Group Admins
Description
The use of OER and its benefits for the learning process – which Wiley (2014) describes as the 5Rs of openness (reuse, revise, remix, redistribute, and retain) – are not part of common educational practice in Germany. Educational staff who are involved in teaching, such as teachers, tutors or lecturers are often unsure as to what OER are, where they can be found and how they might be used to foster student learning. One of the reasons for this is that there are few or no institutional incentives to promote the use of OER. Further reasons include a lack of sufficient technical equipment in schools, universities and in further education and a cross-sector lack of training in the areas of OER and digital literacy (Wikimedia Deutschland, 2016).
Against this background, the project MOIN seeks to raise awareness for OER across educational sectors and to provide targeted information, counselling and training to individuals and organisations who will act as OER multipliers. The six project partners of MOIN come from different educational sectors in Lower Saxony, combining their expertise in the field of OER in school settings, in Higher Education and in Further Education. A complimentary perspective in this project is provided by the involvement of the Servicestelle Offene Hochschule Niedersachsen, a government-affiliated organisation which co-ordinates and pursues different activities to open up higher education in Lower Saxony. MOIN will provide opportunities for exploring OER in different educational settings by bringing together OER experts and novices in different workshops and training events. It is hoped that both a mixed audience and an approach that focuses on openness and on sharing experience beyond institutional boundaries will stimulate cross-sectoral networking and lead to the co-creation of OER.
Since the official start of the project is in January 2017, this presentation will focus on the description of planned activities which are designed to meet major challenges to a widespread, cross-sector, sustainable use of OER in Germany: legal issues, access to OER (including search strategies), lack of networking across educational sectors, lack of a positive attitude towards OER and open educational practice among educational staff, lack of targeted training in the areas of OER and digital literacy. The presentation will also critically reflect upon the project design and challenges met during the first three months. In particular, the impact of two specific aspects of the government programme on project implementation, the structural difference between the funded projects and the government intention to promote cross-project sharing of experience and resources through regular network meetings will be assessed. It is hoped that these examples will resonate with experiences from the audience and stimulate a lively discussion.
References
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) (2016a). Open Access in Deutschland. Die Strategie des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung. Available at: https://www.bmbf.de/pub/Open_Access_in_Deutschland.pdf [Accessed 23 Nov. 2016].
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) (2016b). Richtlinie zur Förderung von Offenen Bildungsmaterialien (Open Educational Resources – OERinfo). Bundesanzeiger vom 15.01.2016. Available at: https://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/bekanntmachung-1132.html [Accessed 23 Nov. 2016].
Wikimedia Deutschland (2016). Praxisrahmen für Open Educational Resources (OER) in Deutschland. Available at: http://mapping-oer.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Praxisrahmen-fu%CC%88r-OER-in-Deutschland_Online-1.pdf [Accessed 23 Nov. 2016].
Wiley, D. (2014). The Access Compromise and the 5th R. Iterating toward Openness. Available at: http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3221 [Accessed 23 Nov. 2016].
