OER in The Netherlands

• 1. OER in The Netherlands Robert Schuwer 29 October 2009, Sao Paolo

2. Context

• 2006 start of OER in The Netherlands

• 2007 Initiative TU Delft

• 2008 expansion

• 2009 realisation of national

• initiative

3. Agenda

• Institutional initiatives

• • OpenER @ OUNL and beyond

• • Spinoza @ OUNL

• National initiative

• • Wikiwijs

4. Open Universiteit

• one of 14 universities in NL

• with a specificProfile :

• Lifelong, Open, and Flexible (LOF) learning

• one of 10 universities for LOF learning in Europe (e.g. UK OU, UOC, )

• over 20.000 students

• celebrating25th anniversarythis year

5. Open Universiteit (2)

• Bachelor / Master / PhD programmes

• (fully accredited) from seven Schools:

• Cultural Sciences

• Informatics / Computing

• Law

• Management Sciences

• Natural Sciences

• Psychology

• Educational Sciences

6. Open Universiteit (3)

• Expertise centres:

• Learning Sciences and Technology ( CELSTEC , formerly OTEC)

• Professional development of teachers ( Ruud de Moor Centre )

• Education for Sustainable Development( RCE Rhine-Meuse )

• Lifelong Learning (Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning -NELLL )

7. Institutional: OpenER@OUNL

• Objectives:

• • lowering thresholds for access to formal HE

• • widening and increasing participation in HE

8. Means

• • large-scale offering of high-quality short open courses developed forself-study(1 EC each (about 25 hrs))

• • portal of temptation to HE

• • bridging informal learning and formal education by official examination options

• • (earning Bachelor credits)

9. Fundings

• The Directorate Learning and Working, established by the Dutch Ministery of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministery of Social Affairs

• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

• To a total of approx. 660,000.

10. Measurements

• Main question:

• Did OpenER had any effect on participation in Higher Education?

Photo by Xurble @ Flickr.com 11. Some figures

• Launch on December 5, 2006 generated a lot of publicity

• Close to 1.000.000 visitors

• 12% returning

• 25 courses online (4 45 hours / course)

• 5700 users registered voluntarily

• Costs for creation 3000 - 30,000

• Formally ended June 2008

12. Proof of the pudding

• Question on electronic order form for regular OUNL courses:

• Was taking afreeOpenER course a cause to order this course?

• About 10% answeredyes.

Photo by kochtopf @ Flickr.com 13. Three key best practices

• Rely on quality awareness of authors

• • Authors are already used to making self study material

• Support of top management is crucial

• Producing open courses should be a regular task at faculties

• • Higher delivery reliability

• • Not dependant on few enthusiastic people

14. Main question remaining

• Sustainability: business model for offering free courses

• • Can it ever be without grants?

• • Someone has to pay for it

Photo by tj scenes @ Flickr.com 15. stOER (Dutch for tough)

• Way forward with OpenER @ OUNL:

• • financial concerns about full OER strategy

• • sustainable (?!) three-shell model

• • • Each course an OER?

• • now starting with piloting this model

• In touch with the Ministry of Education:

• • fall-back guarantee scenario?

Photo @ http://www.sixthman.net/blog/2008/12/ 16. Extension: Spinoza series

• • eminent Dutch researchers (winners of a Spinoza Premium) bring their body of thought and views to a broad public

• • role model for all researchers in NL

• • international exposure of NL top research?

17. Means

• develop and offer OpenER courses with all its qualities

• • self-study,

• • activating,

• • interactive,

• • different media,

• • etcetera

• work with Spinoza Premium laureates

18. Spinoza Series, continued

• Main outcomes:

• • launch Nov. 2008 at Spinoza Ceremony

• • collaboration OUNL - NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research)

• • Hall of Fame two courses so far:

• -Frits van Oostrom: Mediaeval Literature

• -Johan van Benthem: Logic in Action

• (to be published also in English)

• much interest among Spinoza laureates

19. National initiative: Wikiwijs

• Cause

• • observed success of OER initiatives shown

• • an increasing set of a variety of OER initiatives in all educational sectors

• • recent policy ofschoolbooks for free

• • Sept. 2008: Advice of the Education Council to the Parliament:Make more use of OER f or innovation of education

20. National initiative: Wikiwijs

• In Action as of Dec. 2008

• • Minister of Education

• • launchesWikiwijsas a national OER initiative:

• • -initial focus on primary, secondary and community college education

• • -but actually for all educational sectors

• • April 2009:broad support in Parliament

• • May 2009: OUNL & Kennisnet start preparing this programme

• • July 2009: delivery Programme Plan

• • 12th Aug. 2009:Ministers final OK ; submission to Parliament

21. Wikiwijs: policy objectives

• stimulate development and use of OER

• improve access to both open and closed digital learning materials

• support teachers in arranging their own learning materials and professionalization

• increase teacher involvement in development and use of OER

• extend options for customized education

• increase quality of education through more flexible and up-to-date learning materials

22. Wikiwijs will offer

• aRepositoryof open educational resources

• aReferatory to digital educational resources:

• • open and closed

• • free access and access to be paid for

• • public and commercial

• easy to use arrangement and developmenttoolsfor teachers / professors

• end-usersupportfor teachers / professors when creating and using learning materials

23. Wikiwijs: whats in a name

• Wikiwijs is referring to the philosophy of Wikipedia (using the wisdom of the crowds)

• Wikiwijs is not referring to the functionality or user interface of Wikipedia

Photo by throwthedamnthing @ Flickr.com 24. Wikiwijs: planning

• Dec. 2009: launch ofbeta versionwith:

• • three focus subjects

• • secondary, primary, community college sector

• as of Sept. 2010: start ofroll outto:

• • other subjects and domains

• • other educational sectors

• Jan. 2011: delivery ofImplementation Plan

• for the years ahead

Photo@geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2008/07/ 25. Wikiwijs: basic principles

• maximum(free!) useofexisting componentsof OUNL, Kennisnet and other publicly funded educational organizations

• open standards andopen sourcemandatory

• all OER learning materials and materials for professionalization to be publishedunder CC-BY

• professionalization of both

• teachers and management!

26. Wikiwijs: on quality

• BeyondWisdom of the crowds:

• peer review

• (uploading only