Educational Development Open Resources (EDOR)

EDOR OER are currently being uploaded to the UPLACE Repository at the University of Plymouth and can be found here:

http://uplace.org.uk:8080/dspace/handle/10293/1197

Shortly these resources will be available from the Jorum national repository

A suggestion from last week’s EDOR project workshop was that we needed a short, scripted ‘backpage’ introduction to any podcasts accompanying resources, stating project/funding orgs/license/date produced etc.

Here’s my first go. Any other suggestions?

“This podcast has been produced as part of the Educational Development Open Resources Project, or EDOR for short, led by the University of Plymouth. The project is funded by the Higher Education Academy and JISC and all resources are made available through the Attribution Non-commercial Share-a-like two point zero Creative Commons License.

This particular podcast relates to the resource [insert resource title here], further information on which can be found in the accompanying resource metadata [nb should we put something about repositories placed here?]. It was produced on the [insert date and time here]“

There is a piece in Time Higher Education on the UKPSF. The online version has comments.

 http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=415061&c=1

 It will be interesting to see if this affects the EDOR project and our efforts to align EDOR OER with the PSF values.

 There are also 3 letters commenting on the recent UKPSF consultation under the heading of “One size will not fit all”

 http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/section.asp?navcode=123

The issue of ‘credit’ is an interesting one for the EDOR team, as the material being repurposed as OER is so mixed: some of the materials come from accredited programmes, some from staff development material for HE in FE staff, some from the GEES Subject Centre, the latter of which does not sit within an accredited programme, but might be useful for those undertaking the professional recognition route towards HEA (associate) fellowship.

At Plymouth University, a credit =  hour face-to-face with a further 9 hours of self-directed study.

However, EDOR’s ‘critical friend’, from Bath University, highlighted some potential confusion around the use of the term ‘credit’: Bath University recognises the European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) for its staff development.

It was decided at an early stage in the EDOR project that a resource template was needed to allow some commonality between OER repurposed as part of  the project. The team developed an initial iteration, that was then used by colleagues with their first draft OER- this then provided feedback on the template resulting in a new iteration:

EDOR OER Resource Template

The template has been developed to try and provide as much useful information as possible about the resource in as condensed a form as possible. Fields include mapping to the Professional Standards Framework (PSF), allowance for different contexts of use, contextual information for both tutors and participants (with both being seen as potential users) and, of course, attributions.

A Powerpoint presentation can be found in Documents outlining the OMAC Strand PSF Meeting, and issues/questions raised by presenters and participants.

In summary, the issues raised that are particularly worth considering whilst developing your resource metadata are:

1. Which Standard Descriptor and Area(s) do your resources potentially map to? There may be a number of different contexts that your resource could be used in.
2. How do your resources support users’/participants’ understanding and application of the PSF within their CPD?
3. Who do you think are the current users of your resources? Can you think of other potential users, and what changes might be needed to support these different users?
4. How do your resources support users’/participants’ understanding and application of the PSF within their CPD (this question in particular for the recognition/non-programme route)

The EDOR project team will be holding a workshop on the 11th January looking at real examples of resources that could be developed into OER. As part of this workshop, I am currently considering the issue of how we ‘map’ to the PSF within the metadata accompanying these resources. I think the act of ‘mapping’ may well help inform the development of our draft OER templates.

The HEA have agreed to develop a series of keywords against the PSF that all OMAC Projects will use: this would be incredibly helpful as a starting point, but ideally we need them sooner rather than later, as retrofitting is never easy!

In terms of PSF mapped metadata, we are potentially looking at two types: programme and non-programme. OER coming from already accredited programmes should not be difficult to link directly to the PSF, as the linkages should already have been shown as part of the accreditation. It is the non-programme resources that will prove the more interesting challenge, as they make up part of the individual recognition route to HEA (associate) fellowship- this means there could be many different contexts in which the resources could be used, and potentially different links to the PSF.

So:

a) how do we, as developers of OER, decide which resources potentially link to (evidence) which area of the PSF and

b) how do we show this range of potential usage within the OER without causing confusion or overload on the user?

c) how will this mapping (will it?) differ between programme and non-programme resources?

In summary, how do we provide the information in as simple and useable way as possible?

Any thoughts are appreciated…