This document discusses the Grass Roots Green OER project, which aims to introduce young agricultural students to open education resources and web tools by having them develop and share their own agricultural experiments and business ideas as OER. The concept involves students selecting a project idea, developing a wiki page to document it, participating in online and in-person training activities, blogging about their progress, and presenting their results. The project has evolved to offer an online course and plans to select motivated past participants to take on larger, longer-term "master grower" projects with mentorship. The educational approach uses hands-on, project-based learning but could benefit from a more explicit instructional model.

1. Grass Roots Green OER
the OER growers case
Nikos Manouselis, Babis Thanopoulos
Agro-Know Technologies
nikosm@ieee.org; cthanopoulos@agroknow.gr

2. background

3. OER defined
3

5. green OER
5

6. examples of green OER
6

7. challenge
• knowledge is in the hands of experts
• agriculture-related topics need lots of
contextualised, project-oriented, hands-on
experimentation
– how to document, share, reuse, remix, build upon
such experiences?
– what kind of tools could people use to carry out such
tasks online?
7

8. OER growers

9. concept
• introducing young agricultural students to
topics related to Web2.0 tools, OER,
developing their own content
• support them during the design,
implementation and reporting of an
experiment/idea as OER
• initial focus
– agricultural experiments (e.g. setting up a green
roof/balcony, trying hydroponics, planting a new
cultivar) 9

10. concept
10

11. extended scope
• from agricultural students, to young (or to-
be) farmers
• additional focus on business ideas (e.g.
setting up an online shop, finding new
distributors, trying and selling a new
method)
• course on "Setting up your Own Agricultural
Business“
• 17-22 September 2012, Athens, Greece
11

12. extended scope
12

13. experimenting with topics
• ICT-related training
– Blogging
– Web2.0 tools
– Open Education Resources
– Social networking and online communities
– copyright and licensing: Creative Commons
– Open web editing – Wikis
– Photo and video sharing, policies
– E-learning platforms for agriculture
13

14. 1. select an idea/project
• participants are coming with an idea in
mind
– either for an agricultural experiment or a
business concept
• brainstorming on the idea
– relevant information sources
– connection with experts
• revisit idea and describe it in a small
project plan 14

15. 2. develop a Wiki page
• hands-on training on how to edit and publish
Wiki pages
– introduction to Wikis, rich text editing, including
multimedia material
– hands on using the Wiki of OER growers
(http://wiki.oergrowers.gr)
• drafting a project Wiki page
– explaining the rationale, method, techniques,
expected results
15

16. 3. blended educational activities
• selection of uploaded and online resources for
self-studying on selected topics, available
through course management platform
– agriMoodle (http://agrimoodle.agroknow.gr)
• combination of online synchronous seminars
(webinars) with physical training at some
location [e.g. AK premises]
16

17. 4. blogging
• core-component of OER growers
– emphasis on documentation of applied and
explored activities
– request for frequent update (e.g. 3-4 posts per
week)
– enrich with photos and videos from project
• use of http://blog.oergrowers.gr
17

18. 5. wrapping up & presentation
• after pre-defined period of time (ranging from
2 weeks to 3 months) participants report on
their project
– progress, methods, results documented in their
Wiki page
– complemented with selected posts from blog
– sets of photos in Flickr/Instagram/…
– videos through YouTube/Vimeo/…
• presentation to the group and peer review
exercise to collect feedback
18

19. evolving: online course

20. “formalising” online component
• started as only way to reach participants
from rural areas
– could not attend physical seminars
• many expressed interest in an accredited
course
• University of Alcala (Spain) already offers
such adult learning opportunities
– also for students/graduates interested in credits
– pilot course related to agriculture was very
20

21. training curriculum
21

22. about course
22

23. evolving: master grower

24. after completing a training cycle
24

25. new knowledge
• Wiki page on rationale/approach – an
urban balcony case study
• frequent blogging on how plants grew
• Flickr set with all experiment photos
• had to face a typical enemy of plants,
investigated alternative approaches but
didn’t work
• feels that has learnt a lot from the
experiment 25

26. still, only an exercise
• not enough time to try something on a
larger scale/period
– e.g. set up a small green house for a whole season
• difficult to compare new/alternative
approaches
– what to plant, how to grow, how to protect
• not enough exposure to the technology
• desire to work more with the peers, even
in a group sharing parts of the project
26

27. “master OER grower” concept
• select two motivated people
– to scale up and continue their experiment
• devote a longer time period in mentoring
and guiding them
• connect with good experts for their
experiments, facilitate exposure and
collaboration
• monitor/support closely, specific tasks &
deliverables, reward outcomes
27

28. wrapping up

29. educational approach
• project-based, hands-on experience
– connects nicely with practical needs of our
learners
• still, no explicit instructional model
adopted (yet?)
– e.g. inquiry-based: organise activity around
specific questions that learners explore

30. role of technology
• real need or artificially injected?
• for the moment, topics driven by our
interests
– indications that they support actual needs
(logbook, content organisation, identification
of material)
– social interaction & community building is core
• need to examine/assess perceived
usefulness and acceptance

31. next challenges
• open to urban and rural farmers
– in real need of support in finding,
documenting, sharing information
– set up online community
• involve domain experts
– connect growers with success
storytellers or experts in their project
area

32. thank you!
http://www.oergrowers.gr
http://agrimoodle.agroknow.gr