Examining the Usefulness of Quality Scores for Generating Learning Object Recommendations in Repositories of Open Educational Resources

Aldo Gordillo,Daniel López-Fernández,Katrien Verbert

doi:10.3390/app10134638

Aldo Gordillo, Daniel López-Fernández + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app10134638

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Journal: Applied sciences	Publication Date: Jul 4, 2020
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, KU Leuven

Abstract

Open educational resources (OER) can contribute to democratize education by providing effective learning experiences with lower costs. Nevertheless, the massive amount of resources currently available in OER repositories makes it difficult for teachers and learners to find relevant and high-quality content, which is hindering OER use and adoption. Recommender systems that use data related to the pedagogical quality of the OER can help to overcome this problem. However, studies analyzing the usefulness of these data for generating OER recommendations are very limited and inconclusive. This article examines the usefulness of using pedagogical quality scores for generating OER recommendations in OER repositories by means of a user study that compares the following four different recommendation approaches: a traditional content-based recommendation technique, a quality-based non-personalized recommendation technique, a hybrid approach that combines the two previous techniques, and random recommendations. This user study involved 53 participants and 400 OER whose quality was evaluated by reviewers using the Learning Object Review Instrument (LORI). The main finding of this study is that pedagogical quality scores can enhance traditional content-based OER recommender systems by allowing them to recommend OER with more quality without detriment to relevance.

Highlights

Open educational resources (OER) have a huge and irrefutable potential to provide universal and equal access to education at all levels, contributing to education’s democratization [1]
The main finding of this study is that pedagogical quality scores can enhance traditional content-based OER recommender systems by allowing them to recommend OER with more quality without detriment to relevance
This potential has been noticed by the European Union, who recognized that stimulating supply and demand for high-quality OER is essential for modernizing education and that these resources contribute to broadening access to education, as well as to alleviating costs for educational institutions and students, especially among disadvantaged groups [2]

Summary

Introduction

Open educational resources (OER) have a huge and irrefutable potential to provide universal and equal access to education at all levels, contributing to education’s democratization [1]. This potential has been noticed by the European Union, who recognized that stimulating supply and demand for high-quality OER is essential for modernizing education and that these resources contribute to broadening access to education, as well as to alleviating costs for educational institutions and students, especially among disadvantaged groups [2]. The educational benefits of OER most frequently recognized include the encouragement of improvement and localization of content, the drastic reduction of costs without detriment to instructional effectiveness, and the capacity to offer equal access to knowledge for all.

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