(1331) OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER): WHAT ARE THEY? WHERE ARE THEY? AND WHAT WILL THEY MEAN TO THE SCHOOLS SECTOR?

摘要

In June 2012 UNESCO published its "OER Declaration" - a ten-point manifesto designed to promoteOpen Educational Resources (OER) globally. In September 2013 the European Commission launchedits "Opening Up Education" strategy - a central theme of its three strand strategy is "Increased use ofOpen Educational Resources (OER), ensuring that educational materials produced with public fundingare available to all". Sovereign nations across the world have stated their support for OER and somesuch as the US have committed significant public funds (in January 2011 the US Governmentannounced a $2bn investment for OER creation in the community college sector).There are 84 OER policies currently (as of December 2013) listed in the global Creative CommonsOER Policy Registry. However, only 15 relate to EU member states. More than half of the policyregistry concerns US polices. These are of particular interest and relevance since a significantproportion relate to K-12 education whereas, by comparison with the Higher Education sector, thereare relatively few OER policies concerning schools in Europe.Across Europe there has been increased interest in, and discussion of, OER. However, this wouldappear to be much more common at Higher Education level than at school level, and among ELearningresearchers and a small number of “activists”.As yet, it appears that OER have failed to capture the imagination of practitioners in the compulsoryschooling sector in Europe.Is this really the case? If so why? How does Europe compare with North America and the rest of theworld? How do countries compare? Are OER viewed as a Higher Education phenomenon? What hasbeen the impact of the MOOC hype?Crucially, why is there so much confusion concerning the amount of OER accessible to schools?Even the European Commission appears to be uncertain: Its own experts can state on the one handthat “... there may be some complacency arising from a belief that an abundance of digital resourcesalready exist” whilst the same paper quotes research which asserts that the “Abundance of resources... challenges us to review our role as educators”.This presentation (and paper) will draw from the author's research for the European Commission andhis subsequent “Policy Recommendations (For Schools)” to the Commission to look at the history of(digital) OER in the K-12 sector. It will cite case studies from Europe, North America and globally(including the European Commission's Open Discovery Space and rival commercial offerings) toexplore the challenges and opportunities, the competing philosophies, the potential friction between"free" and “commercial” OER and the inadequacies of the current research base.