Integration Of Open Educational Resources Research Articles

The Impact of Open Educational Resources Based Professional Development on the Bhutanese Secondary Biology In-service and Pre-Service Teachers

This study examined the impact of Open Educational Resources (OER) based professional development of secondary school biology teachers in Samtse Dzongkha in Bhutan. It highlights the importance of teaching and learning biology in secondary classrooms, emphasising its relevance to students' understanding of science, the environment, and their future academic and career choices. Recognising the challenges faced by teachers and students in biology education, STEM teacher educators from Samtse College of Education underwent professional development using OERs and online sessions facilitated by experts from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in India. These educators collaborated with peers from Tanzania, Nigeria, and TISS to develop six-week-long OERs on specific biology topics, which were then shared with selected in-service and pre-service biology teachers in Bhutan through Moodle platform. Additionally, an online Community of Practice (CoP) was established on Telegram to support the ongoing professional development. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, utilising pre and post-test scores, lesson plans, reflections, and interviews to assess the impact of the OERs on teachers. The CoP network was also analysed to understand communication patterns and knowledge sharing within the community. The results from pre-test and post-test assessments across these modules showcased marginal improvements in teachers' subject content knowledge. Detailed analysis of lesson plans and reflections revealed evolving proficiency in various pedagogical domains. Notably, many teachers sought technological integration, demonstrating an eagerness to utilize digital tools for enhancing student engagement. Despite these positive trends, a significant gap in high expertise levels among teachers was observed, particularly in the Genetics module. This hints at an underlying need for enriched professional development opportunities in specific content areas. Therefore, findings of this study concludes by recommending educational institutions to support continuous professional development for biology teachers through the integration of OERs, thereby improving the quality of biology education.

DEVELOPMENT OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR AN AGING AND MENTAL HEALTH COURSE

Abstract The financial pressures associated with a gerontological education are significant given the rising costs associated with education. This fact is particularly relevant for economically vulnerable university students. One source of stress is the cost of textbooks and other required course materials. Indeed textbook prices have increased at a rate faster than other educational expenses. Additionally, the perspectives of diverse and underrepresented scholars are often not as readily available in some textbooks. In this presentation, our process of adapting an undergraduate Aging and Mental Health course to reduce cost and also showcase diverse perspectives is described in detail. The goals of this project were to: 1) adapt a preexisting course to include low- and no-cost content through the integration of open educational resources (OER); 2) provide the most up-to-date evidence based information for content and skills development in the area of aging and mental health; and 3) highlight the perspectives of diverse or traditionally underrepresented scholars in this field of study. We will also share the process of developing an interactive Pressbooks webbook from a strengths-based perspective wholistic perspective.

Open Educational Resources as the Third Pillar in Project-Based Learning During COVID-19

Teaching in higher education in the Netherlands was affected, as in most other parts of the world, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reflects on how two courses were taught and experienced by students during the 2020–21 academic year in the MA Media Studies: Digital Cultures at Maastricht University. It particularly focuses on how the integration of open educational resources into the course design, what we call a third pedagogic pillar, contributed to the success of the two courses and students’ positive learning experience.

Integration of Open Educational Resources Using Semantic Platform

Universities around the world have been taking advantage of open educational resources (OERs) for publishing educational material. The teachers and students can access, the published material for teaching, learning and research through institutional repositories. This article proposes the design, construction and validation of the semantic platform (MIIDAS), considering two case studies of higher-level educational institutions (civil and military schools). The MIIDAS Platform integrates educational resources in institutional repositories related to the areas of Computing and Electronics engineering through the incorporation of Semantic Web technologies. The descriptions of resources consider metadata of the OAI-PMH protocol and also add educational metadata. The platform uses RDF resource descriptions, ontologies and the SPARQL query language to improve resource retrieval, in addition to proposing guidelines for the management of educational resources. The results of validation of the platform are presented through the development of evaluation instruments, which suggest possible ways to improve the platform. The article provides the basis for developing platforms that help in spreading open educational resources and allow the construction of semantically enrich data sets.

Share knowledge, participate in open education and create oer

This article focus on the presentation of a curricular unit of an online master's course and its innovative pedagogical design: share, participate in Open Education and its integration of Open Educational Resources towards an opening movement for knowledge democratization. Thus, are analyzed pedagogical strategies and their impact in students learning process to determine the importance of this movement for an effective and successful learning process. Based on the perspectives of teachers and students(Portuguese, Brazilian and Africans), in order to understand the dynamics of using and sharing online resources in their pedagogical practices, we signal the need to develop innovative open educational practices from the point of view of (co) authorship for the integration of Open Educational Resources in online education and we highlight the students' products resulting from this process and reveal the achievements that this philosophy can reach.

Open Educational Practices in Romanian Universities during the Educational Disruption

The Covid-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented situation, when education worldwide moved online, leading to what is called Emergency Remote Teaching. Completed three months after the suspension of face-to-face activities in schools and universities, this paper aims to capture the actions taken in three Romanian universities, for the continuity of education in online environment. How prepared were the higher institutions in terms of infrastructure, teacher training, digital competences of teachers and students, open education strategy? What educational technologies have been used, what is the role of Open Educational practices, the integration of Open Educational Resources and Massive Open Online Courses? How were accessed, adopted and adapted the many international initiatives, projects and resources? What are the results of the studies already carried out on the efficiency of the actions taken? What can be done better until the return to the face-to-face activities, what are the lessons learned and how this knowledge will be applied for a better future? What current practices will have an impact on the teaching-learning activity, on the opening of education?

Integration of Open Educational Resources in Higher and General Education Institutions: from the Perspectives of Specialized and Concerned Bodies in E-Learning

Open educational resourses have become a strategic source of a high degree of importance and this explains the reason for the acceleration of countries to join the use of them, but unfortunately, the results of a survey study conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on eight experts in e-learning showed a gap that hinders integration in the use of open educational resources among educational institutions, especially at the general and higher education. Accordingly, the present study aimed to review the most prominent Open Educational Resources (OER) platforms in Saudi Arabia and identify the reality of cooperation and the best means of integration between higher and general education institutions from the perspective of specialists and concerned bodies. It adopted the analytical survey (descriptive) method. It covered a population of specialists and concerned bodies in e-learning from higher and general education institutions. The study applied a questionnaire to a sample of (144) participants from higher education institutions and (327) participants from general education institutions. Finally, it concluded results, made recommendations and suggested further studies.

DIGITALIZATION: MAINSTREAM FOR THE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION AND CHALLENGES FOR THE TEACHERS

The extensive dissemination of digital technologies, their transnationality, transculturality, accessibility in almost every family and the implementation of ideas for building a digital economy are a challenge for the Russian system of professional education. The answers to this challenge are, in particular, the integration of open educational resources into the educational programs of higher education institutions, the formation of professional education architecture based on network forms of interaction in the national and global space, their wide extension containing certain difficulties and requiring additional study. The aim of this review article is to analyze the situation in the sphere of digitalization of higher education, to specify the directions of transformation, the conditions and factors of Russian university teachers’ employment associated with the introduction of online courses in the educational programs of professional education, and to formulate and justify issues, which are to be studied in the process of additional empirical research. The methodological reference point of the research is the concepts and theories of e-learning in higher education based on the integration of open educational resources into the educational process. The information base are the results of Russian and foreign scientists’ studies on the transformation of knowledge acquisition processes in the modern world, digitalization of education, evaluation of the effects of using open educational resources, loyalty and acceptance of online courses by the university community. The main research methods are review, analysis and synthesis, which allow to expand the understanding of online courses use in the university education system, and to formulate tasks for additional research of the teachers who integrate online courses. Our analysis shows that the integration of online courses in higher education programs is an epoch’s demand conditioned by changes in the principles and technologies of knowledge transfer and development. Leading universities increasingly rely on open educational resources, the introduction of the latter providing all the participants (the University, the teacher, the student) with information, technological, temporary, economic, and image effects. The Russian scientific space sees here the first raise of the following issues to be studied: 1) changes in the conditions of Russian university teachers’ employment in connection with the introduction of online courses in educational programs; 2) motivation for their activities on development and maintenance of online courses to date; 3) the opinion on the online courses as acceptable or rejectable in their professional activities. This article might be of use for representatives of the university administration (concerning the problems of summarizing information about the introduction of online courses in the educational process, setting research questions to be studied for the formation of teaching staff’s loyalty and acceptance of this or that training system). Of no less interest should it be for any university teacher, as we try to detalize the content of online courses and to identify the effects of their implementation. In the nearest future, the authors intend to publish the results of an empirical study on online learning technologies perception by university teachers and on their attitude to these technologies.

The methodology of transdisciplinarity integration of open educational resources in the study of artistic culture of the Ukrainian diaspora

The methodology of transdisciplinarity integration of open educational resources in the study of artistic culture of the Ukrainian diaspora

The power of open: benefits, barriers, and strategies for integration of open educational resources

ABSTRACT Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming a significant, mission-driven trend within educational literature. To help address rising costs, instructors and designers are looking to OER to effectively replace traditional instructional content, which requires more than just identify and replace. Drawing from 51 OER studies conducted in countries across the five continents, this systematic literature review explored the empirical themes evident in the current research on a global scale. This review found (1) discoverability, sustainability, and remixing are significant barriers that stand in the way of OER disrupting traditional textbook models; (2) there is no significant difference in learning outcomes when instructors incorporate OER; and (3) implementation of OER as instructional strategies is challenging but can be effective in supporting positive learning outcomes when properly designed. The paper concludes with a discussion of gaps in the literature, considerations for implementation and further directions for future research.

Designing Continuing Professional Development MOOCs to promote the adoption of OER and OEP

There is growing interest in the adoption of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP) in a variety of contexts. Continuing professional development (CPD) among practitioners in the effective adoption of OER and OEP is critical in this scenario. Massive open online courses (MOOCs), which also grew as part of the open education movement, provide a feasible means for this purpose. MOOCs are considered a ‘disruptive innovation’ in making free and open learning opportunities accessible to large numbers. Yet, the design of an effective massive online course that is as robust as a great online course with smaller student numbers where good principles of teaching and learning are maintained, is very challenging. Most contemporary MOOCs tend to have a content-driven focus of knowledge transmission, deviating from its original focus of knowledge generation. With the intention of providing learning experiences to promote learner engagement with OER, rather than presenting content about OER, we designed four CPD MOOCs to support the integration of OER and adoption OEP by practitioners based on a scenario-based learning (SBL) approach. This paper presents the analysis and design phases of this process, discussing the challenges faced and innovative strategies adopted in our pursuit to answer the question, “How best to design effective MOOCs on OER and OEP for continuing professional development of practitioners?”

Designing capacity building of educators in open educational resources integration leads to transformational change

While there is growing recognition and acceptance of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) in teaching and learning, designing for their integration remains very challenging for educators. Adopting OER and OEP in their profession requires significant changes in practitioners’ pedagogical thinking and practices, which can be supported by the design of appropriate professional development experiences. At the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL), significant successes in addressing this challenge have been achieved with the design and development of a rigorous approach and a robust model to support adoption of OER and OEP by practitioners using Scenario-based Learning (SBL). In this paper we explore the efficacy of a scenario-based approach to learning in the integration of OER by practitioners, reflecting on how the SBL approach was tested and refined over three continuing professional development (CPD) interventions conducted at the OUSL over 2013–2017. Based on the findings, we discuss what design strategies of the three CPD interventions best supported the adoption of OER and OEP by practitioners, how effective have been the theoretical constructs and the strategies adopted in the design of CPD interventions, the impacts of the CPD interventions and implications of these experiences for the future.

PMIIDAS: Integration of Open Educational Resources Based on Semantic Technologies

PMIIDAS: Integration of Open Educational Resources Based on Semantic Technologies

A design-based approach to support and nurture open educational practices

PurposeA critical attribute of open educational practices (OEP) is the pursuit of open scholarship which comprises the release of educational resources under an open licence scheme that permits no-cost access, use, reuse, adaptation, retention and redistribution to others. The degree of openness in relation to this attribute will depend on the context and culture of the place and the people in it. When left to chance, the adoption and practice of open scholarship by educators is at best sketchy. For optimum impact, a design-based approach is essential. A central focus of such an approach will need to target educators’ belief systems and practices about their scholarship. Any such work will involve researchers collaborating with practitioners in real-life settings to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development and implementation. The purpose of this paper is to report on how the development and use of such a design-based approach, implemented by the Open University of Sri Lanka, impacted the adoption and uptake of open scholarship among teachers in the Sri Lankan school system in terms of changes in their use of instructional resources, pedagogical thinking and pedagogical practices.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a design-based research (DBR) approach (Reeves, 2006), which involved researchers collaboratively working with practitioners in real-life settings to improve their educational practices along three aspects – instructional resource use, pedagogical perspectives and pedagogical practices. Based on the four stages of the DBR approach – analysis, solution, testing and refinement, and reflection, a professional development intervention programme was designed and implemented to support teachers on the integration of open educational resources (OER) and adoption of OEP in their teaching-learning process. Data collected throughout the process using multiple strategies such as questionnaire surveys, concept mapping, lesson plans, focus group interviews, self-reflections and “stories”, were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.FindingsBy the end of the intervention, significant changes were observed in teachers’ use of instructional resources, their pedagogical thinking and pedagogical practices. While resource usage has shifted from no or low usage of OER to reuse, revise, remix and creation of OER, the pedagogical thinking and practices of teachers moved from a content-centric and individualized patterns to more constructivist, context centric and collaborative ways. The diffusion of OEP was prominent along two dimensions – enhancements in the individual practices in innovative OER use as well as collaborative practices of sharing of resources, knowledge and good practices.Practical implicationsThe systematic and flexible methodology adopted based on the DBR approach via a framework designed as a contextualized, process oriented and a self-reflective enquiry has been very useful to support changes in OEP among practitioners over time.Originality/valueThis iterative process allowed the researchers to function as “designers”, while investigating real-life issues in collaboration with the practitioners through reflective enquiry to further refine innovative practices towards OEP. This provides valuable insights for improved design solutions for future interventions in similar contexts.

Special issue on alternative reality and analytics for learning:

One of the main challenges in modern education is to blend formal official learning with a huge variety of content provision, group discussion, self-entrepreneurship, user’s own portfolio, and long lists of possibilities off-the-classroom. Informal learning happens anytime, anywhere. We strongly believe that formal learning does too. The cornerstone is to find the right balance between both contexts. The effective integration of Open Educational Resources with formal lessons, or between traditional lectures and live multi-user conferences, or even more, between spontaneous forum contributions outside the learning management system, and the official activities towards certification, will make the difference: the actual change of an educational paradigm. And this could be so for every single shareholder of the educational community, from teachers to tutors, from support staff to managers, from content providers to learning designers and, of course, from students to graduates.

The Integration of Open Educational Resources to the Mathematics Curriculum: Experiences of Students and Teachers of Secondary Education in Mexico

This research studied the educational context of a Mexican private secondary school to determine the requirements that open learning environments and Learning Objects Repositories must fulfill to contribute to the Mathematics curriculum. A qualitative methodology was used with a case study design. For data recollection, semi-structured interviews were administrated to the students and teachers of a private secondary school to recollect information about their experiences with the virtual repository. The implementation of digital contents repository was initially a pilot project for the subject of Mathematics, and with the results it is expected to provide a wider panorama of the students’ needs and to reach the school’s vision to implement the repository to other subjects. The results show that students feel motivated to learn with interactive digital resources, and they feel safety, tranquility and reassurance because the repository provides a space that contributes to their learning process; meanwhile, teachers showed evidence of their experience to plan, design, implement and monitor the activities of Mathematics.

Integration of open educational resources in undergraduate chemistry teaching – a mapping tool and lecturers' considerations

This study examines chemistry lecturers' considerations for using open educational resources (OER) in their teaching. Recent technological developments provide innovative approaches for teaching chemistry and visualizing chemical phenomena. End users' improved ability to upload information online enables integration of various pedagogical models and learning theories. These improvements strengthen the need for up-to-date evaluation tools for educational websites. Building on existing taxonomies, a set of new criteria for the evaluation of online learning materials was developed and used to analyze 100 websites directed towards teaching chemistry. In addition, a questionnaire was circulated among 100 chemistry lecturers from various higher education institutions in Israel, 66 of whom responded. Subsequently, interviews were conducted with 17 of the questionnaire respondents. Our findings demonstrate that most of the chemistry lecturers who were interviewed integrate innovative learning materials such as simulations, videos and exercises found online in their teaching, but do not use web 2.0 that enables content sharing and collaborative learning. With respect to the selection of web-based learning materials, we found that the lecturers interviewed tended to select OER intuitively, mainly considering the reliability of information, pedagogical issues and the visual contribution, while paying less attention to collaborative learning and content sharing.

Evaluación de competencias digitales didácticas en cursos masivos abiertos: Contribución al movimiento latinoamericano

The aim of this article is to present an evaluation of digital teaching skills in a project funded by the National Distance Education System (SINED) in Mexico conducted on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) which was designed to develop competences in teachers in the distance learning or classroom setting for the integration of open educational resources (OER). The course was conducted by the Regional Open Latin American Community for Social and Educational Research (Clarise), and posed the question: how are distance learning didactic competences using OER developed? The aim was to identify and evaluate how OER were used and the form they took throughout the stages of the open education movement. The study deployed a mixed methodology with instruments such as emailed questionnaires for the MOOC participants, viewing screens in the discussion forums and anecdotal evidence. The results show that MOOC participants were able to develop digital teaching skills, identify how to use OER and how the training process occurs in the open education movement. Constraints to the development of these skills were also seen in the acculturation in the open education movement, as well as limitations on the design of distance learning models that promote these skills and the recognition of informal learning.El objetivo de este artículo es presentar la evaluación de competencias digitales didácticas en el entorno de un proyecto financiado por el Sistema Nacional de Educación a Distancia (SINED) de México, donde se llevó a cabo un curso masivo abierto (Massive Open Online Course: MOOC, por sus siglas en inglés), dirigido a desarrollar competencias en profesores de educación a distancia o presencial para integrar recursos educativos abiertos (REA). El curso se impartió a través de la Comunidad Latinoamericana Abierta Regional de Investigación Social y Educativa (Clarise). Se partió de la interrogante ¿cómo se desarrollan las competencias didácticas en ambientes de aprendizaje a distancia que utilizan REA?, con el fin de identificar y evaluar cómo se usan los REA y cómo se está formando a través de las etapas del movimiento educativo abierto. La metodología empleada fue mixta, con instrumentos de cuestionarios electrónicos para los participantes, rejillas de observación en foros de discusión y registros anecdóticos. Los resultados muestran que los participantes en un MOOC, logran desarrollar competencias digitales didácticas, lográndose identificar claramente cómo se usan los REA y cómo se está dando el proceso de formación en el movimiento educativo abierto; sin embargo, también se denotan limitaciones para el desarrollo de estas competencias, tales como la culturización en el movimiento educativo abierto, el diseño de modelos de aprendizaje a distancia que promuevan las competencias y el reconocimiento del aprendizaje informal.

Harnessing Open Educational Resources to the Challenges of Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

The challenges to teacher educators in sub-Saharan Africa are acute. This paper describes how the Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) consortium is working within institutional and national policy systems to support school-based teacher professional development. The TESSA consortium (13 African institutions and 5 international organisations delivering teacher education across 9 countries) designed and produced a bank of open educational resources (OERs) to guide teachers’ classroom practices in school-based teacher education. Drawing on examples from the TESSA consortium and from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa, the authors categorize the forms of TESSA OER integration as highly structured, loosely structured, or guided use. The paper concludes by outlining success factors for the integration of OERs: accessibility, adequate resources, support for teachers, accommodation of local cultural and institutional practices, and sustainable funding.