In the fall of 2015 the Research Group Open Educational Resources of Fontys University of Applied Sciences - School of ICT has conducted a survey into the production and/or reuse of OER and MOOCs by Dutch publicly financed Higher Education (HE) institutions: 15 research universities, 38 university of applied sciences and 8 university medical centres. The goal of the survey was to provide an overview of the current situation regarding the creation, sharing and reuse of OER and MOOCs. Until then information was anecdotal, mainly about individual projects and programs. In this paper data are presented on the following three main issues: production and publication of open educational resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), re-use of OER and/or MOOCs (motives, forms and target audiences) and the presence or absence of an institutional vision and policy. Some of the outcomes of the survey are compared with the results of two other surveys: the survey of the OER Research Hub and a survey on policy for OER in the Netherlands in 2012. The results of the current survey indicate that on many places in universities (including university medical centres) and universities of applied sciences OER and/or MOOCs are being published and reused, but also that many institutions still lack a coherent vision or policy on this subject. The data of the survey, however, do no yet provide an overview on which conclusions may be drawn for individual institutions. Further research must enhance the current picture.
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Over the past decade, more and more studies have been published about OER adoptionby educators and educational institutions. The largest part of these studies is about OER in Higher Education and a growing amount is about OER and open textbooks in K-12 education. In addition, according to De Olivereira Netoet al (2017), most studies are focused on the Global North where education instructors “enjoy comparatively higher levels of economic development, educational provision, policy elaboration, and technological access than those in the Global South. This means that less is known about educators’ OER-related practices in the regionwhere OER is touted as having its potentially greatest impact”(De Olivereira Netoet al,2017:2-3).Despite the steadily growing number of studies on the use of OER by educators, there is part of the realm of education that still is ‘a dark continent’ for OER and OER studies, namely Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET). As an indicator, we have analyzed the database from the OER Knowledgecloud1, considered representative for the current state of international OER research, being available as Open Access. With a total of 1638 items in the database (27 October, 9:35 CEST), searching on “technical AND vocational” only gave 2 results (dating from 2011 and 2012).The research presented in this paperprovides the results of a systematic international literature review with the aim of localizing relevant studies on the potentialities and use of OER in TVET. The information from this literature review has been complemented by data from an international quantitative survey taken by members of an UNESCO TVET forum, and from semi-structured interviews with international TVET experts.
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In the Netherlands, many activities have been carried out to stimulate adoption of open online education in higher education. Still, large-scale adoption by (in Rogers’ terminology) the early and late majority is not taking place. In order to achieve large-scale adoption of OER, it is crucial to know what factors will stimulate such adoption. From previous inquiries it may be concluded that inclusion of openness at the institutional policy level is a necessary but insufficient precondition. Educators are considered to be the decisive change agents in large-scale adoption. A survey conducted in Fall 2015 provided some insight into the state of affairs of adoption by educators, but the data were insufficient to draw conclusions about why there is a lack of adoption. Therefore, in Fall 2016, a qualitative research has been carried out. Educators in 5 Dutch HE-institutions have been interviewed about their actual involvement with OER and other forms of open education: what do they do, how they do it, why they do what they do, what they want to achieve, what difficulties they encounter, what support they receive? As the institutional setting or environment of the educator is expected to play an important role in the adoption process of individual educators, other stakeholders within the HE institutions have been interviewed too. The approach taken in this research is that of a mixed-method approach, combining the results of the Fall 2015 survey and the qualitative research of Fall 2016 with outcomes of several other recent surveys in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Finally, a set of actions and activities both on the level of an institution and on a national level is being proposed, that could lead to large-scale adoption of open online education by Dutch HE educators.
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June 2015 the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science formulated an ambitious program for open and online education in the Netherlands in its Strategic Agenda “HO2025, de waarde(n) van weten” (“Higher Education 2025, the value(s) of knowledge”). According to Minister Mrs. Jet Bussemaker: “I aim to ensure that all Dutch higher education institutions have made their teaching materials available in open format by 2025 (Open Access to Higher Education), propelling the Netherlands to a leading global position.”(…) “As apart of this process, we must also ensure that the various Dutch higher education institutions recognise each other’s MOOCs and Open Educational Resources” (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, 2015, p. 30) To realize these ambitions, a taskforce within the Ministry investigated which measurements where needed for this. This resulted in a program “Open and connected higher education – Exchange of digital learning materials”. One of the elements was to start with two so-called “moonshot projects” in cross-institutional open sharing of learning materials. These projects should on the one hand serve as good practice for Dutch Higher Education and on the other hand provide more detailed insight into what is needed for the Ministry to take the next step in implementation of their ambitions. The two projects are on developing resources on mathematics, done by the 4 Universities of Technology, and on developing resources for the Bachelor Nursing program, done by 5 Universities of Applied Sciences. In this presentation we will provide more insights into the background and approach of these projects and compare them with similar approaches for supporting national policies elsewhere.
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The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has funded a five years program to encourage the use, creation and sharing of Open Educational Resources (OER) by teachers from various types of education. This program is known as Wikiwijs. Ultimo 2013, the program has come to an end. As some of the assumptions at the start of Wikiwijs proved to work out in unexpected ways the lessons learned could fuel the next steps in developing Wikiwijs. Besides, other national initiatives on opening up education may also benefit from the lessons learned reported here. The main conclusion from five years Wikiwijs was that to accomplish mainstreaming OER, the Wikiwijs program should go along with other interventions that are more oriented toward prescriptive policies and regulations. In particular: the Dutch government should be more directive in persuading executive boards and teachers on schools to adopt OER as an important part of educational reform and the acquisition of 21st century skills.
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This report is the result of a study commissioned by UNESCO-UNEVOC to fill the gap both on mapping the landscape of the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and open practices in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and to provide Member States and UNESCO, in particular UNESCO-UNEVOC, with recommendations to support the creation and the use of OER in TVET.
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The affordances of Open Educational Resources (OER) have resulted in various initiatives around the world, but most of them cease to exist once the initial project funding stops. Communities might be a means to create sustainable practices, yet, such communities can only function if their members perceive these communities as valuable. We applied the value creation framework of Wenger, Trayner, and De Laat to examine the value teachers ascribe to their engagement with an inter-institutional community on OER. In this community, 15 universities of applied sciences collaborated on sharing knowledge and resources across their institutional barriers. We collected data through user statistics, an online questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. Major value creation occurred from teachers’ personal needs, with dominant immediate and potential values. Findings on applied and realized values denote that it became easier for teachers to connect with peers, and to initiate collaboration projects across institutes. The framework we used is helpful to inform actions to further promote value creation in communities on OER. Recommendations relating to communities’ aspirations, its relations with the wider organization, and adoption of OER are formulated to inform sustainable practices of inter-institutional communities.
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In de maanden juli-december 2016 is door het lectoraat OER van Fontys Hogeschool ICT een onderzoek uitgevoerd om de volgende vraag te kunnen beantwoorden: Wat leidt tot c.q. is nodig voor een brede adoptie van delen van open leermaterialen en online cursussen en hergebruiken van open leermaterialen en cursussen door docenten in het bekostigde hoger onderwijs in Nederland? Bij 4 universiteiten en 6 hogescholen zijn totaal 55 semi-gestructureerde interviews afgenomen met docenten, bestuurders en ondersteuners. Onderwerpen die tijdens de interviews aan bod kwamen betroffen ambities met onderwijs, beleid, opvattingen over openheid in het onderwijs, motieven voor delen en hergebruiken, ervaringen met delen en hergebruiken, hindernissen die werden ondervonden, noodzakelijke randvoorwaarden en invloeden die geïnterviewden vanuit hun omgeving ervaren. Analyse van de interviews gaf de volgende resultaten: 1. Praktijken van delen en hergebruiken zijn erg divers qua openheid. Lang niet altijd zijn gedeelde leermaterialen toegankelijk voor iedereen, vaak ontbreekt een open licentie en processen als copyright clearing vinden niet altijd plaats; 2. Delen en hergebruiken van leermaterialen (al dan niet volledig open) gebeurt veel. Hierbij wordt vooral het bereiken van een hogere kwaliteit campusonderwijs nagestreefd; 3. Feedback op gedeelde materialen is cruciaal voor de motivatie van docenten om structureel materialen te delen; 4. Structureel delen en hergebruik binnen een instelling heeft meer kans van slagen wanneer het gekoppeld wordt aan andere beleidsthema’s zoals internationalisatie of aan onderwijsinnovaties zoals invoeren van blended leren; 5. Bij een aantal instellingen is sprake van zich ontwikkelend beleid op het gebied van open delen en hergebruiken van leermaterialen; 6. Docenten zijn onvoldoende bekend met aanwezigheid danwel inhoud van beleid; 7. De autonomie van de docent in het bepalen om met delen en hergebruiken aan de slag te gaan wordt als cruciaal gezien en als zodanig herkend en erkend, zowel door bestuur als door docenten zelf; 8. Delen en hergebruiken moeten uiteindelijk ten goede komen aan de student of een positief effect hebben op de efficiency van het onderwijs. Of en hoe dat daadwerkelijk gerealiseerd moet worden, is vaak nog niet duidelijk; 9. Docenten geven aan dat stimulering in termen van geld, tijd en ondersteuning essentieel is voor hen om tot structureel gedrag van delen en hergebruiken te komen. Tevens moeten voor hen de antwoorden op de what’s in it for me vraag duidelijk zijn; 10. Publiceren van MOOC’s wordt ervaren als een versneller voor de adoptie van open delen van materialen en cursussen binnen een instelling; 11. Acceptatie van open delen en hergebruiken op instellingsniveau, zich uitend in beleid dat vertaald is naar concrete activiteiten en richtlijnen, beïnvloedt brede adoptie ervan door docenten positief. Op basis van deze resultaten zijn de volgende aanbevelingen geformuleerd om brede adoptie van open delen en hergebruiken te realiseren binnen een instelling: 1. Maak de meerwaarde van open delen en hergebruiken duidelijk aan docenten; 2. Zorg bij deze verandering van de beeldvorming rondom open delen en hergebruiken bij docenten voor ondersteuning vanuit de instelling: op ICT-gebied, juridische en onderwijskundige aspecten, facilitering in tijd, aanwezigheid van een veilige experimenteerruimte en een ondersteunende infrastructuur; 3. Formuleer op faculteits-, instituuts- en instellingsniveau beleid op het gebied van open delen en hergebruiken dat de activiteiten die onder aanbeveling 1 en 2 genoemd worden mogelijk maakt; 4. Koppel beleid inzake open delen en hergebruiken aan andere thema’s van onderwijsvernieuwing of aan thema’s als internationalisering.
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Beschrijving van toegevoegde waarde van een meer geïntegreerde benadering van openheid bij open science en open education.
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A survey conducted in 2012 among publicly financed higher education institutions in the Netherlands revealed a growing awareness of the strategic relevance of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Education. However, hardly any policy or strategy related to OER and Open Education had been formulated by any of the higher education institutions involved. At the same time, most of the institutions expressed a need for a strategic approach of OER and Open Education. To meet this need, SURF, the collaborative organisation for ICT in Dutch higher education and research, and more particularly its Special Interest Group on OER, gave ten Dutch higher education institutions the opportunity to assist in developing a strategic approach of OER and Open Education, organising strategy workshops. Every workshop was tailored to the specific needs and problems of the institution concerned. To be able to do so, an approach had been formulated which started with a semi-structured interview. The objective of this interview was to find out why the institution had decided to participate in the workshop and what it wanted to achieve, and to identify the driving forces within the institutions for conducting the workshop. The next step was to design the workshop. This was done in close cooperation with the institution concerned. The third part of the process was conducting the actual workshop. In the last phase, findings and conclusions were formulated. Almost all participating Dutch higher education institutions were inclined to formulate a strategic view on OER and Open Education. The workshops have provided detailed insights into the perceptions and expectations of Dutch higher education institutions involved with regard to OER, MOOCs and Open Education. One such insight is that although most participants are aware of the existence of OER, MOOCs and other forms of Open Education and feel some sense of urgency, many of them do not have any idea how to apply these concepts in their own institutions, let alone know where to start. Another insight is that many of the people who attended the workshops did so because they felt that their institution should develop MOOCs. In most cases it turned out that by discussing the pros and cons of MOOCs as well as the (in)appropriateness of other forms of Open Education for their institutions, the participants developed a broader view of Open Education. In this article the process and approach followed will be presented, as well as lessons learned and conclusions drawn. We conclude that the strategic workshops can be considered a success, thanks to the effectiveness of a tailor-made programme embedded within a fixed process framework. The positive attitude and willingness to share knowledge on the part of the participants contributed greatly to the results. One prerequisite for success is that various sections from the institution participate in the workshop, and that a range of perspectives be presented. The importance of a neutral platform as a basis for an open discussion must not be underestimated.
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