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Abstract
Two contrasting models to facilitate the sharing of digital educational resources available for Higher Education are reviewed. The first model is based upon a low-input / open-access format that identifies, reviews then integrates digital resources taken from the global open educational resources pool into a course structure. New resources are added where required and the totality is contextualised for the specific current curriculum requirements. The second model is based upon a membership system linking global schools in any subject but trialled in dentistry to create, structure and curate a common pool of digital educational resources. The models selected have their roots in common initial goals but have chosen different routes to structure and fund their development in their search for sustainability. The models are contrasted and compared in terms of ease of use and contextualisation, and some general lessons for further OER development are drawn.
Highlights
There has been a growing movement to openly share digital resources over the internet, and education is currently only a small proportion of this activity, there are signs that the concept is increasing in significance (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2007)
The sustainability of a philosophy that invests in creating high-fidelity quality resources gives them away begs the question of ‘why?’ In this paper, we exclude consideration of the current vogue for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which share many of the drivers of open educational resources (OERs) production but have a much shorter track record
It may be that these two models can be considered as occurring at different points on the continuum, from free to commercial, and that, as Anderson (2008) has argued, both are based on a new business logic that gives a product away free in order to secure a larger customer base
Summary
There has been a growing movement to openly share digital resources over the internet, and education is currently only a small proportion of this activity, there are signs that the concept is increasing in significance (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2007). It is important to assert that both models have strengths and drawbacks, and this is not an attempt to value one above the other but rather to analyse the opportunities that each provides towards improving the quality and accessibility of online educational resources In both models, we currently are only considering digital OERs, and even this offers a huge variety, but we should remember the advice of Downes The project began by considering better sharing of educational provision within Iceland ( ICT solutions) as a means to access resources, avoid inefficient overlap and improve quality learning experiences for students. This thinking led to 1) the investigation of opportunities for networking within Iceland, 2) opportunities for international networking and 3) investigation into the improved use of OERs as a basis for curriculum development. The resultant completed course was intended as one component part of a full programme of university study in this subject discipline
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