From the Side of Our Desks towards the Centre: Online ...mgtheid.ca/.../2019/03/From-the-Side-of-Our-Desks-to-th…  · Web viewFrom the Side of Our Desks towards. the Centre: Online

Maureen GlynnTrent University3/29/2019

From the Side of Our Desks towards the Centre: Online Course Development Support as OER Advocacy

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ContentsLooking back on a year of true fellowship..................................................................1

What I was wondering…….......................................................................................2My Proposal.............................................................................................................2How things played out.............................................................................................3

Prepping the DES Online Course Development Team..........................................4Capturing Instructor’s Pre/Post Plans and Perceptions.........................................4Capturing Other Relevant Data............................................................................5

The Results..............................................................................................................6Outcomes for the DES Team................................................................................6Outcomes for Instructors Developing Online Courses..........................................9Outcomes for My Own Practice as an Instructional Designer.............................10Other Outcomes to Consider..............................................................................10

What it all means..................................................................................................11References............................................................................................................12

Looking back on a year of true fellowship

Photo by Dương Trần Quốc on Unsplash

It is hard to believe and accept in many ways that my stint as an eCampusOntario Open Education (OE) Fellow is drawing to a close, but it has been an amazing time – both professionally and personally – and the act of compiling my final reporting has been an odyssey unto itself.

Now is the time for me to share my findings, not only from the action research that I committed to pursue at the outset of this adventure, but also from the many events and collaborations in which I participated over the past fourteen months. As such, this post offers a mix of reflection, results, and work products, which I hope might be embraced and re-purposed by the community in the spirit in which they are offered.

What I was wondering……At the time of the eCampusOntario inaugural call for Open Education (OE) Fellows (Fall 2017), I was working as an Instructional Designer with the Digital Education Strategies (DES) team at The Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University. The DES team supports the design and production of, on average, 40 online courses each year.My own studies and research, along with my experiences collaborating with instructors on the design of their courses, had fostered a growing personal interest in the benefits and affordances of OER, but I wondered: What might be possible if this awareness was shared in a more systematic way across my online course development team?

My ProposalIn response to eCampusOntario’s OE Fellowship requirement for an action research project related to OER use, I offered the following:

Recent research has consistently identified certain barriers confronted by instructors when using OER. These barriers include both perceived and actual deficits with respect to time, tools, expertise and quality of resources, along with absence of institutional supports (Allen and Seaman, 2016; Andrade, Ehlers, Caine, Carneiro, Conole, Holmberg,... & Silva, 2011).

I believe that my colleagues and I have reached a turning point where we must strategically coordinate our efforts to mitigate the obstacles to OER adoption and encourage our faculty collaborators to value OER enabled practices. Action research provides the chance for me and for my team to reflect on our processes and identify measures that will make a difference to instructors’ perceptions and use of OER.

The purpose of my proposed study will be to examine the effects of providing coordinated pedagogical and technical support for open educational practices on instructors’ adoption of and attitudes towards Open and Alternative Educational Resources (OAER) in online course developments.

For the purposes of the study, the definition of OAER is drawn from the work of Lashley et al (2017), and is understood to encompass OER, but also textbook alternatives in general (e.g. digital library reserve readings). This variable was chosen specifically because, as suggested by Lashley et al (2017), “By not requiring all resources to be truly open, faculty who are unfamiliar with OER could come to learn about open resources and licensing at their own pace” (p. 216).

The proposed intervention is to transform the typical course development process undertaken with instructors, to include specific, coordinated support for open educational practices. This would include:

An Open Educational Practices boot camp webinar at the beginning of the instructor’s course development project

Enrolment of each instructor in a “micro course” on open educational practices, where they may access instructional materials as well as participate in a community along with other online course developers

Ongoing pedagogical and technical support for their online course development, including assistance in sourcing, adopting and/or adapting OAERs

The membership of the action research group would include Instructional Designers, Production Editors, Web Developers, and Web Accessibility Specialists.

The timeline for the action research project would span from December 2017 to September 2018 with the intention of following a cohort of instructors

engaged in online course developments targeted for launch in the Fall 2018 Semester.

How things played outWhile DES management had reviewed and fully supported my proposal, some thoughtful reflection, along with the realities of our team’s operations, necessitated a few tweaks to my planned intervention(s). These tweaks included:

Replacing the OER boot camp webinar at the outset of an instructor’s course development project with a two-staged introduction to OER, integrated as part of their project kick-off and course planning workshops with our team

Adjusting the notion of a micro-course on open educational practices to comprise elements of the above-mentioned workshops along with a dedicated community course shell in our institutional LMS (Brightspace by D2L) which provided information about OER and OEP, including Ryerson University’s OER Lib Guide

A deeper investigation into what would best enable ongoing pedagogical and technical support, including assistance in sourcing, adopting and/or adapting OAERs, for online course developers

The tracking of an instructor cohort engaged in online course developments for the Winter 2019 semester, rather than the Fall 2018. This shift allowed more time for relevant professional development (described below) for the DES Team.

Prepping the DES Online Course Development TeamIn an effort to address my own “wonderings”, and to equip the DES team to provide the abovementioned support, I collaborated with the inspiring and

insightful Dr. Jenni Hayman (@jennihayman) to create two workshops for the DES team. The objective of the workshops was to gauge and promote general awareness of OER and OEP among the team, as well as to initiate conversations regarding how each team role might support instructors in their use of OER.

THE MATERIALS FOR THE TWO WORKSHOPS ARE OPENLY LICENSED AND FREE TO RETAIN, RE-USE, REVISE, RE-MIX OR RE-DISTRIBUTE! YOU CAN FIND THEM AT:WORKSHOP 1: https://tinyurl.com/OERandCourseDev1WORKSHOP 2: https://tinyurl.com/OERandCourseDev2

Something to share….

Capturing Instructor’s Pre/Post Plans and PerceptionsIn order to get some measure of the possible impact of the course development team’s coordinated support for open educational practices on instructors’ adoption of and attitudes towards OAER, two brief surveys were developed. The first survey was distributed prior to the official kick off Winter 2019 course developments. The second survey was shared at the close of these course development projects. Survey responses were voluntary and anonymous.

Capturin

g Other Relevant Data

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on UnsplashThe Chang School maintains a Bookstore Database that tracks all required publisher materials for courses offered each semester. As part of the action research project, we decided to examine specifically the data for online and/or hybrid courses, to gain a sense of the number of offerings using OAER (i.e. open texts, publicly available web content, library resources already covered by basic student fees).

THE TWO SURVEYS ARE OPENLY LICENSED AND FREE TO RETAIN, RE-USE, REVISE, RE-MIX OR RE-DISTRIBUTE! YOU CAN FIND THEM AT:PRE SURVEY: https://tinyurl.com/OERSurveyPreCourseDevPOST SURVEY: https://tinyurl.com/OERSurveyPostCourseDev

Something to share….

The ResultsOutcomes for the DES Team

A Word Cloud presenting the DES Team’s thoughts on supporting instructors’ use of open and alternative educational resources

Given the range of roles at DES that participate in course development support, I invited feedback from a range of colleagues on the outcomes of the OER awareness workshops.The questions and responses were as follows:Question: How, if at all, did the OER workshops offered in early 2018 impact your understanding and/or use of OER in your work at DES?

Responses:

Production Editor (duties include, but are not limited to, copyright review of online course content as well as broader quality assurance review of online course content): The OER workshops helped dispel a few OER-related myths for me. That said I already recommend using OERs within the scope of my work as a production editor, in terms of using free, copyright-cleared assets such as images. The workshop did open my eyes to how sophisticated OER collaborations can be, such as textbooks, and the vast networks of search engines and repositories dedicated for such works.

Production Editor(duties include, but are not limited to, copyright review of online course content as well as broader quality assurance review of online course content): It expanded my sense of the scope of them(OER). I had not been aware of them as consciously created resources before; my understanding of them had previously been more as adapting existing public domain works for re-use rather than as new, purpose-made work created by experts. It also clarified some of the existing rules around licenses. 

Web Editor: (duties include, but are not limited to, upload and formatting of online course materials) Clarified definition of OER and understanding with respect to their availability, range, and applications.

Instructional Designer: (duties include, but are not limited to, support for online pedagogy and course design): Workshop provided re-assurance regarding the caliber and quality of available OER. Appreciated the resources shared.

Manager of eLearning Initiatives and Course Development: Increased awareness and knowledge across the team. Primer on CC licensing left team better equipped to have more deliberate conversations with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) about the resources they choose to share with students. Pointed team members to repositories and resources that assist them with their everyday work.

Web Accessibility Specialist: I was already very familiar CC, but it was a good refresher. The main takeaway from the workshop for me was the talk around the different OER repositories, and the distribution channels that are out there. They'll be a good outlet for the OERs I produce.

Digital Projects Coordinator: Increased confidence discussing/recommending OER. Scavenger hunt exercise was helpful to kick-start interaction with relevant tools. Communicated back to special project teams. Directly relevant to projects where SMEs had first sourced Elsevier images, but circled back and, based on workshop, shared list of repositories. As a result – created new and/or used freely licensed – engaged student artist to assist with creation of images. Workshops prompted good in-depth discussions and exploration of policy.

Question: If you haven't made use of OER in your own work, what are some of the reasons why you have not? What might either help or compel you to increase the use of OER in your work at DES?

Responses:

Production Editor: In my role as production editor, I don't develop or create works all that often, but I do recommend that our course developers and subject matter experts use OER resources instead of third-party materials when possible!

Production Editor: My specific job doesn’t involving choosing which resources to use. However, when OER are used, it does make my job significantly easier, as less time needs to be put into rights clearances. Additionally, I have worked on the QA of some OER materials created by our department.

Web Editor: Clear institutional mandate might compel or increase use of OER in work

Instructional Designer: A dedicated resource or role related to sourcing and vetting OER might be more helpful than current efforts by IDs and SMEs. Committee still working on how OER might be used in course development process more formally

Manager of eLearning Initiatives and Course Development: The team continues to collaborate with SMEs in certain disciplines who turn to publisher materials for a variety of reasons. Creating or adapting OER requires a time investment that is not possible for them to offer. The fact that questions are being asked at all can be considered as a “win”. Hard for team to develop its own policy in the absence of larger institutional guidance/policy/directives. Question: Since the OER workshops in early 2018, what, if any, are your general observations of OER use in online course developments and/or special projects at DES?

Responses:

Production Editor: Well, I think DES had full intentions to create OER, so we were already on that path. It did help the team accept a more unified OER. OER use is now encouraged in the group kick-offs and course planning meetings and the Ryerson Library now joins our Course Planning workshops to help familiarize SMEs with the concept of developing with OERs. I'm also starting to hear about SMEs who come into the development with the intent to redevelop their course with OER materials.

 Production Editor: I have not seen an increase in the use of OER in the courses I have worked on, but I have seen increased awareness around copyright issues and what is and is not available for our use without specific licensing, with instructional designers being more proactive.

Instructional Designer: OER work has taken a stronger foothold in special projects – i.e. work that involves fewer stakeholders – Will this translate over to course development work?

Manager of eLearning Initiatives and Course Development: OER are now a big part of the conversation, moved to forefront for intake and onboarding of SMEs for course developments. We have dispelled some myths/misconceptions around OER and clarified opportunity for innovation and shift of focus from content to teaching and facilitation. Policy development is still a challenge. Actively and consciously promoting use of OER in a way that had not been the case in the past. Ryerson has one of the

largest collection of electronic (i.e. affordable/alternative) resources in Canada – the team is working to ensure that these are appropriately leveraged in the interest of students – ensuring awareness of opportunities that exist. Also, OER are a key consideration as well as source when creating support materials for SMEs.

Web Accessibility Specialist: Staff are more aware now about the use of CC & non-CC materials when developing OERs. It can often be challenging to find 3rd party materials that can be included in the OERs I produce, so as not to violate copyright. The whole team I think, is sensitive now to copyright and creation and sharing of open learning materials. We/DES now attempts to create materials that are compatible with OER/CC licenses as a way to encourage reuse, and to make learning materials more accessible (in the availability sense).

Digital Projects Coordinator: Momentum is gaining and we are constantly discussing how OER can be part of our work.

Outcomes for Instructors Developing Online CoursesConsidering that the cohort of instructors for Winter 2019 online course developments numbered 33 in total, and the fact that survey response was voluntary, the data, in the end, was quite limited. Nonetheless, it yielded some helpful information regarding perceptions and use of OER among the faculty with whom the DES Team collaborates. Survey participation was anonymous and respondents all consented to the sharing of their responses for the improvement of DES support for online course development, as well as for reporting through the eCampusOntario OE Fellows program.The survey results were as follows:Pre-Survey (number of respondents = 9)Familiarity with OER: 66% (6 instructors) of respondents categorized themselves as “somewhat knowledgeable about OER”, with 22% (2 instructors) indicating that they were “not at all familiar with OER” and 11% (1 instructor) acknowledging that they “have heard of OER, but am not knowledgeable about them”.Use of OER in Courses: 56% (5 instructors) stated that they had never used any form of OER in any of their courses. 33% (3 instructors) indicated that they had used “some OER”, while 11% (1 instructor) reported making “extensive use of OER” in their course.Manner of Use: For those who had indicated some or extensive use of OER, a further request was presented for a brief description of how they had made use of OER in their course(s). Two responses were submitted to this request. The first response stated that OER were used “As assigned article readings”. The second response read “Certain journals have gone open-access, or scholars have elected to have their work be made open-access; I do try to incorporate these elements, whenever possible.”

Types of Support Required: When asked what type of support would be of most assistance in use of OER, instructors were given a number of options, from which they could select all that applied. 50% (4 instructors) of respondents indicated that professional development sessions on OER, research assistance to locate relevant OER, and editing assistance to adapt relevant OER, would all be desirable. 11% (1 instructor) selected “Other” types of support, and stated that they were “not likely to want to use” OER. This same respondent had self-reported as being somewhat knowledgeable about OER, but had never used any form of OER in any of their courses. Post-Survey (number of respondents = 4)Familiarity with OER: 100% (4 instructors) of respondents categorized themselves as “somewhat knowledgeable about OER”.Use of OER in Courses: When asked if they would use OER in their course(s), having recently collaborated with the DES team, 75% (3 instructors) indicated that they “will use some OER” in their course(s). 25% (1 instructor) responded that they would “not use any form of OER” in their course(s).Manner of Use: For those who had indicated an intention to use OER in their course(s), a further request was presented for a brief description of how they would make use of OER in their course(s). Two responses were submitted to this request. The first response stated, “If I find something relevant to my course that is OER I will use it.” The second response read, “There are a few topic (sic) in my course where the students are asked to extend their thinking on the topic of there (sic) choice by further investigation. I provide a list of further readings, some of which are OER, to guide them in this assignment. There arealso some OER readings already embedded in my course.”

Most Beneficial Types of Support: Respondents were asked to describe what type of OER related support from the DES team had been of most assistance. Two responses were submitted to this request. The first response stated, “I'm not sure which elements of my course are OER.” The second response read, “The team that support (sic) me in the redevelopment of my course was very helpful in suggesting resources and also guiding me in finding them on my own.”

Outcomes for My Own Practice as an Instructional DesignerThe process of raising awareness amongst my team, our faculty collaborators and, more broadly, across the province in my role as an eCampusOntario OE Fellow helped to sharpen my focus on where/how OER might be integrated into the online course development process and into course design in general. I shared my own, still evolving ideas through a webinar hosted by eCampusOntario in October 2018.

Other Outcomes to ConsiderThrough the review, mentioned above, of The Chang School’s Bookstore database, some encouraging data was uncovered regarding the number of course offerings that are free of requirements to purchase textbooks and other types of publishers materials. As of October 2018, 151 courses, across five program areas, were identified as “textbook free”.

THE MATERIALS FROM MY WEBINAR ARE OPENLY LICENSED AND FREE TO RETAIN, RE-USE, REVISE, RE-MIX OR RE-DISTRIBUTE! YOU CAN FIND THEM AT:WEBINAR RECORDING: https://tinyurl.com/MGlynnEcampusOEFellowWebinarSLIDES AND LINKS: https://tinyurl.com/MGlynnEmbeddingOER

Something to share…

What it all means

The Commonwealth of Learning, in its Open Educational Resources: Global Report 2017 recommended that, in the interest of “mainstreaming” OER, institutions should “Strengthen capacity building for OER to assist key stakeholders in retaining, reusing, revising, remixing and redistributing OER. Focus on teacher integration of OER in teaching and learning” (p.8). In response to this and other recommendations, Ishan Abeywardena (@ishansa) offered the following helpful framework, which I’ve marked up to reflect the DES experience and current aspirations:

Adapted from the Horizontal framework for OER mainstreaming in an institution in "An empirical framework for mainstreaming OER in

an academic institution," by I.S. Abeywardena, 2017, Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 12(2), p. 232. CC BY 4.0.

As a non-academic unit, i.e. service unit, the DES Team at The Chang School represents just a portion of the stakeholders in Abeywardena’s framework. The profile of the team maps most closely to an Educational Technology Unit and IT Support. In the context of an institution (Ryerson University) that has yet to articulate a specific strategy or policy direction with respect to OER, the team is

clearly constrained in the difference that it might make on the open educational practice of instructors with whom it collaborates. However, with respect to the tasks identified in the mainstreaming framework, the DES team’s direct and structural engagement of instructors amounts to at least a modest “head start” for the institution in the areas of changing mindset (Ed tech, IT, and academic staff) building capacity (Ed tech, IT, and academic staff), and, to some extent, continuous quality improvement (reflection on online course quality and course development practices). When combined with other recent OER initiatives at Ryerson – See (RU Library and Archives OER Grants, and Open Textbook Initiatives) - and faculty development offerings from the Ryerson Office of eLearning and the Ryerson Learning and Teaching Office, the team’s ongoing activities contribute a sizable patch in a gradually growing “quilt” of OER mainstreaming.Further, the work of the team has brought a new lens to existing business practices. The data compiled from the Bookstore Database is under review by senior management at The Chang School. Many of the identified “textbook free” courses, when viewed in the context of specific certificate programs, comprise significant portions of required paths towards these credentials. The potential to confirm and identify these programs as entirely free of expenses for course material could benefit both the institution, and students in numerous ways (see Kwantlen University’s Zed Cred Initiative).This change in practice for the DES team underscored the importance of each encounter and conversation that takes place in the online course development process. All of these ‘micro-interventions’ that take place between the team and instructors represent opportunities to promote a change in mindset and to build OER capacity at our institution. For a unit that does not interface directly with students, this is an empowering reminder of how our work can make a difference.

ReferencesAbeywardena, I. (2017) An empirical framework for mainstreaming OER in an academic institution, Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, Vol. 12 Issue: 2, pp.230-242. Retrieved from: https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/AAOUJ-11-2017-0036

Allen, I.E., & Seaman, J. (2016). Opening the textbook: Educational resources in US higher education,2015-16. Babson Survey Research Group. Retrieved fromhttp://onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/openingthetextbook2016.pdf

INTRODUCING AND DISCUSSING OER IN THE ONLINE COURSE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS MAKES EVERY ENCOUNTER

COUNT!

Andrade, A., Ehlers, U. D., Caine, A., Carneiro, R., Conole, G., Holmberg, C., ... & Silva, G. (2011). BeyondOER: Shifting focus to open educational practices. Retrieved from http://duepublico.uniduisburg-essen.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-25907/OPALReport2011_Beyond_OER.pdf

Commonwealth of Learning (2017), Open educational resources: global report 2017, Burnaby, COL. Retrieved from http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/2788

Lashley, J., Cummings-Sauls, R., Bennett, A. B., & Lindshield, B. L. (2017). Cultivating textbookalternatives from the ground up: One public university’s sustainable model for open andalternative educational resource proliferation. The International Review of Research in Open andDistributed Learning, 18(4).