OPEN, GET READY! PUBLIC AND ACADEMIC LIBRARIES’ SUPPORT FOR OPEN EDUCATION IN CANADA 1 Erik Christiansen Assistant Professor / Librarian Mount Royal University Email: echristiansen@mtroyal.ca Twitter: @eriksation Phone/text: (403) 831-5146 Portfolio: erikchristiansen.net Blog: tech-bytes.net This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. What we’ll cover in this session 1. OER and the Open Education Movement 2. OER Policy in Western Canada 3. OER and the Public Library 4. Final Thoughts 3 4 1. OER and the Open Education Movement CCO Image 5 Definitions of OER “Open Educational Resources” was coined at a 2002 UNESCO Conference “The open provision of educational resources, enabled by information and communications technologies, for consultation, use and adaption by a community of users for non-commercial purposes.” 6 Definitions of OER OECD in Giving Knowledge for Free (2007) “digitised materials offered freely and openly for educators, students and selflearners to use and reuse for teaching, learning and research.” 7 Definitions of OER OECD in Giving Knowledge for Free (2007) Discusses several concepts around “openness” (p. 32-36) ▪ Covers technical, legal, social, and price barriers ▪ The right to modify and repurpose Taken from McNally, M., & Christiansen, E. (2016, December 7). Choices and consequences in transitioning from closed to open resources and courses. Presented at the Open Education in Action Conference, Maskwacis Cultural College, Maskwacis, AB. 8 Lesson plans Games Textbooks Stock photography Video files 3D printing models Multimedia Quizzes and assessments Guides and manuals 9 In other words, OER can be pretty much any digital object for teaching and learning… 10 The “5 Rs” Retain Reuse Revise Remix Redistribute Lumen Learning. (2015). What are open educational resources? Retrieved from http://lumenlearning.com/about-oer/ 11 Benefits According to the Literature Cost • Materials such as textbooks, course packs, online assessment, etc Access • Broader public and life long learning • Accessibility considerations • Flexibility and digital formats Benefits to Teaching and Learning • Customization • Collaboration • Student-driven learning 12 Open Education Timeline 1964 - 1973 1992 1994 Joseph Beuys and the Free International University The World Wide Web Wayne Hodgins coins “learning object” 2002 Present 2002 Present MIT OpenCourse ware Wikimedia Foundation Taken from Christiansen, E. (2017, November 24). Everything is sharable: Why open educational resources are critical to lifelong and the sharing economy. Workshop given at the Code4Lib Alberta Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. 13 Broader Context Open Education Movement RESEARCH OUTPUT OPEN ACCESS TEACHING OER OPENNESS AND THE ACADEMY TECHNOLOGY OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE RESEARCH INPUT OPEN DATA Modified from McNally, M. (2014). Broadening Access o Knowledge: Considerations in Developing and Using Open Educational Resources (OER). 14 Interested Parties and Stakeholders Librarians • Information literacy and student success Instructors • Engaging students Students / learners • Cost sensitive • Want flexible-learning Post-secondary administration / leadership • Institutional sustainability and retention Government / policy makers • Cost of education to the public 15 Gaps in OER Literature ▪ Abundance of institutional case studies ▪ Emphasis on cost savings CCO Image 16 2. OER Policy in Western Canada CCO Image 17 Education Governance in Canada Decentralization of Education No Federal OER Directive Western Provinces Leading OER Front 18 Research Questions ▪ What is being done in Western Canada to advance OER? ▪ What are the focuses of OER policy at both the government and research university levels? 19 Data being analyzed Review and analysis of all relevant high-level policy documents from the four Western Provinces and policy from each provinces’ respective research universities: • • • • • • • • Policy and strategic plans from ministries of Education Government funded OER initiatives / programs Government press releases Legislative debates (Hansard minutes) Campaigns and funding opportunities OER repositories (websites and missions) University strategic and academic plans Any other special reports from provinces or relevant institutions 20 150 Documents and Counting! Province Date Access Resource Document title Link 21 Some early findings • Disproportionate focus on cost savings • Little discussion about how OER can improve teaching and learning and flexible delivery (with some exceptions) • Little focus on creating incentives for instructors to create more OER • BC Government and institutions are leading 22 BC Open Textbook Project Source: https://open.bccampus.ca 23 BC Campus Hosts Many Open Textbooks Screenshot Source 24 BC Campus Hosts Many Open Textbooks Screenshot Source 25 Alberta OER Initiative Source: http://albertaoer.com 26 Alberta OER Initiative Funded projects across Alberta with a focus on reducing the cost of higher education to students • Projected savings to students is over $5 million (Alberta OER ROI Cost Savings) Resources for instructors • Communications: Starter Kit and Champions Toolkit • Webinars and videos Notable projects funded • Open Physics site, Johnathan Sharp UofA • Open Logic Project, Richard Zach, UofC Source: http://albertaoer.com 27 Source: https://openphys.med.ualberta.ca 28 Source: https://openphys.med.ualberta.ca 29 Source: https://openphys.med.ualberta.ca 30 Campus Manitoba Source: http://www.campusmanitoba.ca eCampus Ontario Source: https://www.ecampusontario.ca 31 OER Commons Learning objects + textbooks https://open.bccampus.ca/find-open-textbooks/ MIT Open CourseWare Fully open courses https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm Merlot II Learning objects https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm BCCampus Open Textbooks Textbooks https://open.bccampus.ca/find-open-textbooks/ Open Stax Textbooks https://openstax.org/ Open Data Canada Data http://open.canada.ca/en/open-data Internet Archive Multimedia / web archive https://archive.org/ Open Source Software Directory Open source software https://opensourcesoftwaredirectory.com/ 32 3. OER and the Public Library CCO Image 33 Benefits According to the Literature Cost • Materials such as textbooks, course pack, online assessment, etc Access • Broader public and life long learning • Accessibility considerations • Flexibility and digital formats Benefits to Teaching and Learning • Customization • Collaboration • Student-driven learning 34 MIT Open Courseware Massachusetts Institute of Technology makes most of its course content available to the public • Receives 2 million visits per month • 2364 courses published MIT OpenCourseWare. (2016, October). Retrieved from https://ocw.mit.edu/about/site-statistics/ 35 Group Discussion 36 With a partner try and answer… 1. Are there patrons, or specific groups, that would benefit from OER in any way? 2. Can you think of an experience you had when you were trying to help a patron find some information where an OER might have been helpful 5 min! 37 With a partner try and answer… 1. Are there patrons, or specific groups, that would benefit from OER in any way? 2. Can you think of an experience you had when you were trying to help a patron find some information where an OER might have been helpful Find another pair of participants and trade stories 5 min! 38 Participant feedback Are there patrons, or specific groups, that would benefit from OER in any way? • • • • • • • • • High school students Second language learners Internationally trained professionals People looking for a career or job change People looking to start their own business K-12 Teachers People with access barriers: in long-term care facilities, remote communities, seniors, etc Life-long learners Not-for-profit employees 39 Participant feedback Can you think of an experience you had when you were trying to help a patron find some information where an OER might have been helpful • • • • • • • • Looking for coding and robotics ideas – lesson plans and tutorials – beyond what’s provided by vendors Out of print items Accessing materials in a printable format Examples of in-depth reference questions. Ex. Effects of coal and black lung during period of years. Children in hospitals long-term and want to keep up with studies Homeschooling resources Materials accessible to all users – second language learners, different age groups, different cultural contexts, etc Oral history 40 4. Final Thoughts CCO Image 41 OER Challenges ▪ General awareness ▪ Flexibility and customization ▪ Quality assurance CCO Image 42 Allen and Seaman, 2014 “The most significant barrier to wider adoption of OER remains a faculty perception of the time and effort required to find and evaluate it” (Allen and Seaman, 2014, Opening the Curriculum) 43 Instructor Workload Comparison Closed course •Content expert (has read foundational materials) •Course content (syllabi, notes, assignments, PowerPoint) •Design and deliver content for one audience •Competence using the library and its resources and services Fully open course All elements from closed courses, plus: •Course readings need to be open access •Design for variety of audiences • Language • Cultural considerations •Knowledge of open licensing options • Permissive licensing (CC-BY or CCO) •Dissemination methods • OER / institutional repositories •Pedagogical changes • Self-assessment • Sophistication / reading level •Usability / accessibility • Multiple file formats • Editable files with instructions • Open source editing tools provided (or recommended) Taken from McNally, M., & Christiansen, E. (2016, December 7). Choices and consequences in transitioning from closed to open resources and courses. Presented at the Open Education in Action Conference, Maskwacis Cultural College, Maskwacis, AB. 44 Using OER in the Public Library 15% of Canadians don’t have / use Internet (ITU, 2014) • Public libraries are digital hubs for many community users • Linking to OER from library’s search is critical CCO Image 45 Using OER in the Public Library Resources for Second Language Learners • “Listening, Speaking, and Pronunciation” - MIT Open Courseware • “Writing for Success” – Open Textbook Library • “Business English for Success” – OER Commons CCO Image 46 Using OER in the Public Library OER and the Maker Movement • 3D printing and 3D scanning build on open design templates and open source software • Robotics lesson plans • Teaching computer programming and STEM CCO Image 47 TinkerCAD - Design software • Cloud-based • Users can create design export them for 3D printing 48 Using OER in the Public Library Partnering with local organizations to host open education events Screenshot source 49 And if you still don’t believe OER are important… We all start somewhere! 50 THANK YOU! 51 Questions for you 1. Are there particular resources / guides not covered in this presentation that you would like to learn more about? 2. Where would you like to see a paper on OER and the role of the public library published? 52 Questions? Erik Christiansen Assistant Professor / Librarian Mount Royal University Email: echristiansen@mtroyal.ca Twitter: @eriksation Phone/text: (403) 831-5146 Portfolio: erikchristiansen.net Blog: tech-bytes.net References Alberta OER. (2017). “ROI Cost Savings.” http://albertaoer.com/sites/albertaoer.com/files/ABOER-Cost-Savings-CCBY-NC.pdf Allen, I. E., and J. Seaman. (2014). “Opening the Curriculum: Open Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2014.” Babson Survey Research Group. http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/openingthecurriculum2014.pdf. Christiansen, E. (2017, November 24). Everything is sharable: Why open educational resources are critical to lifelong and the sharing economy. Workshop given at the Code4Lib Alberta Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2014. “Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet.” http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx Jhangiani, Rajiv S., Rebecca Pitt, Christina Hendricks, Jessie Key and Clint Lalonde. (2016). Explore Faculty Use of Open Educational Resources at British Columbia Post Secondary Institutions. https://bccampus.ca/files/2016/01/BCFacultyUseOfOER_final.pdf Lumen Learning. (2015). What are open educational resources? Retrieved from http://lumenlearning.com/about-oer/ McNally, M. (2014). Broadening Access o Knowledge: Considerations in Developing and Using Open Educational Resources (OER). McNally, M., & Christiansen, E. (2016, December 7). Choices and consequences in transitioning from closed to open resources and courses. Presented at the Open Education in Action Conference, Maskwacis Cultural College, Maskwacis, AB. MIT.(2016, October). “MIT OpenCourseWare Site Statistics.” https://ocw.mit.edu/about/site-statistics/ Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (2007). Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources. http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/givingknowledgeforfreetheemergenceofopeneducationalresources.htm Smith, P. and T. J. Ragan. 2005. Instructional Design. 3rd Ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. 54 Credits Special thanks to all the people who made and released these awesome resources for free. ▪ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival ▪ Photographs by Unsplash ▪ Learn more about slidedocs at duarte.com/slidedocs 55 Presentation design This presentation uses the following typographies and colors: ▪ Titles: Nunito sans ▪ Body copy: Nunito sans You can download the font on this page: https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/nunito-sans ▪ Orange #f67031 ▪ Yellow #ffa400 ▪ Fucsia #ed0036 You don’t need to keep this slide in your presentation. It’s only here to serve you as a design guide if you need to create new slides or download the fonts to edit the presentation in PowerPoint® 56 For an editable version of this document, please contact Erik Christiansen using the link below. Website: https://erikchristiansen.net/contact/