University of Jyväskylä
Global Information Systems
Prof. Dr. Jan M. Pawlowski
Open Educational
Resources for Global
Collaboration:
OER Case Study
Jan M. Pawlowski, University of Jyväskylä
jan.pawlowski@jyu.fi
Date: 20.04.2012
University of Jyväskylä
Global Information Systems
P.O. Box 35, Agora
FI-40014 UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ
Finland
Tel. ++358 14 260 2596
Fax. ++358 14 260 2544
Mail. jan.pawlowski@jyu.fi
Web. http://users.jyu.fi/~japawlow
OER Case Study
1 Background: The OER Adaptation Model (Pirkkalainen,
Pawlowski, 2010)
1.1 Search & Find
Choose the starting point for your search – in this step, find a good starting repository
for your search. We recommend to either use a specific repository for a certain topic
(e.g. OpenScout for Management, LRE for school contents) or a federated repository
which searches more than one source. Check whether there are multi-lingual features
(search, vocabulary, …).
Clearly state your requirements and needs: What are the main characteristics of your
content besides the topic area – which is the age group, context (school, Higher
Education, SME training, etc), instructional context. All these aspects can usually be
specified in the search engines and make it more likely to find good results
Check the quality of a resource: Has the resource been reviewed by colleagues? Has it
been certified or has it achieved good ranking from previous re-users?
Check the internationalization requirements: Are there national / regional concepts in
the content? Does the curriculum fit? Is the resource appealing?
Ask colleagues and networks: It is promising also to ask experienced colleagues or
search forums by fellow teachers as an example. In most cases, you easily find a
colleague sharing good ideas and hints.
Familiarize yourself with some basic licenses: Most OER use a creative commons
license which aims at providing a simple transparent scheme. In most cases, re-use is
allowed when informing the author in non-commercial settings. However, the Creative
Commons website for OER helps to clarify what your legal situation is and also
provides a tool to build licenses for your needs.
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Creative_Commons_and_Open_Educational_Resour
ces or http://creativecommons.org/choose/?lang=en_GB
Search and try: Most repositories provide direct access to resources, so it might be
useful just to try out a few resources and see how it fits your context.
Summarize the characteristics and estimate the adaptation effort
Make your decision: You cannot use all resources but soon you will find resources and
colleagues which are fitting your context.
1.2 Adapt
Small involvement or more? As a first step, a strategic decision is needed – will you
only re-use materials or do you see this as a potential for strategic collaboration.
Simple re-use just requires downloading the resource and adapting some graphics (just
like changing a powerpoint slide design). In some cases, you might find the materials
as a good starting point, but you would add concepts and enrich / enhance the contents
and share it again with the original author and a community – this can lead to dynamic
content enhancements and – even more important – trusted communities.
Tools: Some materials are simpler to modify (web pages, wiki pages), some need
more effort. The selection of good (and free) tools to make changes is essential for a
good process.
Collaborate: It is always advisable to let the original author and potential colleagues
know about your plans. By this, you can clarify the authors’ intentions but also initiate
OER Case Study
a longer cooperation. People who share their materials are in most cases more than
willing to discuss and listen to your suggestions.
Adapt and try: Making your adaptations, bringing in new ideas, discussing
improvements with colleagues. This is the main challenge of this phase. However, you
should always try the result before publishing it again.
1.3 Share and Exchange
Re-publish your results: If you have made changes, you should send your results
back to the original author. However, consider whether your work could be interesting
to other people in the community. It will generate a dynamic process which might give
you even more ideas.
Discuss and share: What were the steps when you adapted the materials? Share your
open educational practice and your experiences, it will help other colleagues who later
help you with their experiences as well.
Build your network: It is an illusion that all educators around the world will
cooperate and work together. However, it is quite important to build a successful
network of colleagues who work in similar areas, who share your ideas and principles
for education and who you would simply trust. In those networks, you easily get good
recommendations and new ideas.
OER Case Study
2 Case Study
2.1 The task: Preparing a school lesson for mathematics
Imagine the following situation: Develop a course in your native language to introduce
Knowledge Management for SMEs involved in global collaborations (you can freely
choose another topic).
For the first two lessons, you should prepare
– A slide set introducing the topic
– An experimental environment in which employees can learn
– An assessment to check whether the pupils have progressed in the topic.
Additionally, the lesson should be usable for blended learning and distance learning settings.
The lesson should introduce the main and should be able to apply them for selected settings.
For the first two lessons (1 hour each), you should prepare
 A slide set introducing the topic
 An experimental environment in which students can learn
 An assessment to check whether the pupils have progressed in the topic.
Task 1: Please describe your learning outcomes and the plan (10 minutes)
Course title:
Target group:
Age group
Topic
Learning outcomes
Method & activities
Assessment
OER Case Study
Task 2: Search promising repositories (20 minutes)
What are possible ways to find the resources – options
http://learn.openscout.net
or also
http://lreforschools.eun.org/
http://www.slideshare.net
Please prepare a short list of potential resources and URLs:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Choose: 1 slide set (ppt), 1 animation, 1 assessment
Task 3: Validate the resources (45 minutes)
For each resource, please check the following issues in the worksheet
Task 4: Update the lesson plan (task 1, 15 minutes)
OER Case Study
Work sheet
Important Remark: Please use the worksheet as a rough outline only – if there are categories, aspects you need to change or extend, feel
free to do so!
Attribute
Language
Topic
Age group
Method
Quality
Culture
Rights
Summary
Description

























Description
Standards
Curriculum fit
Quality of contents
Interactivity
Media use
Appropriateness of methods
Technical requirements
Technical correctness
Motivational
Content
Method
Goal orientation
Experiment value
Teacher role
Flexibility
Value of errors
Motivation
Learner control
User activity
Cooperative learning / group work
Communication
Interface design (characters, metaphors,
numbers, colors)
Open / Creative Commons
Special regulations
Summary of fitness


0


Comment
OER Case Study
Task 5: Identify adaptation needs and appropriate tools
Please start to summarize the adaptation needs and identify potential tools.
The following aspects are addressed:
 Contents
 Learning activities
 Language and characters
 User Interface Design
 Collaborators
Estimate the effort for each change!
Contents:
Identify aspects and concepts which are unfamiliar, culturally not appropriate, or need further
explanation.
Content
Adaptation need
Tool
OER Case Study
Learning activities and methods
Are the methods assumed appropriate? What will be the role of the teacher? Which
explanations are necessary? How is it used for blended learning and distance learning? How
will the groups be built and guided?
Learning activity
Adaptation need
Actions
OER Case Study
Language and characters
Can you use the resource in its original language? In which language should it be translated?
Should it be subtitled? What is the effort?
Language aspect
Adaptation need
Actions
OER Case Study
User interface design
Is the content appealing? How will the navigation change? Is there a need to change the (page)
structure? Which colors should be used? Are there dates / formats to be changed?
UI Aspect
Adaptation need
Actions
OER Case Study
Collaborators
In which way will you collaborate with the original author?
Collaboration
activity
Notification
Resubmission
Further
collaboration and
development
Feedback
Experience sharing
Next development
goals
Person / Organization
Actions
OER Case Study
Task 6 Reflection
Please answer the following questions
1. Name/Mail (leave blank if you wish to remain anonymous):
2. Gender: ( ) Female ( ) Male
3. Age
( ) 19-30
( ) 31-40
( ) 40-55
( ) > 55
4. Your main profession / role
( ) Teacher
( ) Content developer
( ) Decision maker
(.) Technology provider (e.g. LMS)
( ) Consultant
( ) Other, please specify:
5. Level of studies:
( ) High school
( ) Bachelor
( ) Master
( ) Doctorate
( ) Something else, what __________________________________
6. Mother tongue (Mark all the appropriate)
Arab
English
Other (which)
French
7. How much time do you spend using a computer on an average day?
[ ] Less than 30 minutes
[ ] Between 30 minutes and 1 hour
[ ] Between 1 and 2 hours
[ ] Between 2 and 4 hours
[ ] More than 4 hours
8. How often do you prepare teaching materials using… ?
Never Annually Monthly Weekly Daily
Books
Lesson plans
Computers
Web materials
9. How often do you use with your students…?
Never Annually Monthly Weekly Daily
Books
Lesson plans
Computers
Web materials
OER Case Study
10. How often do you (either for classes or in your free time)?
never
less than between
once a
once a
month
week and
once a
month
Use Microsoft Office (word,
excel, powerpoint)
Use OpenOffice (write, calc,
impress)
Use Email
Use chat rooms, skype...
Use Learning environments
(Moodle,WebCT, Optima...)
Visit social network websites (eg.
Facebook, mySpace) and/or
online discussion forums
Use search engines (eg Google)
and/or online reference sources
(eg Wikipedia)
Use (participate) in a blog, wiki,
forum...
Use schools evaluation and
administration system (Primus,
Pallas pro etc.)
Play online games with other
people (e.g. World Of Warcraft,
Second life)
Download software programs
and/or music or films
Write computer programs and/or
build websites (html,
Dreamweaver, Frontpage)
a few
times a
week
almost
every day
11. What sort of materials have you used in your teaching / would you like to use in your
teaching?
I have used them I would like to use them
Texts
Pictures
Videos
Simulations
Tests
Tasks, assignments
Presentations (eg with Powerpoint/Impress)
Lesson plans
Maps
12. How much have you...?
Not at all Little Some A lot
Used materials found on the web
OER Case Study
Edited materials you found in the web
Made new materials for your teaching from scratch
Shared your new materials with your colleagues
Given feedback on other people´s materials
13. If you have never used web materials before, why not? (mark as many as you wish)
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
] I fear my rights are not protected
] I don’t get support from management
] I don’t have time to search or edit materials
] I don’t know how to add them in my teaching
] They didn’t fit my didactics view
] I can’t be in contact with the owner
] I rather produce my own materials
] I don’t find it beneficial to share materials with others
] I don’t know how to find them
] Something else, what ______________________________________________
14. Do you use any other portal to search for material for your lessons?
[ ] No
[..] Yes, I use____________
15. How often do you use it?
[ ] I have used it a couple of times
[ ] Yes, I use it one a month
[ ] Yes, I use it one a week
[ ] Yes, I use it almost every day
16. What sort of function do you think would help you use web materials more often? (mark
as many as you wish)
[ ] Efficient search tool
[ ] Keyword index
[ ] Other peoples´ evaluation and reviews/comments on the materials
[ ] User rating (for example *-***** stars)
[ ] Translation to my own language
[ ] Good visual appearance
[ ] Easy to use
[ ] Adaptability
[ ] Reliability (well known) of the author
[ ] Clearly stated level (beginner, progressed, expert)
[ ] Examples of how to use material in teaching
[ ] Something else, what ______________________________________________
17. Have you ever co-operated, when creating web materials,… (mark as many as you wish)
[ ] With a colleague at the same organization
[ ] With a colleague in the same geographical area
[ ] With a colleague elsewhere in my country
[ ] With a colleague outside my country
[ ] None of the above
[ ] No, but I am willing to it in the future
[ ] Something else, what ______________________________________________
18. Whose materials could you think of using? (mark as many as you wish)
[ ] Materials of your colleagues at the same organization
OER Case Study
[ ] Materials of colleagues from the same geographical area
[ ] Materials of colleagues from elsewhere in my country
[ ] Materials of colleagues from outside my country
[ ] Something else, whose ______________________________________________
19. Who would you give your own web material to? (mark as many as you wish)
[ ] a colleague from the same organization
[ ] a colleague from the same geographical area
[ ] a colleague from elsewhere in my country
[ ] a colleague from outside my country
[ ] None of the above
[ ] Something else, whose ______________________________________________
20. What sort of problems do you think you would face if you used materials produced in
different countries or cultures? (mark as many as you wish)
[ ] Materials do not fit to my curriculum
[ ] The subjects vary between the countries
[ ] The roles of pupils and teachers are very different
[ ] The didactics are different (e.g. styles, group work)
[ ] Communication is too different
[ ] Interfaces / appearances are too different
[ ] Copyright difficulties
[ ] Something else, what ______________________________________________
21. What sort of problems do you think appear in co-operation between teachers from
different countries (when sharing materials and using them)? (mark as many as you wish)
[ ] I don’t know how to do it in English
[ ] It takes too much time
[ ] Editing is too hard
[ ] I’d rather use material done in my country
[ ] I don’t know where to find international material
[ ] I can’t give support/help to someone using my materials
[ ] I can’t be sure of the quality
[ ] I don’t know who uses and how my materials
[ ] I can’t meet my colleagues personally
[ ] Something else, what ______________________________________________
22. Which quality approaches are you familiar with? (please mark with an X = yes)
[ ] Quality Management (ISO 9000, EFQM)
[ ] Accreditation (of University programs)
[ ] Evaluation (of courses /programs)
[ ] Benchmarking
[ ] Rankings (for example giving stars)
[ ] Peer reviewing
[ ] Quality Marks (quality assessment by independent organization)
[ ] Quality Checklist or Quality Criteria
[ ] User recommendations (recommendations from colleagues or friends)
23. Quality of resources for me means…(On a scale of 1 to, 5) (1=Strongly Disagree, 5= I
strongly agree)
[ ] are scientifically correct
[ ] fit my lessons / curriculum
[ ] have a good use of multi-media (animations, simulations)
[ ] can be integrated in my Learning Management Systems / my web page
[ ] come from an organization with a good reputation (e.g., CERN, Harvard, NASA)
[ ] have a clear impact for learners
OER Case Study
24. I find resources (yes / no)
[ ] by searching using keywords
[ ] by browsing by topic / subject / age
[ ] by recommendations from people who work in my area (e.g., fellow physics
teachers)
[ ] by recommendations from friends who I know personally
[ ] which have received a good ranking
[ ] come from an organization with a good reputation (e.g., CERN, Harvard, NASA)
25. I trust resources…? (yes / no)
[ ] only if I have reviewed them myself
[ ] if the resource is in my own language
[ ] if I’ve seen a preview of the resource (screen cap, picture…)
[ ] have been reviewed by colleagues / scientists in the field
[ ] which have been used very often
[ ] which have received good rankings
[ ] from an organization with a good reputation (e.g., CERN, Harvard, Nasa)
[ ] from an organization which has a Quality Certificate (e.g., ISO 9000)
[ ] can be integrated in my Learning Management Systems / my web page
[ ] if the resource has a full metadata attached to it
26. In which ways would you like to contribute for assuring the quality of resources (Mark as
many as you like)
[ ] I would like to have my organization be certified (Quality Management, Quality
Mark)
[ ] I would briefly comment on resources
[ ] I would rank resources (by giving stars)
[ ] I would review resources according to quality guidelines
[ ] I would like to be an accredited reviewer
[ ] I would not like to contribute to the Quality assurance process
27. Which could be the problems for contributing (if any)
[ ] I don’t know enough about quality of resources
[ ] I don’t have time to contribute
[ ] I don’t think that quality can be assured in the internet
[ ] I have my own quality strategy
[ ] Quality depends on the situation of use, I cannot do that generally
28. In the future, …
[ ] I will consider repositories to prepare
[ ] I will consider to use international resources
[ ] I will consider to develop materials collaboratively
[ ] I will continue improving my knowledge on adaptation
[ ] do the following: _____________________________________
29. Please comment on the workshop – what did you learn, what did you find useful, what
would you improve.