This is a Guest Lecture delivered to PhD Scholars at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Pakistan on 7th October 2015. The presentation explores the current global trends in Open Educational Resources (OER). The specific topics covered include a brief introduction to OER; defining the “O” in OER; how licensing works with the new Creative Commons 4.0 International licensing scheme; defining the usefulness of an OER for a particular teaching and learning purpose through the “Desirability” framework; and identifying the objectives of large scale OER projects through the “Focus Triangle”.

1. Current Trends in OER
Guest Lecture
Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Pakistan
By
Ishan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
7th September 2015

2. Lecture Outline
• Brief Introduction to OER
• How Licensing Works
• What OER to Use in My Teaching (Desirability)
• Focus Triangle for OER Projects (Conceptual)

3. A Technical Perspective

4. “web-based materials,
offered freely and
openly for use and re-
use in teaching,
learning and research”
(Joyce, 2007).
Joyce, A. (2007). OECD Study of OER: Forum Report, OECD. Retrieved December 12, 2011 from
http://www.unesco.org/iiep/virtualuniversity/forumsfiche.php?queryforumspages_id=33.

5. “teaching, learning and
research materials in any
medium, digital or otherwise,
that reside in the public
domain or have been released
under an open license that
permits no-cost access, use,
adaptation and redistribution
by others with no or limited
restrictions”
(UNESCO Paris OER Declaration, 2012)
UNESCO. (2012, June 22). 2012 PARIS OER DECLARATION. Retrieved June 13, 2013, from unesco.org:
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/WPFD2009/English_Declaration.html

6. OER: Just another means of getting there…

7. four ‘R’s model:
Reuse
Redistribute
Revise
Remix
Retain
Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Stein, J., & Johnson, A. (2010). The four R‘s of openness and ALMS Analysis: Frameworks for open educational resources.
Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 25(1), 37-44.
O
Openness

8. Increasing openness of the four ‘R’s: adapted from
(Hilton et al., 2010)

11. International

12. Source: http://creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/cc40-itshere-275.png used under CC BY 4.0 International License

13. • A more global license
• Rights outside the scope of copyright
• Common-sense attribution
• Enabling more anonymity, when desired
• 30-day window to correct license violations
• Increased readability
• Clarity about adaptations
What’s new in CC 4.0?
Source: http://creativecommons.org/version4

15. So…how do I find the material I need for my teaching?

16. i. Facilitate finding,
retrieving and sharing
of OER.
Encourage the
development of user-
friendly tools to locate and
retrieve OER that are
specific and relevant to
particular needs.
(UNESCO Paris OER Declaration,
2012)
The Declaration
UNESCO. (2012). Paris OER Declaration, Retrieved September18, 2012 from
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/Events/Paris%20OER%20Declaration_

17. How useful is a resource really?

18. Measures of Usefulness
Openness
Accessibility
Relevance

19. Less useful resources are less desirable for teaching and learning needs….
What is Desirability?

20. The four R’s (Hilton et al., 2010)
▫ Reuse: the ability to use all or part of a work for
ones own purposes;
▫ Redistribute: the ability to share ones work with
others;
▫ Revise: the ability to adapt, modify, translate or
change the form of a work;
▫ Remix: the ability to combine resources to make
new resources.
Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Stein, J., & Johnson, A. (2010). The four R‘s of openness and ALMS Analysis: Frameworks for
open educational resources. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 25(1), 37-44.
Increasing
Openness
Openness

21. Access (ALMS)
Hilton, J., Wiley, D., Stein, J., & Johnson, A. (2010). The four R‘s of openness and ALMS Analysis: Frameworks for open educational
resources. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 25(1), 37-44.
•Access to editing
tools
•Level of expertise
required to revise or
remix
•Meaningfully editable
•Source file access

22. Relevance
Search rank Value
Below the top 30 ranks of the search results 1
Within the top 21-30 ranks of the search results 2
Within the top 11-20 ranks of the search results 3
Within the top 10 ranks of the search results 4
The level of relevance based on search rank (Vaughan, 2004)
• Users will only consider the top ten ranked results for a particular search
as the most relevant;
• Users will ignore the results below the top 30 ranks.
Vaughan, L. (2004). New measurements for search engine evaluation proposed and tested. Information Processing and
Management 40, 677–691.

23. i.e. Desirability
D-index = (level of access x level of openness x relevance) / 256

24. DESIRABILITY
SHARING
ROI SUSTAINABILTY
FOCUS TRIANGLE FOR OER PROJECTS
(Conceptual)
•Attributes
•Objectives

25. DESIRABILITY
SHARING
ROI SUSTAINABILTY
Increased Sharing

26. DESIRABILITY
SUSTAINABILTY
Increased ROI

27. DESIRABILITY
ROI
Increased Sustainability

28. Thank You