My paper on how I perceive OER has contributed to Quality Assurance.

1. OER IN QUALITY
ASSURANCE
Sustainable Development of Quality Assurance for
OER in Higher Education
ABSTRACT
Accessing quality and up to date educational resources
by teachers and learners is a challenge that Fiji is faced
with, through the K12 system right to the Higher
Education System because of accessibility to free and
affordable educational resources. Open Educational
Resources (OER) offers Fiji, Asia and the Pacific, the
opportunity to regenerate knowledge management by
organizing and approving legal frameworks that align to
achieving global standards, specifically like the Fiji’s
National OER Policy has initiated. Creative Common
licenses offer the legal framework and a Quality
Assurance process towards an approved affordable,
freely public accessed quality repositories and other
approved forms of accessibility to quality information.
The OER process offers a reliable, globally approved
and recognized framework of Quality Assurance. This
will be the focus of this paper.
By Matai Naisa Tagicaki, Fiji Higher Education
Commission.

2. 1 | P a g e
Published for APQN Conference in May 2016.
© Matai Tagicaki and Fiji Higher Education Commission, 2016.
ISBN 978-982-98132-1-3
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not
imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of F.H.E.C. concerning the legal
status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of
its frontiers or boundaries.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not
necessarily those of F.H.E.C. and do not commit the Organization.
Prepared by Matai Tagicaki
Proof by Dr V. Balaji (COL), Mr. Akuila Savu (FHEC).
Front Cover photos: “Teachers and Students from Yasawa Islands” (CC-BY-4.0), Matai Tagicaki
(CC-BY-4.0)
Cover design: Matai Tagicaki
Typeset: Matai Tagicaki
CONTENT

3. 2 | P a g e
1. Glossary of Terms ………………………………………………………… Page 3
2. Introduction ………………………………………………………………….. Page 4
3. Digital Culture in Brief …………………………………………………. Page 5
4. What are Open Educational Resources ……………………………Page 5
5. OER in Higher Education ……………………………………………… Page 7
6. OER in Quality Assurance …………………………………………….. Page 9
7. Reference ………………………………………………………………………. Page 12

4. 3 | P a g e
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
1. Open Educational Resources (OER): OER are teaching, learning and research
materials in any medium that reside in the public domain and have been released under
an open licence that permits access, use, repurposing, reuse and redistribution by others
with no or limited restrictions (Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007). The use of open
technical standards improves access and reuse potential. OER can include full
courses/programs, course materials, modules, student guides, teaching notes, textbooks,
research articles, videos, assessment tools and instruments, interactive materials such as
simulations and role plays, databases, software, apps (including mobile apps) and any
other educationally useful materials. The term ‘OER’ is not synonymous with online
learning, eLearning or mobile learning. Many OER — while shareable in a digital format
— are also printable. (UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning 2011, 2015.
“Guidelines for Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education”. Page V)
2. Learning Management System (LMS): are software application for the administration,
documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of electronic educational technology
(also called e-learning) courses or training programs.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system. 28/02/2016)
3. Open Educational Performance: Emergence of an evaluation approach of OER
performance and responsive survey.
4. Creative Commons: Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the
sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.
(https://creativecommons.org/about/. 28/02/2016).
5. COL (Commonwealth of Learning): The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an
intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to
encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education
knowledge, resources and technologies. (https://www.col.org/about/what-
commonwealth-learning. 20/02/2016).
6. OERu (Open Educational Resources University): An international network of
recognized partner institutions from five continents – providing top-quality tertiary
courses to students everywhere. (http://oeru.org/oeru-partners/. 25/02/2016)

5. 4 | P a g e
INTRODUCTION
“Effective quality systems can contribute enormously to the success of projects, but the
counterpoint is that, when poorly understood, the quality systems are likely to be weak and
ineffective in ensuring that the delivered system is delivered on time, built by the team within
their allocated budget, and satisfies the customer’s requirements.” Open dialog article,
By, Brett Arthur, Senior Consultant, Dialog IT., ( https://www.dialog.com.au/open-dialog/the-
difference-between-quality-assurance-and-quality-control/, 2016).
This paper attempts to discuss how OER may support the sustainable development of quality
assurance in Higher Education, by explaining the processes in Open Educational Resources. The
OER processes is neither a global emerging issue nor an intellectual debate, but it may not be
said to be the same for the Pacific region. Recently, the emergence of OER and LMS in the
region has created quite a stir of curiosity and excitement. It may truly be argued that there is
information deficiency when it comes to quality and up to date information in the region, ICT in
Education provides an opportunity to develop policies, frameworks and conceptual agreements
with developed countries to achieve education for all in the 21st century. The emergence of
educational organisations, such as Partnership for 21st Century Learning, advocating quality
assured learning frameworks as with “framework for 21st Century”, is further evidence in the
shift within the education paradigm, trying to accommodate and integrate emerging learning
technology and traditional learning philosophies, focusing on core of 21st century themes.

6. 5 | P a g e
DIGITAL CULTURE IN BRIEF
It has become more prevalent now more than ever for the Asia and Pacific region to provide
majority of attention to the evolution of technology and the processes which has affected our
choices and lifestyle. The integration of Technology into our traditional and customary society
contributes to our decision making in a way that technology has provided methods of passing
information among end users where distance and time are of no or little circumstance. Social
media has generated a digital community where information sharing and information
dissemination has become more accessible and free. 1
The Internet Generation, also referred to as
Generation Z, labeled as such according to birth periods from 1990 through to around 2015
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z, 2016), to which carries the significance of a
generation that is immersed with Internet Technology. A generation whose thoughts, ideas and
opinions are assumed to be shaped by accessibility to abundance of information through the
internet and other technological programs and platforms. Global and Regional forums that
address issues affecting the global community, is evident that there is concern for the quality of
informed decisions and opinions shared and freely accessible online.
The emergence of digital culture in the free and open access to education and educational
resources, has provided a scaffold which attempts to bring order and create a catalyst for
organized frameworks, guidelines and policies to assure quality and pathways to sustaining
developments in assuring quality.
Open Educational Resources (OER) provide affordable, free, collaborative, accessible, and
effective and quality assured learning and teaching resources that are made available in digital
and non-digital format under Creative Commons (CC) Licensing. Pacific Island countries share
similar challenges with information deficit and accessing current quality information. Open
Educational Resources offer development stakeholders the opportunity to share meaningful
knowledge that will ensure sustainability and growth through effective and quality assured
information which is up to date. Governments in the Asia Pacific Region need to realize the
importance of formalizing OER policy for the benefit of its citizen, to appreciate the full
potential of OER as a contributor to informed decision making, specifically with issues such as
Climate Change, which currently haunt our Island Nations. The Fijian government in particular,
for the past 5 years, have taken to increasing the tempo in development in all aspects of
governance and socio economic, evident with new policies in the infrastructure, commerce, ICT
and Education sectors (Government, 2016). Information is the basis of knowledge, quality
information will ensure sustainability in meaningful development. Through the Fiji Higher
Education Commission, there has been National consultation to formalize National Policy in
OER to provide support for quality and accelerated quality learning within all levels of
education. Creating an OER Hub in Fiji will open up opportunities for sharing of information
and empowerment of citizens.
WHAT ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
There is a global movement that is responding to a shift in paradigm within the ICT in Education
Sector. This shift is accredited to the recent emergence of affordable access to Educational
1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z, 2016

7. 6 | P a g e
Resources made available through internet and new technology. The emergence of free and open
learning culture can be interpreted as provident towards a community that is deficient with up to
date quality information. Open Educational Resources (OER), offers a dynamic concept focused
on making education freely accessible without prejudice to time and place, regardless of the
natural elements or geographical challenges as long as there is access to power.
UNESCO defines OER, as 2
“types of Educational materials that are in the public domain or
introduced with an open license. The nature of open materials translate to anyone can legally and
freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them according to its rules under CC Licensing. OERs range
from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, Assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and
animation.”
I may conclude the latter to mean, communities connected to the internet have affordable access
to teaching and learning resources which are made available for only the cost of connectivity and
power. Granting the overnight turnover of technology, my conclusion may be confronted with
the fact that digital devices are now available to create digital learning environments without
connecting to the internet. The construction and production of digital devices like COL’s Aptus,
that establishes a digital classroom without walls, bringing online textbooks, 3000 Khan
Academy video’s and 100,000 Wikipedia scripts, MOODLE LMS, Student Management System
available for teachers and students in rural and remote regions of the Pacific, has taken ICT in
Education to an alternative level of accessibility.
The term 3
‘OPEN’ emphasizes the impression upon which OER are developed; that there are
little or no restrictions to accessing and sharing educational resources. The context to which the
term “OPEN” is used is still debatable to the extent of emphasis and terms of reference. One can
also argue that openness with no restrictions may refer to resources and materials that can be
accessed free, re-used, remixed and redistributed without acknowledgement or attribution to the
original author and contributors. Openness may also indicate a learning system that is accessible
in all dimensions, for learning empowerment or certification purposes. To this extent, quality of
content is questioned along with the integrity of the document provided to which we may ask of
the quality of content used in the learning system. One can also challenge the state of openness
for OER offered under Creative Commons (CC) Licensing. The 6 licenses, while flexible and
accommodating, lays down a set of rules on how resources and materials are to be used and
passed on to the next end user. Can we still refer to OER licensed under CC as truly open
resources, and to what extent shall we define openness under the Creative Commons framework.
The introduction of Creative Commons Licensing has allowed alternative access to resources
which are too restrictive for access and highly monopolized by commercial distributors. The
issue with Fiji accessing quality education resources is accessibility and affordability of up to
date learning resources for intellectual empowerment. The OER global movement has provided
an opportunity for global citizens to be part of a community that share quality information. I
view this to be an extension of a passionate approach of sharing knowledge by information
2
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/open-educational-
resources/, 2016.
3
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002158/215804e.pdf

8. 7 | P a g e
abundance countries in the world, with information deficit societies or communities. With the
availability of learning resources online, we must question the authenticity and quality of
information. We must scrutinize the method, validity, process and approaches in quality
assurance.
My opinion as a practicing educator and an advocate of OER, they must be made available for
public use, must include practicable and most effective application of Open Educational
Resources in the most challenging environment. In stating this, I have firsthand experience on
how powerful OER’s and digital devices, which support OER by providing alternative access,
can be in bringing reality and creating a learning environment that catapults teachers and
students from a traditional classroom setting into the 21st
century classroom, where lessons come
to life through Khan Academy Video’s, COL Repository, MOODLE, Aptus, virtual classrooms
without walls. The outcome of such an experience does not only contribute to informed
decisions, but develops thought processes reflected through quality opinions, motivating
constructive thinking and encouraging quality reflections. These are traits highly relevant for
meaningful development in a developing society or community. For the last 3 years, I have
conducted consultation and awareness with the Minister for Education meetings, MOE Senior
Staff meetings, Secondary Schools, Principals and Head teachers Conferences and National OER
consultation to pass an OER National Policy. The Policy has been approved in principle but
needs to be formalized for national needs. Currently, work continues under the direction of the
Director FHEC, in consultation with Doctor Balaji and Doctor Mishra of Commonwealth of
Learning in establishing an OER digital environment for Fiji.
OER, since acknowledgment and recognition, has been interpreted and defined in many ways,
but what all opinions share the same idea that OER are free, accessible and reusable.
OER in HIGHER EDUCATION
4
Paschalis A. Arvanitidis and George Petrakos (as cited in Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
2011) discuss the emerging knowledge economy paradigm as an influence motivating the
changing role in major economic decisions. Their writing on 5
“Defining Knowledge-Driven
Economic Dynamism in the World Economy: A Methodological Perspective”, discusses
meaningful development motivated by informed economic choices, in their opinion reflects three
major shifts linking knowledge to economic decisions: knowledge as a commodity, the role of
ITC and innovation process that influences decisions. The shift are supposed to encourage
effective economic choices, and to encourage and contribute deliberation. At this juncture I may
assume the obvious, that policies and quality frameworks are set in place to ensure that outcomes
are practicable.
4
P. Nijkamp and I. Siedschlag (eds.), Innovation, Growth and Competitiveness,
Advances in Spatial Science, 2011.
5
P. Nijkamp and I. Siedschlag (eds.), Chapter 2, 2011.

9. 8 | P a g e
6
UNESCO and COL, in their publication “Guidelines for Open Educational Resources (OER) in
Higher Education” (2011, 2015), discuss OER under the title, Higher Education Context, discuss
knowledge management to ensure quality, meeting increasing cost through affordable alternative
methods, the integration of ICT which contributes to 7
pedagogical innovation. The OER
paradigm relies on collaboration and social networking to be effective, creating platforms in the
public domain to ensure the fulfillment of its purpose. To ensure quality and dynamism,
institutions invest in discovering, adapting, creating OER, designing OER repositories and
Learning Management Systems that provide students a wider advantage to accessing quality
resources which are affordable.
Without a doubt that at the end of the OER development process, end users remain to be highly
the focus. In saying this, I can state that OER offers an opportunity that empowers teachers,
students, and other stakeholders in High Education with real time information that is accessible
and affordable. I will agree that this is a globally evolved interactive approach in educational
resources sharing, one can argue that it is not a new approach, but I will say that it is global and
impacting Countries new to the concept of Open and Free Sharing of information, an opportunity
to stay informed with global education developments.
The opportunities OER provide for educational resources deficient countries are extensive,
judging from what is available online and the technology that compliments the concept. An
environment that encourages teachers to bring the curriculum to life with videos and empower
lesson plans with resources provided by platforms like Khan Academy. Reflecting on the latter
statement students in HEI’s may have the opportunity to work collaboratively with counterparts
halfway around the world on similar fields of study that are global issues such as Global
Warming and Climate Change. These are opportunities created through accessing OER.
The interpretation of the curriculum is a challenge for a country like Fiji, which use their second
language as their medium language for receiving instructions and conducting assessments.
Because of the evolving pattern of technology and accessibility to learning materials through
OER, I like to impress that the relationship between the learner and the curriculum content
becomes personal, because the learner may choose content or interpretation of content made
available through OER that appeals to their thought construction. With the availability of digital
devices and android technology, the learning environment is within the personal space of the
learner, which can be mobile, available anytime anywhere. Learning environments, where
teachers have the ability to get students generate intimate relationship with the curriculum, where
students are motivated with a passion to learn. The OER paradigm creates this opportunity, and
encourages constructive thinking through the process of continued development. From
experience as a practicing educator, OER provides the digital platform and intellectual support
that goes beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone of Fiji, reaching into classrooms and Universities
around the world.
For developing countries, I have heard once too often that, challenges in accessibility and
connectivity will contribute to the demise of knowledge empowering concepts as OER, because
6
UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning, “Guidelines for Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher
Education”, Page 1, 2. 2011, 2015

10. 9 | P a g e
of the lack of technological upgrade and state commitment. I can only speak for Fiji in this
instance and my experiences as an advocator of ICT in Education, and argue that these myths
maybe put to rest with State commitment in achieving global standards and creating a knowledge
based society by acknowledging global changes and investing greatly to exact change for its
citizen, pursuing quality in a competitive global market. Fiji has a National OER Policy, the
continuous increase in state investment into digital learning programs such as the distribution of
computers through OLPC and ODPC programs, increasing connectivity throughout the Nation to
prepare K12 students for Higher Education, investing public funds with major providers of High
Education in Fiji may be recognized as State commitment.
A relevant component in developing a knowledge based society is the pursuit of up to date
information. We are still challenged with the issue of ensuring that quality is embedded in the
information, and assuring end users that quality has been part of the process in developing Open
Educational Resources.

11. 10 | P a g e
OER in QUALITY ASSURANCE
With the high turnover of digital services and devices in Higher Education Institutions, the
availability of amassed information through online and multi-media forums, leaves me in a
position to suggest that quality should be recognized as a prioritized issue that wants to be
addressed. Rightly so, with OER now a global concept, through the years of achieving
recognition and development, policies and frameworks have been constructed to assure quality
and flexibility of cross transfer of knowledge.
The continuous evolution of technology and easy accessibility of affordable resources demands
that frameworks and policies which may filter information to produce quality for users are
publically scrutinized. A great contributor to quality can be through online social platforms such
as blogs. With OER accessibly available in the public domain, it will without a doubt have the
biggest audience to qualify and quantify the relevance of content shared openly, where personal
opinions, preferences and suggestions can be shared globally. With the emergence of 8
OEP from
OER, OPENNESS in OER becomes more strategic in its connotation that educational context
implemented transform learning and users to be informed about the rules and policies
surrounding OER.
It is not wrong to assume that scholars of OER, initially had no need to create check and
balances processes to assure quality but measure against existing procedures. Institutions have in
existence processes to measure quality teaching and learning guidelines pre OER, which includes
a curricula, institutional standing orders procedures, evaluation and measurements processes,
conceptualism, theories, expected student outcomes, sources and resources verification, quality
standard frameworks research and data calibrated by fellow academics and other institutions
including the public and Industries.
With the changing face of teaching and learning approach (Pedagogy versus Andragogy),
attributed to the overwhelming developments in the technological sector, the integration of
technology into education and the drive towards creating a smart society, access to information is
made easier and more affordable. The question of quality still challenges these new concepts and
ideas. These new approaches evolving into society, create and generate own social structure and
backdrops, with which quality processes becomes a necessity as part of a process.
In addressing the purpose of this paper, OER has contributed a legal and transitional framework
of quality checks and balances through development. These frameworks are outputs of careful
deliberation of global institutions, states in partnership, academics and public domain scrutiny.
Because these frameworks have proven to support a global vision of education accessible by all,
online courses and evaluation come into existence, in the form of LMS and MOOC’s. These
online platforms and evaluation are integrated with human technology, which ensures that
8
Camilleri. A. F., Ehlers U. D., Pawlowski. J., State of the Art Review of Quality Issues related to Open Educational
Resources (OER), 2014

12. 11 | P a g e
quality upon design still is controlled by human element. To question the quality of online
evaluation would be questioning the capabilities of the designer of online education evaluations
through online learning platforms.
The emergence of OEP out of OER, is solidified with online courses, advocation, awareness,
conference discussion and national policy statements to verify existence and sustainability of
OER, but most importantly is the recognition of the relevancy of such concepts as these in the
development of mankind. Open Educational Practices boldly have contributed to sustainable
development in quality assurance with its own frameworks, policies, licenses and integrated
learning concepts. As implied earlier, traditional processes of ensuring quality are existing
effective approaches, is evident of how an ICT concept is well integrated into society and not
rigid but adaptable. The ADDIE model Framework maybe a traditional generic process of
instructional design, but is still relevant when integrated into ICT in Education concepts.
Creative Commons is an OER policy that states the 6 licenses for all OER materials. The 6
licenses allows the various mode in which an author or OER user may adopt educational
materials in open source. To sustain the quality assured of learning resources prior licensing,
they need recognition and filtration to meet local demand for usage, students and teachers would
need to see and realize the need and relevance of such a document. It is easier in this extent to
work with an Education body which is engaged in this process, like the Curriculum Development
sections for government and nongovernmental institutions. With Higher Education Institutions,
internal processes exist to provide support and direction in confirming the latter.
DIAGRAM 1 – Creative Commons Licenses and Policies.
CC Labels CC Policies
1 This license lets others distribute, remix,
tweak, and build upon your work, even
commercially, as long as they credit you for
the original creation. This is the most
accommodating of licenses offered.
Recommended for maximum dissemination
and use of licensed materials
2 This license lets others remix, tweak, and
build upon your work even for commercial
purposes, as long as they credit you and
license their new creations under the identical
terms. This license is often compared to
“copyleft” free and open source software
licenses. All new works based on yours will
carry the same license, so any derivatives
will also allow commercial use. This is the
license used by Wikipedia, and is
recommended for materials that would
benefit from incorporating content from
Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

13. 12 | P a g e
3 This license allows for redistribution,
commercial and non-commercial, as long as
it is passed along unchanged and in whole,
with credit to you.
4 This license lets others remix, tweak, and
build upon your work non-commercially, and
although their new works must also
acknowledge you and be non-commercial,
they don’t have to license their derivative
works on the same terms.
5 This license lets others remix, tweak, and
build upon your work non-commercially, as
long as they credit you and license their new
creations under the identical terms.
6 This license is the most restrictive of our six
main licenses, only allowing others to
download your works and share them with
others as long as they credit you, but they
can’t change them in any way or use them
commercially.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/, 2016.
Creative Commons exist to facilitate and ensure that while resources are being used publically,
the quality and integrity of the document is maintained. As an educator, I am of the opinion that
it is important to address the following questions:
1. Can the Resource be used?
2. Is the information accurate?
3. Can the resource be incorporated into learning?
These maybe probing questions that effectively can be answered through peer evaluation. In
stating the latter, suggestion and recommendation for effective practices for developing quality
public available teaching and learning resources will best be designed by users. OER’s
contribution to assuring quality globally continues with countries acknowledging and adopting
OER concepts for the benefit it provides its citizens. OERu, OER Africa, DOER COL,
UNESCO, OER Consortium, OER Commons, Creative Commons are global institutions in
partnership with Universities and governments that attempts to contain surety that public funds
invested in sustainable development through education continue to ensure affordable
accessibility to quality educational resources.
REFERENCE LIST:
1. Wikipedia, ‘Generation Z’, Technology and Social Media, 15.02.2016,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z, 2016

14. 13 | P a g e
2. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, ‘Framework for 21st Century Learning’, 21st
Century Student Outcomes, 18.01.2016,http://www.p21.org/.
3. UNESCO, ‘Open Educational Resources’, What are Open Educational Resources,
20.01.2016, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communicationandinformation/ Access to
knowledge/ open educational resources/ what are open educational resources (oers).
4. Creative Commons, ‘Keep the Internet Creative, Free and Open’, History,
20.01.2016,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ igo/
5. UNESCO, ‘How open is an Open Licence’, A Basic Guide to Open educational Resources,
16.01.2016, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002158/215804e.pdf
6. P. Nijkamp and I. Siedschlag (Eds.). 2011. ‘Innovation, Growth and Competitiveness’,
Advances in Spatial Science, 22.02.2016,
file:///C:/Users/matait/Documents/OER/9783642149641-c1.pdf
7. UNESCO and Commonwealth of Learning, ‘OER in Higher Education Context’, Guidelines
for Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education, Published in 2011, 2015 by
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de
Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France and Commonwealth of Learning, 1055 West
Hastings, Suite 1200, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6E 2E9.
8. Camilleri. A. F. and Ehlers U. D., Pawlowski. J. (2014), State of the Art Review of Quality
Issues related to Open Educational Resources (OER), A Framework for supporting Open
Educational Practices.
9. Kernohan. D. (2012), OER and Quality Assurance.
10. Creative Commons Organisation. 25.02.2016. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
11. Commonwealth of Learning, “Please Proof”, Request to proof APQN Conference Paper,
Dr V. Balaji. 25/02/2016. Email.
12. Government of Fiji, 2016, http://www.planning.gov.fj/.