This is a presentation given by Jutta Treviranus at the OER 2011 Hewlett meetings in California

1. If you want to change the world - look to the
margins
Jutta Treviranus
FLOE Project
Inclusive Design Research Centre
OCAD University

2. Renovations ...
• the doable task
• that uncovers the need to
rebuild the foundations

3. Our doable task:
• make OER accessible to
students with disabilities
• ensure that OER will meet
accessibility legislation
globally so this won’t be an
impediment to adoption

4. Straightforward
approach:
• fix all the resources
• but....
• how many resources are
there?
• how many can be fixed?
• is fixing them a good thing?
• will this serve the learners?

5. This is not just about
OER
Connected to:
• how digital technologies are
designed
• accessibility legislation and policy
• special service delivery processes
globally

6. How digital technologies
are developed
• standard digital technology design goes
as far as the typical or average user
• assistive technologies are meant to bridge
the gap
• but assistive technology is crumbling
• not technically viable
• not a viable business model
• cannot keep up with development
• cost, availability, functionality, reliability

7. Legislation and Policy
• accessibility interpreted as an
absolute binary issue
• “one-size-fits-all”
requirements
• laws are an inflexible and blunt
instrument for a complex
domain
• hard to update and keep
current
• constraining innovation in
curriculum and delivery

8. Special Service
Delivery
• Spending more on excluding
individuals from service and
policing service than on
service delivery
• Only eligible individuals for
only authorized resources
• Criteria tightened to contain
costs- then squeezed-out
group advocates for new
eligibility categories
• even fewer funds to deliver
service

9. But this is not a
renovation nightmare
story.....
There is a bright side.

10. The bright side...
• What we have developed to
“fix” the doable task is very
useful for addressing the
foundations - and then some
• There is a growing community
that like the idea and want to
pitch in

11. • every learner learns differently
• digital resources and delivery
mechanisms can be easily
reconfigured
• we all learn better if the
education environment and
content matches our individual
needs
• disability is relative
• we can deliver “one-size-fits-
one” learning

12. • a matching service for learning
Three main parts:
1. Pluggable utilities to enable learners to
discover and express individual needs
2. A service that transforms resources,
augments resources or finds alternative
resources to match the individual
needs
3. A demand-supply pipeline of possible
“producers” to meet the demands and
fill the gaps

13. In our toolkit ..
• An extensible, common, machine-
readable language for expressing
learner needs and preferences
• A system for cumulatively labelling
resources with information about
what needs are met by the resource
• Supports for creating flexible,
reconfigurable resources
• Supports for translating resources -
to other modes and languages

14. Powered by ...
• Expanded, diverse community
of producers
• Peer producers
• Derivatives, reuse and sharing

15. Why does it
resonate...
• completely in line with OER
principles and goals
• encourages innovation and
diversification of OER
• learners don’t need to qualify
for special services, fit into
categories, or compromise
their learning needs
• invites broader, more diverse
engagement in OER

16. Helping to fix the
foundations...
• Addressing the problems of
digital technology
development
• Global Public Inclusive
Infrastructure
• Applying the FLOE concept to
address Digital Inclusion
• See: gpii.org

18. Good for inclusive prosperity and
sustainable economic growth..
• We are in an extreme push
market
• Large barrier to entry for any
new idea
• Must focus on selling, not
producing or innovating
• Provide a direct pipeline
between diverse demand and
diverse supply
• Supports inclusive prosperity

19. The margins are not
marginal...
They encompass
everything we do.

20. How can you help?
1. Remember, all learners learn
differently - we need to stop
designing for the average or
typical learner and help
learners discover and
express their individual
learner needs.
2. Create reconfigurable,
flexible OER and encourage a
diversity of derivatives.
3. Collect information about the
usefulness of each resource.

21. How can you be part of this?
Looking for partners for pilots:
• OER developers and
producers
• OER delivery projects
• OER implementers
See: floeproject.org