Needs for and utilization of OER in distance education: a Chinese survey

The recent developments within open educational resources (OERs) and open licensing have generated considerable interest among distance educators since open and distance learning is supposed to be the largest consumer/user of and contributor to OER. In China, given the policy of development and use of elaborate courses, conversion of radio and television universities into open universities, establishment of the China Open Resources for Education, and adoption of Creative Commons by the Chinese government, there seems to be further expansion of OER movement in the country. Against this backdrop, it was imperative to know how distance education/open university teachers use OERs and what constraints they face in doing so. This study reports a structured questionnaire and open-ended interview findings on all the 74 teachers of the Beijing Open University for four variables: awareness, needs, utilization, and constraints. The findings show that while the teachers were generally aware of OERs, they misunderstood all web resources as OER; the Chinese elaborate courses dominated the perception and use of OER; and those who used OER mainly required it for teaching content, relevant research, and for adopting teaching methods. Searching for OER, choosing appropriate OER and copyright issues were the common constraints to effective use of OER. These results have been discussed further in relation to international research studies on OER, the context of Chinese distance/open university education, and the Chinese OER policy.     

Open educational resources: removing barriers from within

Enthusiasts and evangelists of open educational resources (OER) see these resources as a panacea for all of the problems of education. However, despite its promises, their adoption in educational institutions is slow. There are many barriers to the adoption of OER, and many are from within the community of OER advocates. This commentary calls for a wider discussion to remove these barriers to mainstreaming OER in teaching and learning and argues for a rethinking of the idea of ‘open’ to make it more inclusive by redefining the concept. It reminds us of the original thinking behind OER – which was to create universally available educational resources that can improve the quality of teaching and learning. This commentary posits arguments against conflating OER and open education, questions the narrow definitions of OER, and raises issues around how to be more flexible and open to mainstreaming OER and removing barriers from within the OER movement.     

Equity considerations for open educational resources in the glocalization of education

Open educational resources (OER) have become new buzzwords in the glocalization of education. While OER are often espoused as enabling educational equity, the reality is not always the case. Looking only at the positives of new educational methods can mask perpetuating challenges, which makes the open aspect of OER a misnomer. Taking an alternative stance, this article critically evaluates the broader notion of OER through the lens of equity. It contends that while equity reasons often underpin the provision of OER, challenges continue to be experienced by some in accessing open digital materials for learning. This article explores some of these issues and argues that equity considerations are fundamental in OER design.     

大学文化视野下中国开放教育资源发展的审视

中国自2003年以来积极开展了以精品课程为主要内容的开放教育资源运动,但随着精品课程建设规模的不断扩大和应用力度不断加强,遇到了很多或预料之中或预料之外的问题。基于大学文化与开放教育资源发展的相关性,可以从三个方面对中国开放教育资源发展进行文化审视：第一,大学的行政化管理体制消弭了大学文化的作用,开放教育资源的建设与应用成为一项行政命令与计划,大学的主动性和创造性在繁杂的申请与评价流程中逐渐消磨殆尽;第二,大学的功利主义价值观侵蚀了大学文化的内涵,开放教育资源的建设与应用成为急功近利的面子工程,缺乏持续有效的过程支持和长期规划;第三,大学的同质性发展取向扼杀了大学文化的独特性,开放教育资源的发展成为千篇一律的流水线,缺乏良好的社会影响和成本收益。由此,从大学文化角度审视中国开放教育资源发展呈现出一种应然性。     

Understanding motivational system in open learning: Learners’ engagement with a Traditional Chinese-based open educational resource system

Learning has embraced the “open” process in recent years, as many educational resources are made available for free online. Existing research, however, has not provided sufficient evidence to systematically improve open learning interactions and engagement in open educational resource (OER) systems. This deficiency presents two challenges to the efficacy of OER systems. First, OER users might not take full advantage of open content since their interactions and experience with open learning systems cannot be optimized. Second, this lack of interaction could discourage the overall usage of OER systems, thus impeding their sustainability. This study addressed both issues by investigating technology acceptance levels among users of an OER portal, MyOOPS, in Taiwan. The study aimed to understand how open learners might be motivated to engage with OER systems. Based on 729 valid responses, the structural equation modeling revealed a lack of learning goal structure and irrelevance of self-efficacy in participants’ motivational systems. The result prompted an urgent need to reexamine existing motivational design thinking in order to address emerging motivational challenges in open and goal-free learning environments supported by OER systems.     

Five critiques of the open educational resources movement

This paper will review existing literature on Open Educational Resources (OER). It is intended to examine and critique the theories which underpin the promotion of OER in higher education, not provide guidance on their implementation. (1) I will introduce the concepts of positive and negative liberty to suggest an under-theorisation of the term ‘open’. (2) OER literature will be shown to endorse a two-tiered system, in which the institution is both maintained and disaggregated. (3) I will highlight a diminishing of the role of pedagogy within the OER vision and the promotion of a learner-centred model for education. (4) This stance will be aligned with humanistic assumptions of unproblematic self-direction and autonomy. (5) I will discuss the extent to which the OER movement aligns itself with economically orientated models of the university. I offer these critiques as a framework for the OER movement to develop as a theoretically rigorous area of scholarship.     

Open educational practices for curriculum enhancement

Open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP) are relatively new areas in educational research. How OER and OEP can help practitioners enhance curricula is one of a number of under-researched topics. This article aims to enable practitioners to identify and implement appropriate open practices to enhance higher education curricula. To that aim, we put forward a framework of four open educational practices based on patterns of OER reuse (‘as is’ or adapted), mapped against the processes of curriculum design and delivery. The framework was developed from the in-depth analysis of 20 cases of higher education practitioners, which revealed patterns of OER reuse across disciplines, institutions and needs. For each open practice we offer evidence, examples and ideas for application by practitioners. We also put forward recommendations for institutional policies on OER and OEP.     

A review of the role of national policy and institutional mission in European distance teaching universities with respect to widening participation in higher education study through open educational resources

The open educational resources (OER) movement is relatively new with few higher education institutions (HEIs) publishing or using them, and even fewer using them to widen engagement or participation in HE study. Although distance teaching universities have been in the vanguard of widening opportunities for HE study, they vary in how far they are doing so. Some use this informal learning through studying OER as a bridge to formal learning; others see it as an end in itself, often as part of a wider set of lifelong learning activities. Initial experiences of some European distance teaching universities indicate that OER are fine for confident and experienced learners but most people will require other support mechanisms to achieve participation. More effort may be needed to design and present OER in ways that are suited to the learners to support their learning, including developing new ways to recognize achievements through open study.     

A cross-cultural approach to the adoption of open educational resources in higher education

The factors affecting the adoption of open educational resources (OER) in higher education have become a research topic of great interest as OER continue to be widely used in universities, affecting the quality of teaching and learning. The reasons for OER adoption are diverse, across both individual educators and cultural environments. This study explored determinants of OER adoption by university educators in three cultural contexts utilizing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2). Data on educators' behavioral intention to adopt OER were collected from 152 educators in three countries, Korea, Japan and the United States. In every culture, habit was the strongest determinant of this behavioral intention. Other highly significant factors affecting OER adoption by educators varied by culture. In Korea, the strongest determinant was performance expectancy, in Japan it was social influence and in the United States it was price value. The moderating effect of culture was significant on three paths of the model, and the cultural specificity affecting OER adoption was substantial. Theoretical and practical implications related to the UTAUT2 model and OER policy are discussed.     

Opening up Down Under: the role of open educational resources in promoting social inclusion in Australia

This article discusses the role of open and distance learning to widen participation and promote social inclusion within Australian higher education, as well as the benefits that open educational resources (OER) could bring to that context. It also explores some of the most relevant social inclusion policies and related initiatives developed in Australia over the past two decades and their implications for OER. The article then reports the findings of an environmental scan of the use of OER across the higher education sector in Australia as part of a centrally funded research project. The research identifies a number of misconceptions within the higher education community about the nature of OER and reveals the lack of awareness regarding the potential of OER to close the gap between formal and informal education in Australia. Despite the strong evidence of the educational possibilities of OER, they are yet to play a significant role in promoting social inclusion Down Under.     

加拿大阿萨巴斯卡大学教学改革的新进展

阿萨巴斯卡大学是加拿大最著名的开放与远程教育大学,近年来开展了一系列卓有成效的改革:从传统远程教育模式向在线课程与服务模式转变;推进移动图书馆建设;开发和利用开放教育资源;对多种学习管理系统进行评估与整合;减少与信息交流技术相关的温室气体排放,向低碳型远程教育大学转化,这些改革推动了该校开放与远程教育的高水平发展。     

Adoption of open educational resources (OER) textbook for an introductory information systems course

Open educational resources (OER) can make educational resources widely available to all students and educators for free; however, OER are still untried in many academic programmes in higher education. This article reports a case of adoption of an open access textbook for an introductory information systems course and discusses the process and suggestions of adoption of an OER textbook based upon the authors’ own experience. The study indicates that the process of adoption of an open access textbook demands more intellectual work on the instructors’ side in comparison with the adoption of a new commercial textbook. The study suggests that discipline-based communities of practice (CoP) can ease the workload problem in the process of adopting OER textbooks. The findings are important in encouraging the OER community to shift from project-based OER textbook development to discipline-based CoP for effective OER textbook adoption.     

国家精品课程项目:利用开放教育资源提升本科教学质量

国家精品课程项目是中国高等教育领域的一项重大项目,旨在通过开放教育资源建设提升本科教学质量。西方研究者普遍认为,国家精品课程是受美国麻省理工学院开放课件项目(简称MIT OCW)启发的一种开放课程形式。本文以中国国家精品课程项目为研究主题,围绕项目的目标、运作实施、发展历程、启动背景、与MIT OCW的联系和差异等问题,采用文献研究、正式访谈、非正式交流等研究方法收集和分析研究资料,聚焦研究问题。论文提出基于开放教育资源的目的进行分类,将开放教育资源实践模式分为转变性的建设、直接使用、重新使用和公开/咨询四种类型,并利用这一分析框架讨论了中国国家精品课程项目和MIT OCW项目的异同。文章认为,国家精品课程项目是中国独立应对国内挑战的决策,而不是引进的开放课程模式;中国和北美地区对大学教学的认识非常不同,中国高等教育既借鉴了历史上法国重教学和德国重研究的大学模式,又结合了利用"榜样"、注重团队建设提升质量的传统。这使得国家精品课程项目具有独特的体制优势,与其他开放教育资源项目相区别,而且难以在北美地区执行,但这也有助于启发我们重新思考北美的大学教学及其改革。     

开放教育资源（OER）使用现状调查

自2003年中国开放教育资源协会（CORE：China Open Resources for Education）——推广、应用开放教育资源（OER）的高等学校联合机构,即中国开放教育资源共同体成立以来,我国开放教育资源共享事业有了一定的发展。然而,开放教育理念在中国内地的传播、发展与影响仍然较为有限。了解和掌握我国目前开放教育资源发展的实际状况与水平,对于进一步推动我国开放教育资源深入发展具有重要意义。我们通过调查和量化研究得出的初步结论是：我国大学的个人已经具备了发表和使用OER的基本硬件设施条件,免费的OER能够对大学和个人形成吸引。大学和个人都认同使用障碍主要来自缺少对OER本身的了解,在使用过程中担心产生知识产权问题,对于发表OER的阻碍则是激励机制的缺乏。对于发表和使用OER的动机,个人更看重对于个人职业发展的积极作用,大学更看重对大学自身知名度的影响和降低开发成本。     

利用开放教育资源推进终身学习

2001年,麻省理工学院(MIT)启动了“开放课件“(OCW)计划.这是一项耗时多年、规模浩大的工程.该项目依托互联网,旨在免费提供麻省理工学院全部的电子课程材料.休利特基金会(the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation)慷慨解囊资助了目前几乎所有的开放课件计划和项目,已成为开放教育资源运动中的决定性因素.另一个具有决定性的因素就是联合国教科文组织(UNESCO),是它敏锐意识到了开放教育资源的重大意义,尤其是对发展中国家而言,所以成功推动了开放教育资源运动的发展.2006年,由休利特基金会资助的欧洲开放教育资源三大计划掀起了开放教育资源运动的新浪潮.互联网上免费提供专为自主学习设计的优质学习材料,而非大学教师的传统教学材料,体现了开放教育资源的额外附加值.本文阐述了欧洲三大计划及其特征,这些计划都是以开放和灵活的方式推进终身学习,也是达成里斯本战略目标中关于提高劳动力教育水平的必要条件.三大计划的另一个有待探讨的问题是,开放教育资源这一革命性的运动改变了潜在的商业和市场模式,但是开放教育资源的可持续性发展问题却成了人们的关注点.同时,这三个项目的一些具体特征也受到了特别的关注:英国的计划课程规模相对较大,过程中的基础和重点放在技术、非正规协作学习、社区的研究和评价方面;荷兰的计划致力于正规和非正规学习的衔接、国家有关政府额外拨款资助的政策,及相应的效果测量;欧洲远程教育大学协会的计划则针对提升欧洲高等教育普及率、促进多种语言和文化多样性的发展,以及各个国家教育体系在互相承认方面应采取的共同措施.总之,我们正在目睹一个教育范式的转变,这需要我们在谨慎思考的同时,大胆采取相应的行动.     

Open Educational Resources and the Transformation of Education

The extremely rapid expansion of open educational resource (OER) initiatives and the millions of learners they attract can be understood as an indicator of an emerging revolution in education and learning. This article describes recent developments in this area and develops conceptual foundations for studies and policies on OER. We describe four different types of OER, locate these in a field of learning theories, and discuss how the wide adoption of OER may constrain and accelerate the transformation of learning and education in the knowledge society.     

教育合同在开放大学办学中的功能及其实现

从我国政府对开放大学的办学定位来看,其管理范式与运行机制和电大有很大的差异。在开放大学与学生之间、开放大学与合作办学机构之间,以及开放大学各个层级之间,将形成复杂的、多层次的教育权利义务关系。这些权利义务关系将在平等协商、自愿选择的基础上形成,从属性上来看,基本上属于教育合同关系。在开放大学的办学与运行过程中,教育合同具有调整、引导、提高教育效益、促进合作和预防纠纷等功能。为了充分发挥教育合同在开放大学办学中的作用,建议按照一定的原则和思路,建立开放大学的教育合同管理制度。     

Great expectations: a critical perspective on Open Educational Resources in Brazil

ABSTRACT

Nearly two decades have passed since the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement was launched. Its success in Brazil can be illustrated with the establishment of a UNESCO Chair in Open Education in 2014, in one of the country’s most prestigious universities. Crucially, OER were included in the 2014–2024 National Education Plan, a key piece of national educational legislation, as a category of educational technologies framed as tools. Assuming metaphors such as this play a key role in the ways we think, speak and act, this article presents a critical perspective on OER in Brazil. Examining the implications of the main metaphors used to construe OER in local media and academic sources, the text argues that these metaphors reflect hegemonic discourses on educational technology, concealing the non-neutrality of technological artefacts, obscuring issues concerning curriculum and pedagogy, and overlooking actual local needs. The article discusses issues concerning local OER advocacy, positioned in respect to specificities of a context where education, albeit a constitutionally established right, may be poised to undergo radical changes in the near future.     

从教育理念、大学理念到开放大学理念

大学理念是大学的精神和灵魂.在广播电视大学向开放大学转型之际,从教育理念、大学理念的历史变迁来探讨开放大学理念,有利于从发展的角度把握开放大学的本质,以推进我国的开放大学建设.无论是全人教育理念、终身教育理念、开放教育理念,还是古典大学理念、现代大学理念、当代大学理念,都是人们对教育本质和规律的认识,反映了人们对教育活动的价值追求和期望.开放大学最基本的办学理念是人的开放、地点的开放、方法的开放和思想的开放;国家开放大学的核心理念是开放、责任、质量、多样化、国际化.     

Politics,practices, and possibilities of open educational resources

In this article, I reflect on the politics, practices and possibilities of the open educational resources (OER). OER raise important implications for current and potential students, for postsecondary education institutions, and for those currently teaching in higher education. The key questions raised by OER centre on the role of teaching in learning, the potential for a shift in societal conceptualizations of learners from didactic to autodidactic beings, and what roles teachers may play in a potentially radical broadening of access to postsecondary education.