Abstract
This paper reports on the research findings from a national project examining the issues in creating, sharing, using, and reusing open educational resources (OER) in the context of the development of open education in Ireland. One important aspect of the research was to investigate the potential for using existing institutional research repository infrastructure for the purpose of ingesting, managing, and discovering OER produced by academics. This approach would imply a move from previous strategy around a centralised repository at the national level to a devolved model that relies on institutional research repositories. The opportunities and potential barriers to the adoption of this approach were explored through an online survey and focus groups with academics from a range of higher education institutions (HEIs). Also, a focus group of institutional repository managers was convened to discuss the potential of the institutional repositories with those leading their development. Analysis of the data indicates that the devolved approach to institutions would be possible if the right supports and protocols were put in place. It was acknowledged that research repositories could potentially also serve as repositories of teaching materials, fostering parity of esteem between teaching and research. However, a range of important challenges were present, and alternative solutions emerged, which are discussed in the context of the present and future of online OER repositories.
Highlights
The Drive Towards open educational resources (OER) ManagementFor more than a decade the open education movement has continued to gather momentum in higher education, prompted by increasing demands for more flexible education options, developments in technology and infrastructure, and advocacy at the policy level
There is a clear rationale for promoting engagement with OER for the enhancement of teaching and learning; the Horizon Report (New Media Consortium, 2018) on the technology outlook for higher education, identifies the proliferation of OER as a key trend for the acceleration of technology adoption in higher education
In investigating the research question, it was recognised that the methodological approach should integrate the views and suggestions of all stakeholders, namely, higher education academics, librarians and library managers, educational developers, and educational technologists, and should integrate historical developments around OER management in Ireland
Summary
The Drive Towards OER ManagementFor more than a decade the open education movement has continued to gather momentum in higher education, prompted by increasing demands for more flexible education options, developments in technology and infrastructure, and advocacy at the policy level. With the current emphasis on modernising and transforming higher education, embracing openness and promoting engagement with OER can help to (re)professionalise teaching and learning by enabling open educational practices (OEPs) through effective open pedagogies, and increasing digital capacity through developing the educational technology and digital literacy skills required to create, reuse, and remix OER. Defining a model for the storage and release of OER is dependent on the specific context, motivation, and intended outcomes of OER projects Factors such as the requirements of stakeholders, sustainability, existing institutional policies and practices, practical issues around technical infrastructure, staff skills and understanding (i.e., librarians, learning technologists, web officers, or academics), workflows for quality assurance, and copyright licensing impact on choosing and adopting a particular approach. The section below goes on to describe the particular policy and practice context where this study took place, which informs the research undertaken
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