Presentation given by Katerina Zourou and Giiulia Torresin (Web2Learn, Greece), at 12th Educational Repositories Network (EdReNe) Seminar in Denmark, 20-21 October 2015

1. This project was financed with the support of the European Commission. This publication is the sole responsibility of the author and
the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
Community and identity in Open Educational Practice
(OEP):
insights from an expert survey
Katerina Zourou, Giiulia Torresin
Web2Learn, Greece
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2. Starting points
• From OER to OEP=>
• Shift from (access to) content to engagement with OER
• Practices still not well documented
• Limited knowledge of sharing practices; (very) few insights into OER re-
use and adaptation processes (e.g. versioning)
• Social networks: opportunities for user engagement, participatory
learning and social interaction- can they help overcome the limitations
above?
Questions:
• How does engagement in OEP affect understandings of community and
identity?
• What is the role of social networks in respect to user engagement?
Beetham et al, 2012; Ehlers, 2011; Littlejohn et al., 2014
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3. Methodology
Open ended survey administered to 18 OER experts; data collection
between June and August 2014. Part of WP6 (OER challenges for
language learning) of LangOER
Content analysis as an interpretative approach to understanding
subjective realities
•Topics covered by survey:
– Impact of OER (re-)use on learning pedagogies
– OER seen from the perspective of social connectivity
– Social networks and their role in OER adoption
⇒ “identity” and “community” not figuring among topics. They were
recurrently mentioned in expert replies, thus research focus shift
to understand the significance of these frequently used terms.
Mostyn, 1985; Mayring, 2000
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4. Networking as enabler of OER re-use
•“[We should enable access] to learning communities and
individuals online via social networking sites, including open-
source platforms and tools, and flexible openly licensed
authentic educational content for re-purposing as learning
resources” (E11, q5)
⇒Involvement of a range of actors (teachers AND learners);
engagement in OEP (OER adaptation); active learning
(socioconstructivist approach)
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Results- Networked communities in OEP

5. Results- Networked communities in OEP (2)
“Whether they are students or teachers, users need to create a
community of practice to show each other how to adapt and use
OER. Since OER are all about learning by doing, it only makes
sense that there be a social network where OER users can talk to
each other about their OER practices” (E18, q6).
⇒Wenger’s Community of Practice (CoP) in its technical
(networking space) and social (engagement, collaboration)
dimensions.
Wenger, 1998.
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6. • “In the future, I see OER serving as triggers for greater
interaction in multiple learning communities: teacher
communities and student communities. In other words, social
networks (or what I am calling communities of practice) are
the places where learning takes place. Students and teachers
must show each other how to scaffold interaction with flexible
OER” (E18, q12).
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Results- Networked communities in OEP (3)

7. Engagement in a community (networks alone aren’t enough)
•it is very important [to] build a community around the
resources. (E10, q6)
•I know [two well-known repositories of OER for language
learning] but both have technical limitations and barriers: [there
is] no social sharing, no community feel, still rather dominated
by institutional presence” (E10, q6)
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Results- Networked communities in OEP (4)

8. Results- digital identities
“I am not in favour of [making OER available publicly], as I
think there is too much potential for users to become
disengaged. Many colleagues still feel an enormous amount of
pressure or sensitivity in relation to critique of their teaching
or teaching materials - anyone who is truly invested in their
teaching cannot help but be emotionally invested. (…) The two
concerns I think people have about sharing educational
resources are 1) fear of criticism and 2) fear of not being
acknowledged (E13, q8).
Impact on professional identities of users engaged in OEP- is
public display of one’s OEP incompatible with academic
identity?
(cf. Perryman & Coughlan, 2013; Hughes & McKenna 2012).
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9. Results- digital identities
“A lot of sharing and reusing is happening within certain
groups of interest. In a way, all the subscribers to given
content (e.g. the followers of a particular website/service)
form a group of interest or, in other words, a community of
inquiry. (…) Personally I'm a member of a few special interest
Facebook groups based on the idea of sharing” (E4, q7).
⇒two types of communities where sharing occurs: within
bounded communities (tight links), and open networks (more
dispersed groups of (often unknown) users).
⇒What are the enablers for the transition between bounded
and open communities?
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10. Conclusion
•Results indicate (Littlejohn & al. 2014) that open networks
serve to flatten the former hierarchical relationship within a
Higher Education institution, a shift that is in line with open
approaches to knowledge building.
*Does the erosion of community boundaries undermine the
potential for change?
Littlejohn, A., Falconer, I., Mcgill, L., & Beetham, H. (2014).
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11. Conclusion
• “When one moves beyond the familiar camaraderie of the
group to the open network, effective management of one’s
identity becomes critically important” (Dron & Anderson,
2014: 158-159).
• Social networks facilitate connections and interactions
around OER. Yet some users find public sharing and
engagement threatening.
=> Aspect of user online activity to be taken into consideration
in enabling technologies for OER uptake (e.g. ROER)?
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12. Outputs - expert videos and research paper
A. Expert videos
available on YouTube
http://langoer.eun.org
/videos
A paper: Zourou, K. 2016,
in press. Identity and
engagement in networked
Open Educational Practice.
International Journal of
Applied Linguistics
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13. Staying in touch
http://langoer.eun.org/
#langOER
LangOER
OER and languages
OER and languages
LangOER teachers’ group (in preparation)
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14. References
Beetham, H., Falconer, I., McGill, L. and Littlejohn, A. Open practices: briefing paper.
JISC, 2012 https://oersynth.pbworks.com/w/page/51668352/OpenPracticesBriefing
Ehlers, U. (2011). From open educational resources to open educational practices.
ELearning Papers, 23:1–8.
http://www.elearningeuropa.info/sites/default/files/media25186.pdf
Littlejohn, A., Falconer, I., Mcgill, L., & Beetham, H. (2014b). Open Networks and
Bounded Communities: Tensions Inherent in Releasing Open Educational Resources.
In A. Littlejohn, C. Pegler (Eds), Reusing Open Resources. New York: Routledge (pp. 57–
69).
Perryman, L.-A., & Coughlan, T. (2013). The realities of “reaching out”: enacting the
public-facing open scholar role with existing online communities. Journal of Interactive
Media in Education, 1–14. Retrieved from http://www-
jime.open.ac.uk/jime/article/viewArticle/2013-21/html
Hughes, J., & McKenna, C. (2012). The impact of developing Open Educational
Resources (OERs) on novice OER developers. Journal of Interactive Media in Education,
14, 1–11. Retrieved from http://jime.open.ac.uk/jime/article/viewArticle/2012-
14/html
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15. Annex: Questionnaire OEP in a language
learning/teaching context: focus on interaction
Appropriateness of OER for language learning.
•1. OER for language learning: what is your first reaction?
•2. Do you believe that OER are appropriate in a language learning context? What kind of
justification can we provide for or against?
•3. What do you think of the argument that OER are not very suitable for language
teaching/learning due to importance of issues (such as granularity, contextualization, learning
needs) in a language learning/teaching context?
Affordances of OER for language interaction
•4. Do you see possibilities of OER (re-)use in contexts other than tutored situations (face-to-face,
online or hybrid)?
•5. How can OER afford interaction, with either native speakers or peers?
•Role of social networking in fostering OER (re)use in a language learning context
•6. In a language learning context, how do you see the role of social networks in conjunction with
OER?
•7. Are social networks, with their user-driven capacity and ease of reaching peers and native
speakers, a suitable means for OER uptake and expansion? If so, what kind of examples/practices
do we have? If not, why not in your opinion?
•8. How do you see game-based mechanics (badges, recommendations systems, etc.) as a means
for OER uptake? Please justify your reply .
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16. Annex: Questionnaire OEP in a language
learning/teaching context: focus on interaction (p. 2)
•9. Do you know of any educational practices using OER in a language learning context that utilize
social networks and/or game mechanics?
•10. Do you know of any OER repositories whose social networking and/or game mechanics
foster language interaction?
•11. What kind of improvements (pedagogical, technological, organizational) do you think would
foster the interactional dimension of OER?
•12. In your opinion, can social networks and OER be complementary, where the former act as
socialization/ language interaction spaces and OER as content?
Future of OER with regard to social connectivity
•13. What direction should OER for language learning take in the future?
•14. Do you believe that OER should converge with digitally enhanced social trends such as
crowdsourcing and socially-developed and maintained resources as a trigger to more user
engagement with OER? If so, how exactly? If not, why not?
•15. Do you believe that OER in a language learning context will be marginalized possibly due to
the lack of conditions for interaction for self-directed learners, with learners moving to more
interactive solutions (web 2.0 language learning communities -such as LiveMocha, Busuu,
Babbel- or MOOCs)?
•16. How do you see the future of OER for languages in conjunction with the for-profit language
learning sector (e.g. publishing houses, private e-content providers)?
•17. Is there anything you would like to add that has not been brought up in the survey?
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