1. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)
The Appropriateness of Open Educational Resources
Thomas Richter
Picture:
Winding-tower, Essen
Pictures:
University of Duisburg Essen

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Quality and Educational Resources
Quality (ISO 8402-1986)
“the totality of features and characteristics of a product or
service that bears its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs”
Freely Transferred to Educational
Resources
An Educational resource can be considered having quality if it
serves it’s purpose within a defined context

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Quality Standards for Learning Resources
n IEEE Learning Objects Metadata (2002)
o Description of Educational Resources through Metadata
n IMS Learning Design (2003)
o Focuses on the a Description of Learning Designs (What, Who, for
Whom, How,…)
n ISO/IEC 10796-1:2005
o Provides a holistic Process Model for the Design, Implementation, and
Use of Educational Resources
n Dublin Core (2006)
o Description of Educational Resources through Metadata
n ISO-IEC 19788-1:2011
o Description of Educational Resources through Metadata
n Further National & Context Specific Quality Standards …

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Professionally Produced Educational (Pay-)Content
n usually produced for a very specific target group (e.g., 3rd
grade school education, Lower Saxony - Germany,
mathematics)
n Definition of quality: Must fit the particular purpose
n If a resource officially is accredited to be used in upper
context, it fits the purpose and thus, it must have quality
Quality Standards
1. particular purpose and target group can be modelled
2. Quality Standards ensure that this particular purpose is met
à Quality Standards for Educational Resources generally
are useful!

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Open Educational Resources
n also, originally produced for a very specific target group
(e.g., 3rd grade school education, Lower Saxony - Germany,
mathematics)
n BUT: open and available for everyone to use …
n different to professional contents: once available for the
community, target group is variable à requirements change
n good practice: Metadata Standard is followed … future user
knows the originally targeted context
But does this particular information actually help the user to
determine if a resource fits into his scenario?

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Criteria for Appropriateness (users’ perspective)
• RICHTER, T. (2010). Open Educational Resources im kulturellen Kontext von e-Learning. Zeitschrift für E-Learning (ZeL), Freie
elektronische Bildungsressourcen, 3/2010, pp. 30-42.
Compani
es
Culture
Lerner
Satisfaction
& Demands
Geograph. &
Educational-
Infrastructure
Internet
Security
Religion
Technichal
Infrastructur
e
Demographi
c
Development
„Media
Richness“
Actors
Rules,
Standards,
Agreements
Financial
Aspects
Politics
History
State of
Development
Legal
Issues
E-Learning
Scenario
Country / Region
Company/
Society
Author/
Educator Tutor Learner

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Appropriateness as Individual Quality Concept
… a formerly High Quality Educational Resource loses it’s level
of quality through when not matching Individual Criteria
Appropriateness
An Open Educational Resource is appropriate for a
particular scenario and purpose, if it meets the
requirements of the scenario and supports the
individual purpose …

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Quality of OER is related to …
n the actual content of a learning resource
n the didactical design employed
n context-specific examples
n optical and Cognitive design
n particular cultural issues
n further context-specific requirements
n ...
“I do not expect to find learning resources that
exactly meet my very particular requirements but for
me, an educational resource has a certain quality (is
valuable), if I can make it useful.”
n (from an interview with school teachers in an ODS Visionary Workshop)

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Conclusion
If the idea of OERs is making Educational
Resources useable for everyone (and not just
accessible) than the most significant quality
criterion is adaptability!
“Adaptability” should become a
Mandatory Definition Element in
Metadata Standards!
1.

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Are there any questions?
(Feel free to contact me via e-Mail)
contact: thomas.richter@icb.uni-due.de