OER1165 Oral Presentation ppt

Thursday 12 May 10.55 Breakout Room 6

Developing a sustainable business model for open learning

Hong Liang Ma, Shaanxi Normal University
Li Yuan & Stephen Powell, University of Bolton

Conference Theme: OER strategy and sustainability

Abstract: The changing financial climate for higher education teaching provision in England is leading many institutions to explore the development of new business models. Open educational resources (OER) appear to offer an opportunity for institutions to improve the quality of the resources they provide to learners and at the same time cut costs by sharing with other institutions. For institutions with a widening participation remit, there is a further driver to continue to develop provision for learners to access higher education at an affordable price and approaches around open learning (OL) is one such possibility.
In this paper we will present a case study of the development and implementation of an open learning course 'Designing learning for the 21st century', between partner institutions in the UK and China. The course was at postgraduate level and was delivered to 12 Chinese-speaking students as a part of their Masters in Educational Technology. Data was collected through the development teams reflective logs, and interviews with course participants and teaching staff.
The motivation for developing the partnership was different for the two institutions. For the Chinese partner, the attraction was to give their students the experience of studying in English some key developments in learning technology internationally. For the UK partner, the attraction was in developing new working practices and pedagogical approaches to inform the development of business models for OL that allow for differential pricing for support and accreditation options open to students.
This paper will explore the cultural and linguistic challenges faced when developing and delivering the course and provide the solutions developed. It will evaluate the course and its delivery including intended and unintended practice and pedagogic developments in relation to the aims of developing an OL course. It will discuss possible business models and ways of working between partner institutions that allows for different packages of support to be purchased by the learner or institution on their behalf.

Keywords: open learning; open educational resources; business model; pedagogy; cultural implications

References:

Helsdingen, A.; Janssen, B.; Schuwer, S. (2010). Business Models in OER, a Contingency Approach. In Open ED 2010 Proceedings. Barcelona: UOC, OU, BYU. [Accessed: 29/11/10]. http://hdl.handle.net/10609/5039

McGill, L; Beetham, H; Falconer, I and Littlejohn, A (2010) UKOER Pilot Programme Synthesis And Evaluation Report, http://www.caledonianacademy.net/spaces/oer/index.php?n=Main.PilotProgrammeSynthesisAndEvaluationReport

Pegler, G. (2010) How can we achieve sustainability in OER? http://www8.open.ac.uk/score/print/oer-and-sustainability-leeds-manifesto-draft

Friesen, N. (2009) Open Educational Resources: New Possibilities for Change and Sustainability, http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/664

Robertson, J; Mahey, M and Allinson, J  (2008) An ecological approach to repository and service interaction,. http://ie-repository.jisc.ac.uk/272/1/Introductoryecologyreport.pdf

Wiley, D. (2007) On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/33/9/38645447.pdf

Yuan, L.; Robertson, R. J.; Campbell, L. M. et al. (2010). Examining the sustainability issues in UKOER projects: Developing a sustainable OER ecosystem in HE. In Open ED 2010 Proceedings. Barcelona: UOC, OU, BYU. [Accessed: 29/11/10]. http://hdl.handle.net/10609/5064