The document reports on the results of a survey assessing awareness of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP) among educators in Scotland's colleges. Key findings include very low awareness of OER, with over half of respondents unaware of OER. Quality and accuracy were the most important factors for educators in choosing teaching materials. Lack of awareness and not knowing how to use OER were seen as the top barriers. The report recommends efforts to raise awareness of OER/OEP among college educators and provide development opportunities on using OER.
2. 1
Executive Summary
Key findings
• Awareness of open educational resources (OER) among educators in Scotland’s
colleges is very low
• Awareness of CC licenses is lower than public domain or copyright (but
awareness of all license types is higher than awareness of OER in general)
• Most educators share teaching materials via their institutions VLE but few share
them openly online
• Quality and accuracy are the most important factors influencing educators’
choice of teaching material
• Lack of awareness and not knowing how to use OER are perceived as the
highest barriers to adoption of OER
• Staff who attend CPD opportunities are more likely to engage with OER and OEP
Recommendations
• Efforts to raise awareness of OER and OEP among teaching staff in Scotland’s
colleges need to be scaled up
• Opportunities for development around the use of OER in the curriculum (and
especially the affordances and limitations of open licenses) should be provided
• Colleges should consider the possibility of ‘opening up’ their VLEs, and establish
how to best support and encourage their teaching staff to share resources
openly
8. 7
Used by other colleagues in
my Department
115 49.1 7 58.3 48 51.1 60 46.9
Provided by my college 101 43.5 5 38.5 40 43 56 44.4
Ready to use 182 77.4 10 76.9 75 79.8 97 75.8
Adaptable/editable 222 95.3 13 100 89 95.7 120 94.5
Invited comments on other factors that influence choice of teaching resources highlight a
preference for localized materials – “I teach history. I like to use resources relating to local history
if possible”, “Tailored to Scottish curriculum. It annoys me to make do with what was produced for
England”; and learner-centered –“Engaging for students”, “Interactive for student involvement”.
Use of repositories
The three most commonly used repositories and educational sites reported in this particular
sample are YouTube (94.9%, n=224), followed by SQA Open Access (44.5%, n=105) and TED Talks
(39.8%, n=94) (Figure 3). This pattern of use continues when looking at data from the three
separate groups, but it is worth emphasizing that use of OER repositories (i.e. OpenLearn, Jorum)
by OER users is much higher than those who are not aware or don’t use OER.
Figure 3. Use of repositories
Sharing teaching resources
Results indicate that sharing teaching resources is common practice among surveyed educators,
with only 1.1% (n=3) declaring their unwillingness to part with their materials. Overall, a majority
share via their college’s VLE (69.1%, n=163), in person (61.4%, n=145) and via email if asked
28.8%
94.9%
39.8%
1.7%
28.4%
14.8%
9.3%
3.8%
9.7%
19.9%
3.8% 1.7%
16.1%
44.5%
19.1%
26.3%
10. 9
Table 4. Awareness of licensing by group
OER users
n=13
OER non-users
n=95
OER
unaware
n=128
Count Valid % Count Valid % Count Valid %
Public Domain 13 100 76 80.9 70 55.6
Copyright 13 100 89 93.7 112 87.5
Creative Commons 12 92.3 47 50.5 29 23
OER users: types of OER used, purpose and impact
Users of OER in this particular sample (n=13) reported using OER regularly as supporting material
to enhance teaching or as further reference for students rather than primary course material
(46.2% versus 30.8% respectively).
Figure 5 shows the wide range of OER used by surveyed educators: slides and class presentations
are used by all respondents; videos (92.3%, n=12) and images (84.6%, n=11) are the second and
third most popular type of OER, while at the lower end of the scale we find whole courses (15.4%,
n=2) and open datasets (23.1%, n=3). These findings coincide with those reported in previous
research (BCG, 2013; de los Arcos et al., 2014; Allen & Seaman, 2014; de los Arcos et al., 2015).
Figure 5. Types of OER
Purpose of OER use by educators in this particular sample is shown in Table 5. The highest
percentages correspond to using open resources to prepare for teaching, to get new ideas and
inspiration, to broaden the range of resources available to students and to engage learners more
92.3%
38.5%
84.6%
53.8%
46.2%
76.9%
76.9%
69.2%
100%
15.4%
61.5%
61.5%
23.1%
Videos
Audio podcasts
Images
Infographics
Games/simulations
Video lectures/tutorials
Tests/quizzes
Open textbooks
Slides/ class presentations
Whole course
Elements of a course
Lesson plans
Open datasets
11. 10
fully. Using OER to make a more culturally diverse classroom or to accommodate diverse learner
needs received the smallest number of responses, contrary to findings of research conducted by
OERHub in an international setting (de los Arcos et al., 2016).
Table 5. Purpose of using OER
ALL RESPONSES
n=13
Count % Valid %
To prepare for my teaching 12 92.3 92.3
To get new ideas and inspiration 12 92.3 92.3
To broaden the range of my teaching methods 10 76.9 76.9
To broaden the range of resources available to my students 12 92.3 92.3
To make my teaching more culturally diverse 9 69.2 69.2
To stay up-to-date in a subject or topic area 11 84.6 84.6
To engage my students more fully in a topic area 12 92.3 92.3
To interest hard-to-engage learners 11 84.6 84.6
To be able to accommodate diverse learner needs in class 9 69.2 69.2
When asked about the most important reason why they use OER, flexibility and modularity of
materials were ranked highest, followed by trusted quality and subject coverage. The fewest
number of preferences were recorded in relation to efficacy, and materials being suggested by the
College/Department. A study by the Boston Consulting Group (2013) reports similar findings in the
context of K12 education: 29% of US schoolteachers adopt OER mainly for the flexibility they
afford to adapt the content, and their low cost.
A minority (41.7%, n=5) of OEPS-surveyed college educators said they were aware of OER being
used by students but did not volunteer any examples. However, a majority (75%, n=9) said they
encourage their students to use OER –“Some of the best resources are recommended by students
themselves!”.
Table 6 shows how educators perceive OER having an impact on teaching and learning. A majority
agree that OER use leads to improvement in student satisfaction and performance, and that the
open aspect of OER creates different patterns of usage and adoption compared with other online
resources.
13. 12
Creation of new OER 6 50 25 29.4
Remixing of OER 5 41.7 11 13.4
Open educational practice 5 41.7 12 14.3
Open scholarship 1 9.1 0 0
Open research 3 25 8 9.6
Barriers to the adoption of OER
US schoolteachers who self-classify as non-OER users mention that lack of awareness, and not
being sure how to use OER, together with time constraints are the main barriers to their adoption
of OER (Boston Research Group, 2013). OEPS survey results correspond to these findings. A
majority of OEPS college respondents considered lack of awareness of OER the biggest barrier for
the adoption of OER –83.3% (n=10) of those who use OER, 91.8% (n=78) of those who don’t use
OER despite being aware of them, and 84.6% of those unaware of OER (n=104) (Figure 6). Knowing
how to use resources is the second biggest barrier for the three groups. Users of OER rank third
most important barrier to the adoption of OER the lack of knowledge about permission to use or
change OER (60%, n=6). This serious concern with licensing and its implications when using and/or
adapting open resources has also been found in research by Allen & Seaman (2014) concerning US
HE educators.
Figure 7. Perceived barriers to adoption of OER
76.9%
72.7%
55.6%
55.6%
30%
40%
70%
33.3%
60%
50%
30%
30%
50%
91.8%
72.6%
25.3%
29.3%
11.3%
12.5%
18.1%
18.1%
26.5%
32.1%
17%
12.2%
25.3%
84.6%
70%
18.1%
12.8%
7.7%
8.5%
10.3%
7.7%
10%
18.6%
7.7%
8.5%
20.3%
Lack of awareness about OER in general
Not sure how to use OER
Too hard to find
Not enough subject coverage
Not high-quality
Not current/up-to-date
Not relevant to one's local context
Too fragmented
Not knowing about permission to use/
change
Lack of support from colleges
Too difficult to change/edit
Not effective at improving student
performance
Not used by colleagues in my
Department/Faculty/Curriculum Area
OER users
OER non-users
OER unaware