There has been considerable coverage of the growth of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that give free access to courses that have familiar structures. However, there are many other ways in which Open Educational Resources are being used and influencing education. In the OER Research Hub we have worked across educational sectors looking at ways that OER are being adopted and used. In this paper we step back from some of the detailed work with collaborating projects to consider their different motivations and shared challenges. The case studies show how openness acts as inspiration, however the impact of openness can be harder to see. Our survey data is showing how open aspects can seem less important as projects seek to build to broad engagement, and that aims of widening access are challenged by findings that open education appeals to those who already have existing confidence and experience. The actions of the collaborating partners seek to address these issues for example through courses that help develop understanding of openness and by understanding the groups that they serve who have special needs.

1. Taking advantage of
openness: understanding
the variety of perspectives
on open and their impact
Martin Weller, Patrick McAndrew &
Rob Farrow
The Open University

2. Structure
OER Research Hub
Hypotheses
Illustrative findings
OER Impact Map

3. • Research project at The Open University (UK)
• Funded by William & Flora Hewlett Foundation for two years
• Research team led by two professors
• Tasked with building the most comprehensive picture of OER impact
• Organised by eleven research hypotheses
• Collaboration model works across different educational sectors
• Global reach but with a USA focus
OER Research Hub
oerresearchhub.org
#oerrhub

4. Rationale
• OER is growing up
• 10+ years
• Need evidence base for decisions & to show what works
• Move away from evangelism and belief

7. Agile methodology

8. Hypotheses
Key claims about open education

9. Keyword Research Hypothesis
Performance OER improve student performance/satisfaction
Openness People use OER differently from other online materials
Access OER widen participation in education
Retention OER can help at-risk learners to finish their studies
Reflection OER use leads educators to reflect on their practice
Finance OER adoption brings financial benefits for students/institutions
Indicators Informal learners use a variety of indicators when selecting OER
Support Informal learners develop their own forms of study support
Transition OER support informal learners in moving to formal study
Policy OER use encourages institutions to change their policies
Assessment Informal assessments motivate learners using OER
„Evidence‟ is only evidence in relation to a claim or hypothesis:
the project hypotheses form the core of the metadata model.

10. A lack of evidence
Lots of:
“number of downloads”
Lessons learned
OER will…

11. Key Questions for Evidence Model
What evidence exists to support key claims about OER?
How do patterns of OER impact differ across countries?
How do patterns of OER impact differ according to sector?
How can the veracity of evidence be checked?
How can diverse evidence forms be meaningfully collected together?

12. Forms of evidence
Surveys
Usage data
(some) comparative data
Case studies
Curation of published research
Map as artifact

13. Some illustrative findings

14. Performance
Evidence of increase in related factors such as
confidence & satisfaction.
Grade scores difficult to get
Saylor: Increased enthusiasm for study (59%)
Increased interest in subject (58%)
Increased satisfaction with the learning experience (53%)
Gaining confidence (50%)

15. Openness
Understanding of open licenses is growing, and while
many educators state that open licensing is important,
this does not always transfer into their own practice. For
learners the presence of an open licence is not seen as
important
FLN: Over 80% of K12 teachers create their own videos for the flipped
classroom, but only roughly half of those share these videos publicly
online, and only 5% do so with a CC license

16. Access
OER being used as prep for formal study & to
complement.
OpenStax: 20% of respondents reported that the use of OERs influenced
their decision to register for their current course of study
Over 30% of students reported studying their subject via OER before
joining their course

17. Retention
Strong survey data to suggest that this is supported,
particularly regarding open textbook
60% CCCOER identified reduced cost of materials as a driver of student
retention

18. Reflection
Good support for this in surveys and also from
qualitative data too.
Community College teachers agree with the idea that OER use improves
teaching practice in the areas of curriculum coverage (66%); range of
teaching methods (77%);

19. Financial
Strong evidence of student savings with open textbooks
(of monies *not* spent). Institutional picture less clear
OpenStax: over 79% of students thought they had saved money by using
OpenStax College textbooks

20. OER Impact Map
oermap.org

21. OER Impact Map: Maps
oermap.org
• Country Summary Map - evidence nodes organized by country
• OER Project Map - OER initiatives and projects around the world
• OER Evidence Map - all impact evidence is categorized according to the OER
Research Hub hypotheses
• OER Policy Map is the single largest curated collection of OER policies
• OER Impact Map aggregates the other maps
• Tweetmaps show a geographical summary of tweets for a particular Twitter
hashtag. E.g. #oermap for outreach; #oerrhub for tracking project activity.
• Maps by others

22. Global Impact Summary
Select country to zoom

23. in service of The Open University
Flowmap changes according
to country selected…

24. Impact Summary (USA)
Node colour = sector
Node border = polarity

25. in service of The Open University
Positive Evidence
Negative Evidence
Uncategorized Evidence
OER Evidence Map

26. OER Policy Map
L
R
N
I
Local/Institutional policies
Regional policies
National policies
International policies
CC Open Policy Network
POERUP
SPARC

27. in service of The Open University
OER Projects
OER Project Map

28. in service of The Open University
OER Impact Map

29. in service of The Open University
OER Impact Map
Combines other maps
Supports filtering

30. Hypothesis Reporting

31. Hypothesis Reporting

32. in service of The Open University

33. in service of The Open University

34. Summary
• A collaborative approach to OER research is recommended
• OER Impact Map is a tool designed for the needs of the open community
• Open methods for researching openness: openly licensed instruments; remix
and reuse data; working openly; sharing
• Takeaway message: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts

35. Next Steps
• Adding qualitative data analysis to evidence base
• Increasing the evidence base through desk research
• Plan for final phase of map development
• Case studies
• New collaborations?
• New hypotheses?
• School of Open course on open research; Open Data; CC-BY research tools
• Survey data „exploration tool‟

36. in service of The Open University
Survey Data Explorer (prototype)

37. in service of The Open University
Survey Data Explorer (prototype)

38. in service of The Open University
Survey Data Explorer (prototype)

39. in service of The Open University

40. We want to put you on the map!
So let us know about OER activity
and impact in your institution

41. Conclusions
Evidence is more nuanced
Some evidence lacking
Map is a useful shared representation

42. Join us in building understanding
of open education

43. Thanks for listening!
oerresearchhub.org
oermap.org
@oer_hub
@mweller
@philosopher1978