Autumn School Joint IT-Enhanced Organic &

Sustainable Education Training Course

04 - 11 October 2011

04 - 11 October 2011

Mesta, Chios Island, Greece

Autumn School: “Joint IT-Enhanced Organic

Education”

Finding online resources

Friday, October 7th, 2011

Vassilis ProtonotariosAgricultural Biotechnologist, PhD

Greek Research and Technology Network

Finding online resources

Dr. Vassilis ProtonotariosAgricultural Biotechnologist

Greek Research & Technology Network, Greece

Where to search for digital Where to search for digital resources?resources?

One option: various sources around internet

Advantages?Easy to find the search enginesEasy to use them

Disadvantages?High number of results – minimum

filteringResults not always valid/high

quality/relevantCopyright issues….

Another option: Learning portals

advantages:◦specialized information◦classification of resources◦high quality of resources◦filtering options -> more relevant results

examples?

BUT:

You may not be allowed to use/reuse/revise these resources because:

Copyright issues existLicensing should be taken into

consideration

ErikJHeels (permalink: http://erikjheels.com/803.html)

What are the OER?OER = Open Educational Resources

 Educational materials that are freely available  and licensed in a way that gives users the legal permission to

reuse – use the work “as-is” without having to ask permission

revise - alter or transform the work to meet the user’s needs

remix – combine the work with other works for an enhanced effect

redistribute – share the work or derivative work with others.

Why use OER?

  Shared content becomes a vehicle for

collaboration and connection Shared materials are continually improved upon

through revisions Materials can be adapted and localized to fit

the specific audience needs Saves time, cuts costs, and reduces duplication

of effort

How to find OER?

 OER is supported by an ever-growing active

movementUsually available through specialized learning

portals

We need to focus on OER in the area of

agriculture!

Let’s see some examples:

 

Wow, that was fast…

Let’s see them one by one!

 

1. OER Commons www.oercommons.org

Provides access to a number of OER on agriculture

Provides a number of search options and filtering of the results

Green OER (www.oercommons.org/green) hosts resources specifically on green topics

2. Organic.Edunet Web portal

www.organic-edunet.eu

Provides access to a wealth of resources on OA and AE

Features four different search mechanisms and filtering of the results

Not all resources are OER, so one should be careful!

3. OER Africa – Agriculture OER

www.oerafrica.org/agricultureoer

Provides access to a number of resources on agricultural topics

The number of resources is constantly growing Resources are mostly relevant to African

agricultural sector

4. FAO Organic Agriculture portal

http://www.fao.org/organicag/en

Provides access to publications, reports, projects, glossary etc. on organic agriculture topics

The number of resources is relatively high and growing

Resources are classified according to their top-level topic and are easy to find

5. FAO Corporate Document Repository

http://www.fao.org/documents/en

Provides access to a wealth of information of various formats

Resources are not restricted to OA, but they can apply in most cases

Features a classification system and a powerful search engine for retrieving resources.

References / Supporting References / Supporting materialmaterial

Basic bibliography

Hylén J. (2007). “Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources”. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. p. 30. doi:10.1787/9789264032125-en.

Johnstone S. (2005). "Open Educational Resources Serve the World". Educause Quarterly 28 (3). Retrieved online on March 3rd, 2011 from

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/OpenEducationalResourcesServet/157357

Wiley, David (2006-06-03), Expert Meeting on Open

Educational Resources, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. Retrieved online on March 3rd, 2011 from

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/26/36224377.pdf

References / Supporting References / Supporting materialmaterial

Complementary bibliography Atkins D., Brown J. and Hammond A. (2007). "A Review of the Open Educational

Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities". Menlo Park, CA: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. p.4. Retrieved online on March 3rd, 2011 from http://www.hewlett.org/uploads/files/Hewlett_OER_report.pdf

Giving Knowledge for Free: The Emergence of Open Educational Resources. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. 2007. doi:10.1787/9789264032125-en. Retrieved online on March 3rd, 2011 from http://www.sourceoecd.org/education/9789264031746

Open Educational Resources". CERI. Retrieved online on March 3rd, 2011 from http://www.oecd.org/document/20/0,3343,en_2649_35845581_35023444_1_1_1_1,00.html

Web pages / linksOrganic.Edunet Web portal: www.organic-edunet.eu Open Educational Resources Commons (OER Commons):

http://www.oercommons.org Wikipedia page on Open Educational Resources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources