Using Open Technologies to Support a Healthy OER Life Cycle
Dr Vivien Rolfe, De Montfort University, [email protected] Simon Griffin, Griffin Internet Marketing, [email protected]
CC BY-SA 2.0 (with the exception of the JISC and DMU logo)
Using Open Technologies to Support a Healthy OER Life Cycle
Presentation for OER12 & OCWC12 Global combined conferenceCambridge UK, 16-18 April 2012
Background
• The Health and Life Science Open Educational Resource (HALSOER) project is releasing OER for STEM subjects including Forensic, Biomedical and Medical Science.
• Funded by UKOER Phase 3.
OER@DMU
• 2009 Virtual Analytical Laboratory (VAL)(UKOER Pilot)
• 2010 Sickle Cell Open (SCOOTER)(UKOER 2)
• 2010 TIGER (UKOER 2)• 2011 SCORE Fellowships – Jacqui Williams, Viv
Rolfe
OER Lifecycle
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Nathan Yergler 2010
OER Lifecycle
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Nathan Yergler 2010
Use (unchanged)
OER Lifecycle
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Nathan Yergler 2010
Where to search?Repositories?Google?
Multiple file formatsTechnology barriers
How / where to share?
OER Lifecycle
• Creating a healthy OER life cycle is a challenge and hurdles include discovery, driving reuse / repurposing and encouraging publication.
• These activities need to be part of everyday work to sustain and grow open education. (Atkins, Brown, and Hammond 2007; D'Antoni 2008).
CC BY ND Tambako the Jaguarhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/
Using open technologies
Web 2.0
Open source
Open collaboration
Open standards
Our approach to promote discovery
• For SCOOTER (UKOER2) and HALS (UKOER3):
– OER housed on search engine optimised sites (SEO).
Discovery…….
Rolfe & Griffin 2011
SummarySCOOTER UKOER2 HALS UKOER3
Wordpress Direct Blog Wordpress Direct Blog
Static OER HTML pages OER Blog articles with RSS feed
Basic SEO Enhanced SEO (eZine submissions, press releases)
Posterous (Facebook/Twitter/Blogs)
Posterous(Facebook/Twitter/Blogs)
Google Analytics for basic tracking of site performance
Enhanced monitoring of site performance
£ Pragmatic and time realistic ££ Enhanced SEO campaign
Discovery…….
Our approach to promote reuse / improvement
• OER published in multiple file formats.
• Production of different modalities from one OER in systematic way for content leverage (Williams 2011).
• Clear © licensing instructions on websites and each OER.
Reuse / improvement…
Reuse / improvement…
Reach and Impact (1st 3 months)(Both on Page 1 of Google)
Analytics SCOOTER UKOER2
HALS UKOER3
Unique Visits 645 905
Countries 24 33
Mobile 3% 10%
Most Popular OER Education and young people with sickle cell45 views
Microbiology zone of inhibition57 views
SCOOTER UKOER2 HALS UKOER3
en.wikipedia.org youtube.com
sicklecellanaemia.posterous.com medev.ac.uk
heacademy.ac.uk prod.cetis.ac.uk
dmuscooter.wikispaces.com bestsciencedirectory.com
prod.cetis.ac.uk biology-courses.posterous.com
dmu.ac.uk directorymaximizer.com
ezinearticles.com education.ezinemark.com
google.co.uk ezinearticles.com
google.com facebook.com
facebook.com newswiretoday.com
pr-inside.com
scoop.it
Referrals (Backlinks)
Community DataViews / Comments / Follows
SCOOTER UKOER2
HALS UKOER3
Youtube Channel To date: 3177(Genetics animation 285 views)
To date: 567(Queen’s visit talk157 views)
SlideShare Simon Dyson Sickle Presentations479 views
Facebook “Insights”LikesFriends of Fans
5029,000
7421,500
Feedback via Email, Twitter, Facebook, SurveyMonkey
Have we promoted discovery?
• Use of open technology enhances OER discovery globally and non-selectively.
• We can target users through Twitter and Facebook (subject specialists, students etc).
• You get what you pay for! The more time spent, the greater the rewards.
Have we promoted reuse / improvements?
• Publishing multiple file formats and distributing to other sharing sites should assist reuse.
• To early to say which file formats are most popular and flexible.
• This makes our OER OPEN, INTEROPERABLE and ACCESSIBLE.
OER Lifecycle
Discovery
ImprovementPublication
Nathan Yergler 2010
SEO boosts Google rankingRSS feeds distribute OERPosterous network
Multiple file formatsClear © signposting
Evidence?
Conclusion• Open technologies can support a healthy
OER lifecycle and evaluation of these strategies is the next step.
• Evolving pragmatic time realistic strategies relevant to our work setting is essential.
• The results will be disseminated in the UKOER 3 final report.
Resources• Yergler NR (2010). http://openaccess.uoc.edu/webapps/o2/handle/10609/4852
• Atkins DE, Brown JS and Hammond AL (2007). http://www.hewlett.org/uploads/files/Hewlett_OER_report.pdf
• D'Antoni S (2008). http://learn.creativecommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/oer-way-forward-final-version.pdf
• Williams P (2011). Content Leverage System. Available: http://download.marketsamurai.com/AS_AT110823TS01AS_Leveraged_Content_Creation.pdf
• HALS Project Website: http://www.biologycourses.co.uk
• Rolfe V and Griffin SJ (2011b). A Guide to SEO http://www.sicklecellanaemia.org/teaching-resources/resources/scooter80/SCOOTER80a_SEO_Guidelines.pdf