Comparison of three production processes of OER on a set of characteristics. Presented @OpenEd 2010 in Barcelona

1. Production of OER
A Quest for Efficiency
Tina Wilson, OU UK
Willem van Valkenburg, Delft University of Technology
Robert Schuwer, Open Universiteit

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Approach
• Three cases
• Conclusions

3. Introduction
• Why this subject?
– Process to create OER has to fit into your
context
– Efficiency is important
– What characteristics determine efficiency of
production of OER?
• Only looking for characteristics specifically
for OER and not for regular courses

4. Approach
• Determine an initial set of characteristics
– Analyzing OPAL description of projects
– Wikiversity and WikiEducator
• Describe three projects along the
characteristics
• Compare the projects
– Variable: cost per course (labour costs are
most important cost driver)

5. Types of OER processes
Production process # Remarks
Derived from existing regular
“closed” course materials
31 Sometimes as part of the mainstream process
and sometimes using a workflow additional
to the mainstream process
Additional “raw” materials from
existing “closed” courses,
but relatively easy to
produce
7 E.g. videocasts or podcasts of classes
Course materials especially
produced for an OER
repository
7 In most cases additional to the first mentioned
scenario
Other models 2 User generated materials
Not described/not applicable 22 Not applicable: creating a portal or create
communities

6. Case 1: OpenER
• OU Nederland one of 14 universities in NL
• with a specific Profile:
Lifelong, Open, and Flexible (LOF)
learning
• over 20.000 students
• Philosophy: OER is the ultimate form of
openness for an Open University

7. OpenER project
• Objectives:
> lowering thresholds for access to formal HE
> widening and increasing participation in HE
• 2006-2008. Site launched on December 5, 2006
• 27 courses, mostly 1 ECTS size
• Student centered (self learning materials)

8. Production process

9. Process characteristics
Availability of existing (raw) materials Not in repository
Availability of registration of IP for existing
learning materials
Yes
Organisation of Quality Assurance QA by peer review
Experience of course authors Very experienced
Size and activities of the supporting staff
department
Small
The degree in which the process is
standardized or automated
Low
Consumers are able to add new content to the
OER repository
No
A whole course can be divided in separate OER
units
Yes
Type of OER created Mostly text (pdf). In some courses video
(tailormade) and interactive elements.
The publishing platform for OER eduCommons (different from platform for regular
courses)
Costs of development of a course (average,
min, max)
€ 9,000 (€3,500 - €30,000) for a 25 hr course (total
27 courses).

10. Case 2: OpenLearn
• The UK Open University has been developing high
quality distance learning materials for 40 years,
• ‘The philosophy of Open Content is entirely
commensurate with The Open University’s mission to
equalise access to high quality educational opportunities
… particularly among educationally marginalised groups’.
(Open Content Initiative, 2006; Appendix L and H).

11. OpenLearn
• OpenLearn is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett
foundation.
• The site was launched on 25th
Oct 2006
• OpenLearn – supports twin sites:
- the LearningSpace – a supported open learning site
for learners; and
- the LabSpace – a supported community
building site for creators

12. Models for transformation
• The integrity model: very similar to original, as complete
as possible, study as the original;
• The essence model: source material cut back, keep
essential features, text into shorter blocks;
• The remix model: source material is starting point,
redesigned for web delivery.
Lane (2006) ‘From Pillar to Post: …’
http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/document.cfm?documentid=9724

13. Key stages of Integrity Model

14. Process characteristics
Availability of existing (raw)
materials
Content (in most cases) was transformed from printed analogue
texts from the digital version held in the OUUK production
storage system.
Availability of registration of IP for
existing learning materials
Yes
Organisation of Quality
Assurance
QA in the LearningSpace was performed as extensive peer
review and external examiner reporting. QA for learning materials
in the LabSpace is performed by consumers instead of by the
institution (on ‘dated’ material and uploaded content)
Experience of course authors Very experienced
Size and activities of the
supporting staff department
Originally a large team for setting up systems, now a small team
The degree in which the process
is standardized or automated
High
Consumers are able to add new
content to the OER repository
Yes
A whole course can be divided in
separate OER units
Yes
Type of OER created Mix of media including text (mostly in XML but some as pdf),
images, video, audio, animations and simulations.
The publishing platform for OER Twin Websites on a Moodle enhanced platform (although
bespoke Drupal site being used for more recent third website)
Costs of development of a course
(average, min, max)
On average approximately £3000 (€3600) (10 hrs study).

15. Case 3: Delft University of Technology
• TU Delft is a traditional brick-and-mortar
university in The Netherlands
• 17,000 students and 5,000 staff
"TU Delft is dedicated to finding sustainable
solutions for social problems. The university's
core tasks include delivering know-how and
building knowledge networks in an international
context. OpenCourseWare is one of the means by
which we are contributing to this mission".
Jakob Fokkema, former Rector Magnificus

16. TU Delft OpenCourseWare
• Started in 2007 with 10 courses, now 40
courses
• Courses are based on existing course
material in Blackboard

17. Guidelines for our OCW-courses
• Quality of the resources
• Completeness
• Copyright
• Suitability for self-study
Regular students profit from the
enhancements as well

18. Process characteristics
Availability of existing (raw)
materials
In Blackboard, not available for outside the university
Availability of registration of IP for
existing learning materials
Yes
Organisation of Quality Assurance QA by peer review
Experience of course authors Varies between instructors
Size and activities of the supporting
staff department
Small
The degree in which the process is
standardized or automated
High
Consumers are able to add new
content to the OER repository
No
A whole course can be divided in
separate OER units
No
Type of OER created Text (pdf) with video stream
The publishing platform for OER Typo3 CMS
Costs of development of a course
(average, min, max)
Bureau OpenER pays € 1000 per ECTS to the instructor. The
instructor pays the student assistants. 1 ECTS stands for 28 hour.
The bureau OpenER spends between 10 and 15 hours for a
course. On average it is 3 hours per ECTS. Total average costs
are € 1200 per ECTS.

19. Comparison
• Characteristics having the most influence are
(not surprising):
– The part of the process that is automated. The more
is automated, the less costs.
– The size of the supporting staff
– The type of OER created. The more interactive and
multimedia elements, the higher the costs. However,
the use of these technologies makes these course
materials more accessible for a wider variety of
learners.

20. More research
• Are OER so special? Research regular
course development?
• Are the characteristics used the only
ones?
• Connect context of production to
characteristics (contingency)
Hondjevandirkje @ Flickr.com