Presentation given by Terese Bird and Gabi Witthaus at the Higher Education Academy's SCORE showcase event at the Open University on 11 July 2012. Full case study report available at http://tinyurl.com/iTunesU-OERu .

1. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
iTunes U and the OERu:
Two Different Ways to Reach the World
Terese Bird: Sharing Practice with ITunes U
Digital Educational Resources (SPIDER)
Gabi Witthaus: Testing the OER university
Concept: a National Study (TOUCANS)

2. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Introduction
Testing the OER
university Concept:
a National Study
www.le.ac.uk/toucans
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/7188563020/ Sharing Practice
with iTunes U
Two projects: TOUCANS and SPIDER Digital
Educational
Photo courtesy of dmroblero on Flickr Resources

3. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
100 million adults can’t afford
university (UNESCO)
Image by James Cridland

4. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
iTunes U: free learning since
2007

5. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012

6. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012

7. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012

8. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Downloads as of June 2012
University Downloads
Open University, UK Over 50 million since June 2008
University of Oxford Over 18 million since June 2008
Coventry University 2.5 million in 2010 alone
University of Warwick 1 million from Jan ‘09 – June ‘10
Cranfield University 5000 in the first 10 days

9. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Users: ‘addicted’ ‘love’
‘obsessed’
5.5%
17.8%
13.7%
9.6%
20.5%
27.4%
4.1%
1.4%

10. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
International reach
3 June 2008 – 2 January 2012

11. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
iTunes U v YouTube
YouTube iTunes U
Ease to publish Easy Not so easy
Ease to grab Easy-ish Easy
Ease to adapt Not so easy Not so easy
CC Catered but hidden Catered but hidden (?)
Formats Video Audio, video, pdf, ebook
Academic quality Mixed, diluted Very Good
Internet connection Required at the time Not required at the time
Software Any browser Free iTunes software
Time limit 10 – 15 minutes* None
Restrictions Banned in China, others None
Restrictions in UK Schools don’t like Some unis don’t like
Mobile-ready Smartphones, tablets All including non-smart
iPods, best on Apple
Ads Irritating ads No ads

12. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Conclusions from iTunes U
cases
• Individual ways of implementing iTunes U based on
university’s strengths, academic emphases, organisational
structure
• ‘BBC quality’ is great but not necessary
• Capacity-building
• Audio-only is good
• Marketing is key

13. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Further research
• Ebooks, iBooks, courses, and openness – there is a way!
• iTunes U for learning in UK universities
• iTunes U in other countries
• Accessibility
• Leap-frogging

14. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
What is the OERu?
Image by normanack on flickr

15. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
The OER university concept
http://wikieducator.org/File:OER-University-concept.png

16. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
OERu Anchor Partners
http://wikieducator.org/Oeru

17. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
TOUCANS Data Collection
• Interviews with OERu network partner members (14)
• Interviews with UK HEI thought leaders (11)
• Survey among UK HEIs (42 respondents)

18. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Response
theme (1)
Photo by rightee on flickr

19. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Response theme
(2)
Image by Jans Canon on Flickr

20. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Key concerns (UK respondents)
• Student support (volunteers are not seen as the answer)
• Online learning seen as second best
• Quality and QAA requirements
• Assessment & credibility
• True cost
• Credit transfer difficulty
• Perceived devaluation of qualifications

21. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
Mass Models of OER
Conclusions
• Compromise
• Even small efforts can be successful

22. SCORE Showcase 11 July 2012
With many thanks to…
• Patrick McAndrew, Alejandro Armellini, Wayne Mackintosh
and Angela Murphy for their support in the TOUCANS
project.
• Melissa Highton, Peter Robinson, Andy Beggan, Steve
Stapleton, Andrew Law, Ben Hawkridge, and Catherine
Chambers for their help with the SPIDER project.