Research about OER as boundary objects

1. OER as boundary objects – for
dialogue between academia and
society about food
GO-GN-Webinar 10/12 2015
Anne Algers (anne.algers@ait.gu.se)

2. Boundaries
• Boundaries are social
constructions that
define who are
included and excluded
from interactions
(Edwards & Kinti,
2010).

3. Boundaries

4. Boundary crossing
Boundary crossing can be seen as horizontal movements
of knowledge between multiple parallel activity contexts (Engeström et
al., 1995).
Photo: Alex Marsh

5. Boundary objects
• Introduce an object to achieve boundary
activities and to connect actors from different
worlds (Star & Griesemer, 1989)
• Focus on the process when generating a
boundary object through boundary activities
(Engeström et al., 1995)

6. OER can support collaboration in
academia
Underlying dimensions for the motives to adopt OER:
1. Individual (e.g. altruism - outreach),
2. Institutional (e.g. collaboration with peers - collective),
3. Societal (e.g. reaching beyond borders of the academy - expansive).

7. Human motivations for OER adoption

8. Challenges – Problems and barriers
• Quality assessment
• Accuracy and legitimacy
• Adopt new technologies and pedagogies
• Sustainability
• Share – participate

9. Continued discussion on openness
Photo: Antti T. Nissinen

10. Subject specific OER studies
Photo: intheskies

11. OER as an instrument for negotiations
on what can be done with our animals
Anne.algers@ait.gu..se

12. My thesis and the 5 papers
• Algers, A. (2015). Open learning in life sciences – Studies of open educational resources in
animal welfare and work-based learning in food science. Diss. University of Gothenburg.
http://hdl.handle.net/2077/40580
• 1) Algers, A., Svensson, L. and Lindström, B. (2015). Work-based learning through
negotiated projects – Exploring boundary crossing. Higher Education, Skills and Work-based
Learning, 6(1), 1-19. http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/HESWBL-01-
2015-0003
• 2) Algers, A., Lindström, B. and Pajor, E.A. (2011). A New Format for Learning about Farm
Animal Welfare. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 24(4), 367-379.
http://pub.epsilon.slu.se/11219/
• 3) Algers, A., Silva-Fletcher, A., Gregory, N. and Hunt, M. (2013). The development of a new
methodology for knowledge sharing in the interface between university and society - an
example from the meat sector. Journal of Meat Science, 95, 672-678.
http://pub.epsilon.slu.se/11160/
• 4) Algers, A. and Silva-Fletcher, A, (2015). Teachers’ perceived value, motivations for and
adoption of open educational resources in animal and food sciences. International Journal of
Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 10(2), 35-45. http://pub.epsilon.slu.se/12549/
• 5) Algers, A. and Ljung, M. (2015). Peer reviewing of OER in a contested domain – an
activity theoretical analysis. Journal of Interactive Online learning, 13(4), 21-39.
http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/13.4.2.pdf

13. Merry Christmas GO-GN!