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Yearly Archives: 2013

Great journal issue. Open Educational Resources: Opening Access to Knowledge

Tuesday, June 4th, 2013 | Bill Anderson | No Comments

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (an open access journal) has published an issue that focuses on OERs (see below).

Also, recently published online on the Learning, Media and Technology journal site is an article entitled “Self-directed learning and guidance in non-formal open courses”. It’s an interesting look at how OERs were used in two non-formal courses. Could be worth a read if you are thinking of using OERs in any teaching you do.

 

Vol 14, No 2 (2013): Open Educational Resources: Opening Access to Knowledge

Table of Contents

Editorial

Editorial: Volume 14, Number 2 HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Rory McGreal, Wanjira Kinuthia, Stewart Marshall i-iv

Research Articles

Moving to open educational resources at Athabasca University: A case study HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Cindy Ives, Mary Margaret Pringle 1-13

 

Open education resources and mobile technology to narrow the learning divide HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Mohamed Ally, Mohammed Samaka 14-27

 

Mobile authoring of open educational resources as reusable learning objects HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Dr Kinshuk, Ryan Jesse 28-52

 

Strategies for sustainable business models for open educational resources HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
F.H.T de Langen 53-66

 

Government support for open educational resources: Policy, funding, and strategies HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Paul Stacey 67-80

 

Open access scholarly publications as OER HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Terry Anderson 81-95

 

The logic of national policies and strategies for open educational resources HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Fred Mulder 96-105

 

Exploration of open educational resources in non-English speaking communities HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Cristobal Cobo 106-128

 

Visualization mapping approaches for developing and understanding OER HTML PDF MP3 EPUB
Teresa Connolly 129-155

Invitation… Challenges, opportunities with MOOCs in Higher Education

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013 | Bill Anderson | No Comments

Following on from the successful Open Minds Seminar series in 2012, a Community of Practice has been established for Otago staff to share experiences and ask questions about what it means to be an ‘open scholar’. Over the course of our two-monthly meetings we might debate questions like:

  • Are MOOCs the greatest opening up of education ever or just an ivy league branding exercise?
  • Could I run my own class like a MOOC or use one within mine?
  • What does open access publishing mean for me?
  • What’s all this about governments decreeing that research outcomes must be made open?
  • What happens if I put my data ‘out there’?

In the first meeting we will be exploring the opportunities and challenges for higher education presented by MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Together we will discuss the principles of MOOCs, share experiences and look at the possibilities MOOCs present for Otago in more depth.

June 10, 1pm

University of Otago Central Library Conference Room 3

Some resources you might find useful to get you started:

Feel free to bring your lunch and come along with any ideas for future topic.

New OER Resource

Thursday, May 9th, 2013 | Bill Anderson | No Comments

From the Commonwealth of Learning … a new publication about OERs
…

 Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning:
Open Educational Resources: Innovation, Research and Practice

Rory McGreal, Wanjira Kinuthia and Stewart Marshall, Eds. May 2013

Published jointly by the Commonwealth of Learning and Athabasca University, Canada (UNESCO/COL Chair in OER) as CC-BY-SA and freely available to all: www.col.org/psOERIRP. Available in PDF and epub formats.

This book is one in a series of OER resources published by COL. It describes the OER movement in detail, providing readers with insight into OER’s significant benefits, its theory and practice, and its achievements and challenges. The 16 chapters, written by some of the leading international experts on the subject, are organised into four parts by theme:

  • OER in Academia: describes how OER are widening the international community of scholars, following MIT’s lead in sharing its resources and looking to the model set by the OpenCourseWare Consortium
  • OER in Practice: presents case studies and descriptions of OER initiatives underway on three continents
  • Diffusion of OER: discusses various approaches to releasing and “opening” content, from building communities of users that support lifelong learning to harnessing new mobile technologies that enhance OER access on the Internet
  • Producing, Sharing and Using OER: examines the pedagogical, organisational, personal and technical issues that producing organisations and institutions need to address in designing, sharing and using OER

Instructional designers, curriculum developers, educational technologists, teachers, researchers, students, others involved in creating, studying or using OER: all will find this timely resource informative and inspiring.

Tasman Declaration on Open Research

Friday, April 19th, 2013 | Richard White | 68 Comments

The Tasman Declaration came out of the Open Research Conference (mentioned previously on this blog) held in Auckland in February, representing the collective voice of the diverse group of participants, including researchers, lawyers, librarians, research infrastructure providers, technology consultants and software developers from NZ, Australia, the US and the UK. The declaration calls on Australian and New Zealand research communities, institutions, policy makers and funders to make publicly-funded research open:

Publicly funded research should be openly available to maximise return on investments into research, and to increase participation in research and its translation beyond the traditional research sector.

“Open Research” is about removing barriers for society to benefit from research, by ensuring open access to and reuse of research papers, data, materials, metadata and code, and by developing the supporting practices and policies.

In the absence of a good reason, research outputs should be made available with as few restrictions as possible and as soon as possible.

Read more about the story behind the declaration or read the declaration itself in full.

Add your voice by signing it.

 

Everybody’s doing it (except us)

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013 | Richard White | No Comments

They’re doing it in the UK. In Australia too. And in the US, they’re going to be doing it more than they already were. I’m talking about open access publication of research.

In 2012 a public petition was made to the Whitehouse proposing that the public should have free access to the outcomes of scientific research that they have funded. Over 65000 people signed and this week the Obama administration has responded with a resounding, “Yes, we can.” While the US National Institutes of Health has had a public access policy for years (which “requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication“), the announcement this week goes much further. Any research with a budget of over $100m will be expected to be made publicly available within 12 months of original publication. “The logic behind this is plain,” says the statement, to provide access to taxpayer-funded research to innovators in industry, science and the public generally. It cites the “great success” of the NIH policy, which is to be used as a guide to other agencies now coming under this new one.

The discussion that has ensued has centred on the fact that 12 months after publication is hardly lightening fast and the level of budget threshold  (which sounds like a lot to NZers). Nevertheless, it is generally being hailed as a landmark announcement in the adoption of Open Access as the default.

A key reason for this is that the statement also “requires that agencies start to address the need to improve upon the management and sharing of scientific data produced with Federal funding.” This goes further than the UK’s Finch report and the announcements by Australia’s funding bodies in recent times.

In any case, from a NZ perspective, it is becoming clear that everybody is going OA except us – but the question is no longer if but when. While the NZ government has established NZGOAL and issued its Declaration on Open and Transparent Government, it has so far been silent on research by organisations like Otago. It can only be a matter of time before this changes, given developments around the rest of the world.

Mix & Mash: The New Storytelling

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 | SIMON HART | No Comments

DigitalNZ have launched Mix & Mash 2013!  This is a competition that is about encouraging people to be creative with material that is free and legal to reuse, remix, mashup, to tell stories by re-purposing “open stuff” in compelling ways.

The programme for 2013 differs from the 2010 & 2011 competitions.  In 2013 there are three deadlines spread out across the year (May, August and November).  This means entrants can plan and pace their entries and learn from what others are doing. Prizes will be awarded throughout 2013 with special awards at the end of the year.

This years theme is “The New Storytelling” and entrants are challenged to weave openly licensed digital content and data into an original story.  The focus for the May competition window is “Stories about the past“.

You can sign up for Mix & Mash announcements and updates on the website www.mixandmash.org.nz

Openness around the world

Monday, January 21st, 2013 | Bill Anderson | No Comments

The current issue of the journal Open Praxis is devoted to the topic “Openness in higher education”. Have a read… http://www.openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/issue/view/2/showToc

Several articles discuss the challenges of assessment – especially when learners want to credit their open learning to traditional/formal courses …

What would you do if a student asked for credit from a Udacity/Courseara/OpenLearn/OERu course?? Is there anything you could do at Otago?

 

Aus/NZ Open Research Conference, Auckland 6-7 February

Sunday, January 13th, 2013 | Richard White | No Comments

An Australasian Open Research Conference is to be held at the University of Auckland on 6-7 February. This will be an important event for researchers interested in openness to explore with like-minded people the rapidly-developing world of open research, publishing and data in the New Zealand and Australian contexts.

The line-up for Day 1 looks to be a fascinating blend of practical exemplars of those already working in the open space and discussion of high-level policy/strategy (non-profit and commercial). Sessions will be led by some of the movers and shakers in openness from both nations. Day 2 will be a barcamp-style, participant-led session looking to explore the themes of Day 1 and in more concrete terms examine how openness can be advanced in our research communities.

Read more on the conference web site.

(Otago people: please let me know if you are planning on attending – it’s important we have representation at this conference and have people who can report back to our community about what transpired).