y es más probable que compartan si se les premia con factores intrínsecos y no extrínsecos. Abstract in Dutch Sociale interactie heeft de voorbije twee decennia opportuniteiten geboden binnen open online repositories voor leermiddelen voor het onderwijs. Repositories zijn niet alleen gebouwd om materialen te verzamelen en te verspreiden, maar ook om gebruikers in staat te stellen om samen te werken aan inhouden en deze te becommentariëren en te beoordelen. Echter, uit onderzoek blijkt dat (a) de meeste gebruikers dergelijk generatief gedrag niet stellen, en (b) de mogelijkheid tot sociale interactie niet noodzakelijk leidt tot deelname aan sociale interactie. In de afgelopen jaren kwamen de positieve effecten van gamification en social networking elementen op betrokkenheid van gebruikers naar voren in educatieve contexten. Vanuit dit standpunt, werd een kwantitatief onderzoek uitgevoerd om aanvaarding te evalueren van bestaande ‘game mechanics’ bij gebruikers van een grote repository van educatieve leermiddelen, hun houding ten opzichte van het opnemen van extra mogelijkheden, en leraren hun motivatie om te delen. Onze resultaten geven aan dat leraren open repositories niet als sociale netwerken zien, maar als bibliotheken van middelen, en ze meer geneigd zijn te delen door intrinsieke in plaats dan extrinsieke factoren. Abstract in French L’accessibilité à l’interaction sociale est une composante clé des archives ouvertes en ligne de ressources d’enseignement et d’apprentissage depuis près de deux décennies. Ces archives sont conçues non seulement pour rassembler et diffuser du matériel, mais aussi afin de permettre aux utilisateurs de collaborer, réviser, commenter et évaluer le contenu auquel ils ont accès. Cependant, la recherche indique que (a) la plupart des utilisateurs ne participent pas à ce type de génération de contenu, et (b) la possibilité d’une interaction sociale ne signifie pas forcément une participation active à cette interaction sociale. Au cours des dernières années, les effets positifs de la ludification et du réseautage social sur la participation des utilisateurs ont été mis en évidence dans les milieux éducatifs. Par conséquent, une étude quantitative a été menée afin d’évaluer l’acceptation par les utilisateurs de la mécanique de jeu en évidence dans une archive nationale conséquente de ressources pédagogiques, leurs attitudes à l’égard de l’inclusion de fonctionnalités supplémentaires, et la motivation des enseignants à partager ouvertement. Nos résultats indiquent que les enseignants ne considèrent pas les archives ouvertes en tant que réseaux sociaux, mais comme des bibliothèques de ressources, et sont susceptibles de partager si la récompense est plutôt de nature intrinsèque qu’extrinsèque

A hybrid recommendation model for learningo object repositories

Learning Objects (LOs) have emerged as a cornerstone approach for the development and distribution of educational content. These resources are distributed by Learning Object Repositories (LORs), which can make it easier for users to find suitable LOs by using Recommender Systems (RSs). This paper presents a hybrid recommendation model for LORs that combines content-based, demographic and context-aware techniques, along with the use of quality and popularity metrics. This article also describes how the model has been used to implement two RSs for two real LORs: ViSH and Europeana. Each of these RSs was evaluated in terms of accuracy, utility,usability and satisfaction perceived by end users. Besides, an A/B testing was performed in ViSH to compare the recommendations of the RS with random suggestions. The results showed that the RSs had a high user acceptance in terms of utility, usability and satisfaction, and that the RSs significantly exceeded the performance achieved by the random recommendations

Repositories of Open Educational Resources: An Assessment of Reuse and Educational Aspects

This article provides an overview of the current state of repositories of open educational resources (ROER) in higher education at international level. It analyses a series of educational indicators to determine whether ROER can meet the specific needs of the education context, and to clarify understanding of the reuse of open educational resources (OER) provided by ROER. The aim of the study is to assess ROER by combining these two perspectives, and to form a basis for discussion among the universities that are responsible for these repositories. The method was based on content analysis and consisted of two phases: an exploration of international sources, and an analysis of 110 ROER using the proposed set of indicators. The results focus on data from the analysis of ROER websites and some models of good practices. They are presented according to three core dimensions for evaluating ROER: general factors to establish types of ROER, a focus on drivers for OER reuse, and a focus on educational aspects. It was found that most of the ROER that included one or more of the proposed reuse indicators were created exclusively for educational resources. Educational aspects are not yet firmly embedded into ROER. The few repositories that seem to have successfully included them are those that provide other educational metadata and use educational standards

Versionamento de Recursos em Repositórios de Objetos de Aprendizagem: uma revisão sistemática

Reúso é uma das principais características dos Objetos de Aprendizagem(OAs). Para reutilizar estes recursos, às vezes é necessário realizar modificações a fim de adequá-los a novos contextos de uso. Estas alterações resultam em novas versões do OA. Por isso, recomenda-se que os Repositórios de Objetos de Aprendizagem (ROAs) possuam estratégias para o gerenciamento de diferentes versões dos recursos. Este artigo descreve uma Revisão Sistemática (RS) realizada com o objetivo de identificar como estes repositórios realizam o versionamento do seu conteúdo, de modo a auxiliar equipes responsáveis pela modelagem e implementação destas bases em relação a tomada de decisão sobre como desenvolver o Controle de Versão de OAs. Para a obtenção de publicações que detalhem a execução do gerenciamento de versões em ROAs, bases digitais de publicações relevantes na área da Engenharia de Software foram consultadas. As publicações retornadas foram avaliadas por meio de um Protocolo de Revisão (PR), a fim de garantir a seleção apenas de trabalhos compatíveis com os objetivos da revisão. Esta RS permitiu concluir que o versionamento em ROAs é basicamente realizado de duas formas: alterando padrões de metadados utilizados para descrever OAs ou definindo modelagens de dados que permitam estabelecer relação entre as versões

The role of education management, learning teaching and institutional climate on quality of education: Evidence from Indonesia

The basic principle of management is to manage resources of the organization effectively and efficiently to achieve the organization’s objectives. The function of management includes: planning, organizing, placing people, directing and controlling different tasks. The four important cases in improving education quality are, first, national policies which covers curriculum, national exam, teach-er’s distribution and recruitment. Second, headmaster’s leadership which covers financial transpar-ency, the ecosystem relationships which run in school between teachers and headmaster, parents with teacher, or teacher with students and all existing educational staffs in educational units. Third, infrastructure which covers facilities and infrastructures associated with class, laboratory, or infor-mational technology and communication. Fourth, fun learning process, innovation and creativity, potential, skill and teacher’s ability. The study provides an empirical view for the relationship be-tween educational learning and leadership management, learning teaching, school climate and overall quality of education in the region of Indonesia. Both CFA and structural equation modelling tech-niques are applied for the causal effects of the selected explanatory variables on quality of education. Findings of the study indicate that educational learning and leadership management, learning teach-ing and school climate influence on quality of education, positively

Development and Use of Open Educational Resources in Research Methods for Psychology

Research methods course(s), a standard in psychology programs, often use multiple textbooks to address conceptual and data-analytic information. This study involved transitioning from traditional textbooks to open educational resources in a research methods course. Two psychology instructors, each offering course sections, identified open-access textbooks that aligned with course learning objectives and developed instructional materials to accompany those textbooks. All materials were organized publicly in an institutional subject guide. We compared students’ grades, pretest-posttest scores, and survey reports of resource use and evaluation in a spring semester, when traditional/costly textbooks were used, to the following fall semester, when no-cost textbooks were used. Student grades and pretest-posttest growth, and reported use and ratings of course materials, were similar across semesters. Though the present findings are limited in scope, they suggest that no-cost resources can be used successfully for teaching research methods with minimal transition difficulties and without student learning deficits

How to Promote the Use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education. A Parley with OER Experienced Teachers

The idea of Open Educational Resources (OER) is nowadays widespread in higher education. However, notwithstanding their supposed benefits, the actual adoption of OER in teaching remains low. Due to this absence, various studies have primarily focused on (the lack of) OER awareness among teachers and identified barriers to their use. This article argues that the current debate could benefit from insights from those who are already using OER in their teaching practices. Examining their perspectives can disclose measures that promote the adoption of OER. A mixed-method approach was applied that comprised an expert survey among 32 OER experienced higher education teachers in Germany, which results were then subject to a focus group discussion with 20 of them to validate and differentiate the results. Overall, the results reveal that teachers prefer measures comprising incentives and support rather than obligations. Exemplarily, a commitment to publish all materials as OER was rejected. Instead, a more fundamental transformation was requested from closed to open practices. Therefore, it can be stated that the teachers underlying path is guided by a desire for a shift towards openness in higher education. The measures favoured by the teachers can thus be understood as essential puzzle pieces that contribute to the bigger picture of openness

Contributing to the OER movement: a practical experience : The case of the Informatics School, UNA

Open educational resources (OER) propose a culture of sharing to make knowledge a good for humanity. The educational field recognizes the potential of OER to expand access to education and the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide the context for sharing, using and reusing this knowledge. In addition, the OER movement offers scholars the opportunity to rethink their educational practice. Although the literature has shown that academics in general have the practice of sharing their educational resources with close colleagues, it is also true that open and large-scale exchange through appropriate licensing and institutional repositories is an emergent move in many universities. This paper presents an exploratory study to promote, among academics and students, their participation in the OER movement. The experience allowed to generate knowledge on the subject, to develop and validate a set of educational resources to later create in the institutional repository the first OER community.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Open educational resources repositories literature review Towards a comprehensive quality approaches framework

Today, Open Educational Resources (OER) are commonly stored, used, adapted, remixed and shared within Learning object repositories (LORs) which have recently started expanding their design to support collaborative teaching and learning. As numbers of OER available freely keep on growing, many LORs struggle to find sustainable business models and get the users’ attention. Previous studies have shown that Quality assurance of the LORs is a significant factor when predicting the success of the repository. Within the study, we analysed technology enhanced learning literature systematically regarding LORs’ quality approaches and specific collaborative instruments. This paper’s theoretical contribution is a comprehensive framework of LOR quality approaches (LORQAF) that demonstrates the wide spectrum of possible approaches taken and classifies them. The purpose of this study is to assist LOR developers in designing sustainable quality assurance approaches utilizing full the potential of collaborative quality assurance tools.peerReviewe