EdShare, OERs and impact
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EdShare, OERs and impact Debra Morris University Library University of Southampton edshare.soton.ac.uk
EdShare • An infrastructure that allows the institution to share educational resources with whatever audience is appropriate • built on Web 2.0 principles • Cross institutional partnership: • ECS (academic group), • EPrints (enterprise service) • Library and • iSolutions (professional specialist academic services) OU_March_2011
What EdShare offers • Showcase for learning and teaching materials • Sharing across the institution • Sharing with just a few people or with many • Collaborating between and across disciplines • Access to the institution’s intellectual resources for education OU_March_2011
Motivations • UK HE strategic drive for open educational resources (OER) • UoS launched a new education strategy in 2010 • New Southampton Learning Environment is being developed 2011 onwards • We would like people to share: • Improve efficiency – less replication • Improve resources for student • Improve communication OU_March_2011
Range of resources Generic resources open to the World OU_March_2011 5
Guiding principles for EdShare • Eyecatching previews • Capturing attention and retaining it • Engaging the community in making resources • visible • Supporting staff in building confidence to do this • Aligning with institutional strategic change and sharing • Exploring implications for other core services – TEL and VLE OU_March_2011
EdShare and the University? • Institutional resource in educational suite • EPrints family • Storage place which people across the • University (and beyond) can see • Links provided to Creative Commons licenses • Open Educational Resources development – • Projects – HumBox and SWAPBox • Modelling work for educational change OU_March_2011
The question • The impact of EdShare and OERs on teaching and learning at the University of Southampton and beyond: • Impactn. theeffective action of one thing upon another (OED) • (impact of an academic Library) • Poll and Payne, 2006: • Effect or influence of one person, thing, or action on • another • Consequence, visible or practical result or effect of an • event or activity • Importance or preciousness of something, the • perception of actual or potential benefit OU_March_2011 8
Research repository impact • Citations • Hit counts and downloads • Numbers of items in the repository – rate of growth • Community contributing to, and visiting repository – rate of growth • Preservation policies for content OU_March_2011 9
Library impact • Lots of work, but little consensus about significance. Work by SCONUL and others: • Visits – footfall • Enquiry statistics • Metrics for use of e-resources • Number of items on the shelves/in collections • Growth in numbers of items on shelves/in • collections • Number of loans • Funding levels for services and resources • Feedback from users • NSS rating – Q. 16 Library aspect • Metrics for liaison librarian work with staff and • students OU_March_2011 10
EdShare and OER impact • Considerations for teachers (content contributors): • downloads • re-mix/re-use • comments • feedback • reputation Metrics for EdShare downloads OU_March_2011 11
EdShare and OER impact • Considerations for students (content users): • quality/quantity of (available) materials • information/digital literacy • feedback on usefulness • derivatives/re-mixed/originals • ease of discovery OU_March_2011
EdShare and OER impact • Considerations for the institution: • community development • engagement for EdShare and resources • re-mix/re-use • comparison with resources within VLE • rate of growth & renewal • staff profiles enhanced • staff reward and recognition • overall cost • service integration within overall offering OU_March_2011
EdShare and OER impact • University (external): • institutional reputation • institutional comparators • accessibility and visibility – especially Google • visitor locations – international? • work for Curriculum Innovation with new • international network (high profile UoS) • post-HE Academy subject centre • arrangements? “Was already aware about the university’s high quality study skills materials.” OU_March_2011
Methods • Observations • Surveys • Workshops • Direct questions • Solicited/unsolicited testimonials • User panels and champions BUT • Very resource intensive • Difficulty of distinguishing/differentiating EdShare effect from other effects • We anticipate long-term effects (est. 2008) OU_March_2011
EdShare as a set of services • EdShare is more than simply a repository – offers a way to integrate sets of services • EdShare is one aspect of wider, institutional change • Impact as a dimension of cultural change • Sharing as change in academic practice • Southampton Learning Environment - “to develop a virtual environment to embrace the culture, atmosphere and whole experience of University life” OU_March_2011
References • Poll, Roswitha and Payne, Philip (2006). Impact measures for libraries and information services. London: Birkbeck ePrints. Available at: http://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/archive/00000373 OU_March_2011