A vision of quality in repositories of open educational resources

In the future, Open Educational Practices (OEP) will facilitate access to open materials by promoting collaboration among educators, who will share, reuse and evaluate digital pedagogical content using Repositories of Open Educational Resources (ROER)

Metal-oxide-metal point contact junction detectors

The detection mechanism(s) and design of a mechanically stable metal-oxide-metal point contact junction detector are considered. A prototype for a mechanically stable device has been constructed and tested. A technique has been developed which accurately predicts microwave video detector and heterodyne mixer SIM (semiconductor-insulator-metal) diode performance from low dc frequency volt-ampere curves. The difference in contact potential between the two metals and geometrically induced rectification constitute the detection mechanisms

Crowdsourcing quality (or, why openness matters)

In a trajectory that did not simply begin from MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW), via Open Educational Resources (OER), and latterly arrive at a promised land of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), a plethora of institutions, organisations and individuals have attempted through various and numerous interventions to ‘open up’ the education landscape to a wider range of travellers, inhabitants and tourists. And in a way, the question of quality has always dogged open education’s steps. Would open universities attract ‘quality’ students? Would open resources and courses be of good enough quality, and how could we be sure? Open, it seemed, might pose a threat to quality, or at least place a question mark over it. Yet, as openness has gained traction, it has also been suggested that quality might be bolstered and supported through the wisdom of crowds

Education in the Open Government Partnership commitments

The improvement of education is a recurring objective within the commitments of the countries that participate in the Open Government Partnership (OGP). There are several national commitments related to the opening of Data, Information and Education Materials as teaching and learning tools within the national plans for Open Governance. In this context, we examine how these elements are related to the OGP commitments of countries at the international level and to propose strategies for the implementation of concrete policies that support these commitments with respect to education and to citizenship education. To achieve this objective, we will present the results of an exhaustive study on the models of education and civic education of different national OGP commitments, and based on the results of this study, we will present a diagnosis regarding how really open and sustainable these are. The results of this study allow us to present a series of strategies to promote open education (understood as those practices based on content released under open licenses that allow universal and democratic access to quality educational materials) as a tool to promote educational development amongst OGP member countries. The strategies to be presented include the effective promotion of the use of open government data as learning and teaching tools, citizen education focused on promoting understanding of access to public information, promoting the creation and development of initiatives national and international programs that promote sustainable open education in public education systems, and finally, the proposal of open education policy development models that allow the commitments made by governments and ministries to have a practical application. As summary: our goal is to provide to the Open Education Community practical tools that allow supporting the different countries of the region in the adoption of open education by generating policies that encourage open educational practices

Open Data as driver of critical data literacies in Higher Education

Participation in today’s datafied society requires a series of transversal skills. In fact, we need technical abilities and media literacies weaved in a critical approach to understand the socio-political and cultural mechanisms that affects individuals and groups. Higher Education (HE) must lead in the development of critical, socio-technical pedagogic approaches to understand and analyse data. To this end, adopting Open Data as the base of Open Educational Practices has potential to trigger authentic learning. situations. In this regard, the approach aims at going beyond the development of technical abilities to extract, elaborate and integrate Open Data in services, activities and projects. In fact, using data as OER in research-based learning activities for data journalism and civic monitoring techniques can be the catalyser for the appropriation of the datafied public spaces and also, to data ownership and activism. On the basis of these pedagogical practices, HE could play a key role in fostering critical approaches. The abilities developed in HE should transcend the classroom, to understand datafication in society. In time, HE students and teachers would contribute to shaping informed and transformative democratic practices and dialogue empowering citizens to address social justice concerns. This envisioned strategy requires of faculty development and engagement, as data literacies need of disciplinary and pedagogical efforts to innovate in curricular and learning design. Furthermore, supporting faculty’s awareness and practices to shape critical and ethical approaches to data implies care for spaces of dialogue at the juncture of technical and social needs. Care for interdisciplinary thinking and understanding the differences between “Psyche and Tekné”, building on Umberto Galimberti’s conceptualisation of the problem of balance between ethics/social sciences and technological advancement. Session content This workshop explores the educational potential of Open Data as a driver of interdisciplinary dialogue in learning design and pedagogical practices. It will offer instruments for designing educational interventions in two simple phases: 1- A conceptual (but dialogical!) introduction, to present the principles, the policy context and existing practices in citizen science, responsible research and innovation and Open Data, and the connections with data literacy in HE will be defined from the perspective of the researchers and their experiences in using Open Data for educational/learning purposes. An initial overview of the principles and resources to work with Open Data as OER in the context of Data in Education will be introduced. Also the frameworks to develop data literacy in HE will also be considered with a focus on the issues hindering these practices will be also displayed. 2- A “hands on” exercise in which the concepts above will be applied to the participants’ pedagogical practices, and their sense discussed on the light of both practical and deontological implications. The educational potential of Open Data in the participants perspective will collect personal reflections to understand in which extent the concept of open data could be applied to personal pedagogical practices. Which datasets could be useful? Which are the critical issues that I could face to use open data in my pedagogical practices? The reflections will be collected by using sticky notes and a map of possible future practices. Session recording: https://youtu.be/BZJX2BifYI

On the map: towards a multidimensional understanding of Open Educational Practices

In the context of contemporary higher education, the concept of Open Education has come to be closely associated with technology-enabled approaches, particularly the creation, sharing and repurposing of Open Educational Resources (OER), and the development and facilitation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). However, today's Open Education Movement (OEM) partakes of a longer tradition of opening activities which have sought to extend access to the transformative benefits of education and knowledge. Educational openness, therefore, takes a variety of forms, and the meaning of "open" can best be understood as contextual, contingent and situated. Openness, in the context of OER, resides in the application of an open, permissive license that enables access, reuse and remixing. The openness of open courses, conversely, can be understood as chiefly a question of unrestricted enrolment or participation. In the last decade, the term Open Educational Practices (OEP) has gained currency, in association with attempts to both a) recognize that resources do not emerge without practices and practitioners, and b) broaden the conversation about openness beyond resources, licenses, and technology. Yet, whereas a resource can be open via a license, it is less obvious how a practice is classified as open (or not-open). The invocation of the term open problematically suggests a contrast with its binary other, closed, or perhaps that a continuum exists between these two extremes. Yet, if we accept that different forms of practice are open in different ways, then a continuum model is also inadequate. This session reports on experiences of leading a series of workshops in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, in which participants were asked to explore the multidimensionality of openness. The activity draws upon an existing mapping exercise based upon White and Le Cornu's work on digital "visitors and residents" (V&R). In the original V&R mapping activity, the two axes labeled Visitor-Resident and Personal-Institutional are placed on the page, creating four quadrants, and participants are then asked to consider in which quadrant(s) their own digital practices are located. For the 'axes of open' mapping, participants examine microcases of OEP and consider in what senses these are open or closed. Two axes are used, with one labeled Closed-Open and the other left unlabelled, as the core goal of the workshop is to provoke debate about what the other dimension of openness might be. This session will provide an overview of how the workshop was conducted and discuss the outcomes of the initial series of workshops. Of these outcomes, the most significant is the irreducibility of openness in an OEP context, as no consensus was reached about the nature of the other axis. A wide range of possibilities have surfaced, and in turn, stimulated a wider discussion about diversity and criticality in the Open Education space

Educating for social participation: open data as open educational resources

Students construct knowledge by critically analysing information from various sources and formats, including data. Being capable of analysing and interpreting raw data is increasingly important and can be seen as key to the development of transversal skills, which are defined by UNESCO as “critical and innovative thinking, inter-personal skills; intra-personal skills, and global citizenship”. If one of our goals as educators is to develop these transversal skills in students, towards enabling them to function as citizens, to actively participate in the discourse and debates of society, then we propose that Open Data can play a key role. Open Data is produced and used at various levels in research, governance, policy making and civil society. In educational and academic contexts, Open Data can be understood and used as an Open Educational Resource (OER) to help support the engagement of students and researchers in analysing and collaborating towards finding solutions for contemporary real-world problems, chiefly by embedding Open Data and Open Science principles in research-based, scenario-led activities. In this way, students can experience working with the same raw materials scientists and policy-makers use. We will report on a series of case studies of the use of Open Data as OER with a particular focus on good practices identified by these educators. We can suggest educators embracing Open Data in the classroom must consider the following elements: • Focus: define the research problem and its relation to the environment students. • Practicality: match technical applications and practices to expected solutions. • Expectations: set realistic expectations for data analysis. • Directions: support in finding data portals which contain appropriate information. • Training: provide training materials for the software students will need to analyse the data. • Location: use global, local and scientific data which is as granular as possible. • Modelling: develop model solutions to guide students on the challenges and activities. • Collaboration: support students to work collaboratively and at multidisciplinary level. • Communication: support students in communicating their findings to local or wider communities. While there is already a degree of consensus in the academic and political levels on the value of Open Data for researchers, it is necessary to establish educational models and good practice in the use of Open Data as OER, and therefore enable students to become critical and engaged citizens

The OE policy registry – An open benchlearning tool

The OER World Map platform facilitates access to materials and knowledge to promote OEP, acting as a source of information for everyone interested in Open Education. One of its newest developments is the OE Policy Registry, which aims not only to record the current policies in open education but to become the knowledge hub to support the wider OE community in developing OE policies, helping them to locate and bench-learn from existing policies and the people and organisations which have developed and promoted them. Much discussion of the need for open education policy has occurred at the supranational level. In some cases, nations and subnational governments have taken up the challenge of incorporating policy to enable open resources and practices into education policymaking agendas. What is less clear, and less straightforward to investigate, is the extent to which individual institutions are developing policies to support openness. This session reports on the current state of OE policies internationally, based on the OE Policy Registry dataset. Through engagement with the data held in the Policy Registry it has been possible to collect and examine a wide range of policy documents and sketch some key features of the OE policy landscape. Further auditing of this dataset is needed, in order that the registry can be used effectively to support policy benchlearning by OE advocates, researchers and policymakers. The session will cover the initial findings of a research project conducted using this dataset, and additionally, inputs gained during a series of workshops designed to support OE policy co-creation. We will present key features of the OE Policy Registry to support – OE advocates seeking to support and enhance practice through policy – Policymakers at institutional and governmental levels – Researchers interested in OE policy For these user groups, several different use-cases are addressed and presented: – Policymakers can showcase and find good practice policy exemplars, which they can adapt and reuse within their context. – OER advocates and advocacy networks can connect with each other, so that they can exchange experiences and cooperate in joint projects. – Researchers can collect data on policy activities in different educational sectors and geographical areas, gaining a deeper understanding of the functioning of OE ecosystems and develop strategies for mainstreaming. Recording available: https://youtu.be/ra34cClfd9

Opening teaching landscapes: The importance of quality assurance in the delivery of open educational resources

Scholars are increasingly being asked to share teaching materials, publish in open access journals, network in social media, and reuse open educational resources (OER). The theoretical benefits of Open Educational Practices (OEP) have become understood in the academic community but thus far, the use of OER has not been rapidly adopted. We aim to understand the challenges academics face with in attempting to adopt OEP, and identify whether these are related to or stem from the functionalities afforded by current repositories of OER (ROER). By understanding what academics and experts consider good practices, we can develop guidelines for quality in the development of ROER. In this article we present the findings from a study surveying academics using OER and experts who develop and/or work with ROER. We conclude by suggesting a framework to enhance the development and quality of ROER

On the trail of OE policy co-creation

The workshop objectives are to give the participants with some basic policy co-design skills, and as well as an overview of the key techniques and elements needed to opening up the arenas to foster sustainable policies. To support these objectives the workshop is grounded on the participation and co-creation standard developed by OGP to foster the co-creation of national commitments, and uses a set of cards and a canvas (adapted from those developed by the UK Policy Lab) aligning the elements with those recommended by the Ljubljana Action Plan, and the JRC report, Policy Approaches to Open Education The workshop aim at raising awareness of the international landscape to widening participation to ensure that the policy co-creation process in a specific context, involving a wide range of partners to ensure the correct implementation, overseeing the opportunities and challenges of an OE policy, and the key elements these must comprise to foster global policy convergence [Haddad & Demsky (1995); Thompson & Cook (2014)]. By using a policy canvas and change cards, the participants consider issues such as who needs to be involved in the policy-making process, and who is needed to implement the policy considering the local context and the sociocultural issues at play, alongside with and other policies or regulatory models to draw upon. The first workshop was held at the OpenMed conference (Rome) with stakeholders from Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Spain, and UK participated. The second workshop was held at the Open Education Policy Forum (Warsaw_ with participants from Germany, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and The Netherlands The third workshop was held at OER19, with participants from Ireland, England, Scotland, Austria, The Netherlands, Australia and Spain discussed the potential of Open Education policies at international level