OER1146 Demonstration ppt

Wednesday 11 May 12.00 Cockcroft Theatre

How does Jorum support "open scholars"?

Nicola Siminson, Jorum, University of Manchester

Conference Theme: Academic practice and digital scholarship

Intended audience: Anyone interested in Open Educational Resources (OER)

Abstract: Burton (2009) defines an open scholar as "someone who makes their intellectual projects and processes digitally visible and who invites and encourages ongoing criticism of their work and secondary uses of any or all parts of it […]". Anderson (2009) states that open scholars use and contribute Open Educational Resources (OER), and Jukes (2010) likens participation in the OER movement to digital scholarship. But how does this apply to mainstream academics? Anderson comments: "It's becoming to me as [if] you are almost a negligent academic if you don't go out and look for the OER before you start developing things".
Jorum provides a collection of OER which are licensed under Creative Commons and freely available for download and reuse. A JISC-funded national repository for learning and teaching resources, Jorum has been adding to the range of resources which can support open scholars, and will include the outputs being developed as part of the HE Academy / JISC funded UKOER Phase 2 projects. By hosting and pointing to thousands of OER, created and shared by UK academics, Jorum is a trusted source of materials which can save teachers time, supply them with ideas and inspiration, and enhance learning and teaching. Resources in Jorum are exposed to search engines like Google, enhancing rankings, visibility and discoverability by academics and learners alike. But whilst Jorum is having a growing impact on the amount of resources available for sharing, a key challenge is discovering the impact of these resources for both teachers and students.
This evidence-based demonstration will showcase academic users of Jorum via a series of video clips, and update participants on Jorum since the "Made for sharing" symposium at OER10, including:

• creation of widgets
• peer review of resources
• collaboration with others
• progress with the Jorum roadmap

In the current economic climate, the need to improve the student experience through new curriculum ideas and more cost effective delivery models is a compelling reason for academics to explore OER. Jorum's challenge is to reach more academics, and to support them in becoming open scholars.

Keywords: jorum; jorumopen; oer; open; digital; scholars; scholarship; academics; academic practice; teachers; learners; students; resources; learning; teaching; ukoer programme; jisc; he academy; creative commons; roadmap; widgets; peer review

References:

Anderson, T. (2009) ALT-C 2009 Keynote speech, blip.tv.            
Available at: http://alt-c.blip.tv/file/2613543/ (Accessed: 30 November 2010).

Burton, G. (2009) The Open Scholar, Academic Evolution blog, 11 August. Available at: http://www.academicevolution.com/2009/08/the-open-scholar.html (Accessed: 30 November 2010).

Jukes, M. (2010) OUJISCO – Digital Scholarship at the OU, JISC Information Environment Team blog, 11 March. Available at: http://infteam.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2010/03/11/oujisco-digital-scholarship-at-the-ou/ (Accessed: 30 November 2010).