open for use? the challenge of user generated content and its impact on open educational resources

Open for Use? The Challenge of User Generated Content and its Impact on Open Educational Resources

Steve WheelerUniversity of Plymouth, UK

Keynote speech for the EDEN Research Workshop, Budapest, October 2010

“The open provision of educational resources, enabled by information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes”

- UNESCO (2002)

Open Educational Resources

http://www.wetcanvas.com

http://www.wetcanvas.com

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

What can OER do?

• OER emphasises learning communities and learner engagement

• OER supports development of skills needed for problem solving

• OER creates opportunities for personalised learning

• OER allows students to create and share their own content

Adapted from: Holotescu, C. (2007) Open Educational Resources and FLOSS

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

OER is premised upon sharing resources

Community of interest

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Community......has been defined as a group of interacting

people living in a common location.

http://www.psfk.com

In the digital age, common location is not as important as

common interest.

What are the characteristics of distributed learning communities?

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

http://www.zimbio.com

Celebration

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Connection

cc S

teve

Whe

eler

, Uni

vers

ity o

f Ply

mou

th, 2

010

http://i.imwx.com

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Online, En massehttp://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

cc S

teve

Whe

eler

, Uni

vers

ity o

f Ply

mou

th, 2

010

Communication

Collaboration

http://idirekt.cz/soubory/t-mobile_dance2.png

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

User Generated Content

Celebration

Connection

Communication

Collaboration

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

User Generated Content is…

“…content that is created and shared freely by students and/or teachers and which has not been through a process of formal peer review”

Concede Project, May 2010

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

“Wikipedia is different in that it doesn’t try to frame the creation of new entries with commissioned beginnings and fixed endpoints. It is open to anyone to initiate an entry on Wikipedia, and no entry is ever formally closed, since it is also open to anyone to keep editing and altering whatever is already there.”

– Andrew Lih The Wikipedia Revolution (2009)

http://wikipedia.org

cc S

teve

Whe

eler

, Uni

vers

ity o

f Ply

mou

th, 2

010

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Advantages of OER

Sharing development costs of learning resources among institutions and professional communities means a better return on public investment

http://static-p3.fotolia.com


Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Advantages of OER


Promoting digital competencies for the knowledge society. Tools and content that enable learners to develop their creativity and critical thinking. http://dyslexicbrian.com St

eve

Whe

eler

, Uni

vers

ity o

f Ply

mou

th, 2

010

Advantages of OER

Improving the quality of content. Quality control, feedback and improvement across the alliances, communities and networks that share the content.


http://static.squidoo.com

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Advantages of OER


Supporting lifelong learning and social inclusion.

Accessibility of resources previously unavailable to specific groups of people. http://www.flaglercomputerclub.com

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Offers flexibility in choosing from a broader range of subjects and topics for teaching and learning

Advantages of OER


http://www.uh.edu

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Saves time and effort through the reusing of resources for which IPR/ Copyright issues have already been resolved.

Advantages of OER

http://qbn.com


Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Barriers to OER• Quality concerns• Suspicion of openness• Ownership (IP)• Sustainability• Search tools?

http://www.presd.org

Crowdsourced via Twitter

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

6 Trends for the digital age

Analogue DigitalTethered MobileClosed OpenIsolated ConnectedGeneric Personal Consuming Creating

Source: David Wiley: Openness and the disaggregated future of higher education

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Characteristics of e-learning

Analogue DigitalTethered MobileClosed OpenIsolated ConnectedGeneric Personal Consuming Creating

Source: David Wiley: Openness and the disaggregated future of higher education

We have the technology to facilitate the rest, but do we have the will?!

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Free/Open Content...

...describes any kind of creative work in a format that explicitly allows copying and modifying of its information by anyone, not exclusively by a closed organisation, firm or individual.

Source: Wikipedia

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

http://marshalevine.blogspot.com

Copyleft/Creative Commons

Ultimately: Freedom to openly access, use, copy, modify and share content

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

“Understanding how networks work is one of the most important literacies of the 21st Century.”

- Howard Rheingold

http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

If ... information is recognized as useful to the community ... it can be counted as knowledge. The community, then, has the power to create knowledge within a given context and leave that knowledge as a new node connected to the rest of the network’.

– Dave Cormier (2008)

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Open Networks

http://inperspire.blogspot.com

A Challenge to empirical knowledge – ‘Community as curriculum’

‘The rhizomatic viewpoint (…) suggests that a distributed negotiation of knowledge can allow a community of people to legitimize the work they are doing among themselves and for each member of the group, the rhizomatic model dispenses with the need for external validation of knowledge...’

- Dave Cormier (2008)

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Rhizomatic knowledge

Participatory and negotiated experience of rhizomatic community engagement.

– Dave Cormier (2007)

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0http://users.soe.ucsc.edu

LMS vs PLE

http://mohamedaminechatti.blogspot.com/2010/03/lms-vs-ple.html

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Folksonomies

http:

//m

asha

ble.

com

300,000 largest websites visualised using Favicons

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Formal and Informal learning

Formal Learning Informal Learning

20% 80%Source: Cofer, D. (2000). Informal Workplace Learning.

Blended?

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

A tale of two papers

http://www.fromoldbooks.org

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Open Scholarship

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Open peer review

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Transparency

Open impact

Closed Journal

3 years

12

Unknown

2.05

Open Journal

3 weeks

296

72,736

1.93

Time from submission to publication

Number of citations

Number of views

Journal impact factor

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Content amplification

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

Event amplification

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

"The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence. It is to act with yesterday's logic." - Peter Drucker

http://pixdaus.com

Stev

e W

heel

er, U

nive

rsity

of P

lym

outh

, 201

0

T: @timbuckteethE: [email protected]

B: http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com