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NovembershyDecember 2015Connect with us throughthe following channels

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OER and OpenTextbooks part ofsolution to the currenthigher educationcrisis read more

Welcome to the NovembershyDecember 2015 edition of the ROER4D Newsletter As we reachthe end of a busy 2015 we would like to take some time to reflect on a particularly busy sixmonths which has culminated in a number of our subshyprojects submitting research reportsand nearing the end of their data collection while some projects are well into finalising theirreports

The group of seven OER Impact Studies are preparing to meet for a workshop from 11shy13January in Sri Lanka The workshop programme is overseen by Professor GajarajDhanarajan Maria Ng and Vivien Chiam at Wawasan Open University and is hosted by theOpen University of Sri Lanka where SP106 Lead Researcher Shironica Karananayaka isthe Dean of the Faculty of Education We wish the Impact Studies researchers well for asuccessful and productive workshop

Researching in the open shy a reflection from the Principal InvestigatorOur investigations into conceptualising and operationalising open research continue Fromthe outset of this project we have been committed to the principle of lsquoopen researchrsquo Takinga practical approach to this we have sought to conduct our research in the open which hasmeant as much transparency as possible over the process We have tried to communicatehow we intend to research as well as what we are researching in order to build a network ofstakeholders who are interested and invested in researching OER in the Global South Ourproject reports andor book chapters will be released under Creative Commons licensesand the ROER4D Open Data Initiative aims to release open datasets as well for projectswho deem this useful Over time and as the project proceeds we have built on ourconceptual and practical understanding of what open research and openness means andshared this at various conferences workshops and through conversations on our blogs andwith other stakeholders

This thinking and work continued in the presentation lsquoResearching OER in the openDevelopments in the ROER4D projectrsquo that Thomas King and I prepared for the OpenEducation Conference in Vancouver in November 2015 This presentation highlights fourdimensions of openness namely ideological technical legal and practical openness whichare described in more detail in a draft paper which we opened up for commenting by anyoneThe paper reflects on ROER4Drsquos initial intentions and commitment to open research andtraces the emergence of a more comprehensive and complex set of lsquoopen researchrsquopractices that evolved during the first two years of the threeshyyear research study with theintention that this stimulates debate about the nature of open research practices and be ofvalue to other research projects undertaking an open research approach

12152015 ROER4D Newsletter shy NovembershyDecember 2015

25

OER part of solution tocreating capacity forsustainable opendistance and flexibleeducation read more

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Latest TweetsRT COL4D COLsJournal of Learning forDevelopment now onDirectory of Open AccessJournalshttpstcoNt9GOyuN1QOpenEd httpstcohellipRT COL4D OpenEdpolicies and resourcesdiscussed at EasternCaribbean Open TextbookForum forumhttpstcoz7TMk2d9a3httpstco0HAhellipRT JOFL4D JOFL4DROER4D OpenICT4DOpenEduEU M4DCOL4D wikieducatorCOLs JL4D is nowofficially registered atDOAJhttpstco0NhellipRT Africa_evidenceDates for your diary thesecond Africa EvidenceConference will be 20shy22Sept 2016 in Pretoria SAAEN2016profsandyhellipRT uhernandezDIRECTVCo premia aEscuelaNormalPopayanCO entre 1000IE por trabajarDerechodeAutor Frutode coKREAhttpstcog7ihellip

PI Cheryl HodgkinsonshyWilliams presenting at the Open Education Conference VancouverNovember 2015

Openness remains a contested term with many layers interpretations and contestations Inorder to make it meaningful and contribute to the debate we continue to engage with otherswho are exploring this space We conclude that conducting open research takes time andtenacity Even if a research team is committed to ideological technical legal and practicalopenness in its activities the cost of sustained implementation might be too high for openresearch to be fully realised Working in a multicultural and multishylinguistic project contexthas illustrated some of the affordances difficulties and unexpected consequences ofconducting open research and has led to our more modest aspirations towards openresearch as well as the necessity to be more deliberate or critical about what and whenresearch should be open It has prompted us to ask a more fundamental question Whenand under what circumstances should research be closed

News from the Network HubThe network hub team continues to support the core activities of the ROER4D project underthe guidance of PI Cheryl HodgkinsonshyWilliams Deputy PI Patricia Arinto and ProjectManager Tess Cartmill A key activity has been the establishment of the ROER4D OpenData Initiative which supports the ROER4D researcher community in data managementpractice and data publication activity With the support and guidance of Michelle Willmersand Thomas King researchers in the various subshyprojects are encouraged to sharetraditional textshybased outputs such as research reports and papers as well research datatools instruments multimedia and working documents

Communications Advisor Sukaina Walji and Evaluation Advisor Sarah Goodier arecontinuing to liaise with the Developing Evaluation and Communication Capacity inInformation Society Research project (DECIshy2) project on implementing the projectsrsquoapproaches to and developing capacity in both the Communications and Evaluationfunctions of the project

Networking is a core ROER4D objective and the project continues to connect with andnurture relationships with other research projects and stakeholder organisations working toresearch and improve educational outcomes through open education New relationshipshave been forged with the Open and Collaborative Science in Development Network(OCSDNet) and the OER World Map while deeper relationships with the Commonwealth ofLearning the OER Research Hub the GOshyGN Network and individual researchers in theopen education community continue to develop as we seek to engage with and collaborateon future ldquoopenrdquo research projects

The ROER4D Research Bibliography

833AM

832AM

808PM

619AM

420PM

12152015 ROER4D Newsletter shy NovembershyDecember 2015

35

This valuable and wellshyreceived open bibliography of OER research continues to grow as weadd and structure resources Organised in a Google Spreadsheet new sections for OpenTextbooks MOOCs Activity Theory as well as a list of Open Access journals have beenadded to the core list of OER resources Earlier this year we were delighted to receive a listof bibliographic references from John Hilton III and we have now added these references toa specific tab We welcome feedback and comments and encourage anyone to make a copyof the bibliography for their own purposes

Roundshyup from the ROER4D research projectsThis newsletter features news from four subshyprojects

SP4 data rendering in processThe Subshyproject 4 team has been busy writing the final draft of the research report seekingpublication for an article on its research and preparing presentations to give at upcomingconferences However the team has been doing this while Lead Researcher Glenda Coxfinalises her PhD thesis on OER at the University of Cape Town For the past few monthsshe has been in the process of writing editing proofing and submitting the thesis so it hasbeen a hectic few months for her Of course as with all of the other subshyprojects the workcarried on nonetheless with Glenda and Henry Trotter now busy improving the researchreport based on the useful feedback received from the network hub and their own continuedanalytical work

Glenda and Henry have also recently submitted an article for consideration to TheInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL) titledInstitutional culture and OER policy how structure culture and agency mediate OER policypotential in South African universities This was based on their SP4 research

Lastly the team has submitted Abstracts for the OE Global Conference in Poland in April2016 If accepted Glenda will be attending giving a presentation on her PhD work and theteam has also submitted a poster for consideration concerning a conceptual framework theydeveloped during the SP4 research called the OER Adoption Pyramid This frameworkhelps delineate the factors impacting OER adoption in institutional contexts

SP5 collaboratively creating and curating mathematics OER for teacher professionaldevelopmentThe Karnataka Open Educational Resources project shy Subshyproject 5 shy is studying whetherand how professional learning communities of teachers can collaborate on OER adoptionDuring August 2015 the research team ran a workshop with high school Mathematicsteachers For the past two years SP5 has been working with this group of teachersengaging in participatory resource creation action research during which time theseteachers have learnt to use the ldquoGeogebrardquo tool to create resources for teachingmathematics In this workshop the aim was to create metashyresources for learning in whichthe teachers explored and discussed different pedagogical methods in which Geogebracould be used for teaching mathematics The workshop discussions resulted in the creationof a mindshymap functioning as a meta resource to guide teachers on the differentpedagogical ways in which the Geogebra tool can be used such as visualizationconceptualization verification problem solving and investigation assessmentdemonstration and integration with other disciplines Using Geogebra teachers preparedresource keeping in mind these different methods of learning and shared their experienceswith others

12152015 ROER4D Newsletter shy NovembershyDecember 2015

45

Teachers discussions different methods of using Geogebra as a learning resource

Teachers received peer feedback on their creations and learnt how the same resource couldbe used with more than one pedagogical method This peer review was a revision processin which new ideas about using the same resource were identified and added as metashydatafor the resource Consequently teachers experienced first hand the power of the OERprocess of revision The OER processes of creating reviewing and revising theseGeogebra resources was intense for the participants and allowed them to reflect on theirown ideas of Mathematics teaching Consequently teachers discussed how the Geogebraresources could be used to launch a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Geogebrafor their colleagues in the state shy such a MOOC would potentially enable greater adoption ofthe OER created in the program

SP103 research presented at the HELTASA conferenceAssistant SP103 researcher Michael Glover recently attended and presented at theHELTASA (Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa) inPotchefstroom South Africa from 17 ndash 20 November His presentation discussed MOOCsand educatorsrsquo changing practices with regards to openness He presented thematicfindings from analysing semishystructured interview data which was collected immediatelyprior to and immediately after one of the MOOCs under study had completed its firstiteration Michael also presented a poster on Activity Theory approaches to studying changein educatorsrsquo practices which has informed SP103rsquos research approach

Poster considering approaches from the literature on Activity Theory presented at HELTASAConference

The conference was stimulating and Michael was able to generate interest in SP103rsquosresearch and share links about the project and the SP103 annotated bibliography TheSP103 team is currently working on articulating indicators of openness in the findings byexamining the findings in relation to Beetham et alrsquos conceptions of open practices andHodgkinsonshyWilliamsrsquo framework of openness

SP106 shy Integrating OER in Teacher Education is progressing in Sri Lanka

12152015 ROER4D Newsletter shy NovembershyDecember 2015

55

The SP106 research team led by Shironica Karunanayaka and Som Naidu has beencontinuing with Stages 2 and 3 of the OERshyIntegration Intervention program at the nineregional centres of the Open University of Sri Lanka (Colombo Kandy MataraAnuradhapura Batticaloa Jaffna Badulla Kurunegala and Ratnapura) A series of midshyintervention workshops were conducted during July in all nine centres and data on initial andincremental changes in teachersrsquo perceptions and practices were collected using a variety ofstrategies including surveys concept mapping lesson plan observations focus groupdiscussions and selfshyreflections

Shironica and Som are developing the OEPshyImpact Evaluation Index to capture theperceptions perspectives and practices of educators as they engage with the adoption andintegration of OER in their teaching and learning activities and how these change over timeDuring Phase 1 shy Expert review the instrument was improved based on feedback fromexpert practitioners and at Phase 2 shy Item analysis the improved version was piloted with agroup of educators and the validation process continues

Shironica and Som presenting at the ICDE Conference October 2016

The research team along with colleagues has also been disseminating the initial findings ofthe project by presenting research papers at several local and international conferencesThese include a presentation on lsquoImpacts of OER What difference does it make and howrsquo atthe 26th ICDE World Conference held 14shy16 October 2015 in Sun City South Africa apresentation on lsquoPerspectives and Practices of student teachers of OUSL in the use of OERin teaching and learningrsquo at the The Open University Annual Academic Sessionsshy2015 held19shy20 November 2015 at OUSL Sri Lanka and a presentation lsquoOpenness in EducationTeacher perspectives through Concept Mappingrsquo at the 29th AAOU Conferenceshy2015 held30 Novembershy 3 December 2015 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Copyright copy 2015 ROER4D Materials on this announcement are licensed under a CCshyBYshySA 40 International license

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