From “CORRE” to “OER”: a framework for evaluating learning materials

We in OTTER have been working on the development of a workflow framework that shows the process of turning our learning material into publicly usable OERs.

Bearing in mind that the material we receive from our partners were not “born” OER, we are keen that our framework addresses the pedagogical, legal, technical, institutional and socio-cultural dimensions of turning existing teaching materials into Open Educational Resources.

Our framework – CORRE – is informed by existing literature on OERs and internal consultation with our UoL partners and the BDRA team.

There are four main aspects of the framework, each of which is defined by a set of criterion that are then matched to a set of indicative evidence. I describe briefly the elements of the framework.

Stage 1: Content

This refers to the materials we receive from UoL partners “as-it-is”. There are two types of activities associated with “content-in”.

First the process of gathering materials from our partners, getting them to sign up to the project, checking that there are no gaps in the materials they supply to us and estimating the credit weighting of each.

The second activity is an assessment of the material in terms of the type of content, medium, structure, language and pedagogy.

Stage 2: Openness

This reflects the legal, pedagogical and technical perspectives of the process. The criterion involve IPR clearance, transformation and digitization. We ask specific questions around each of these criteria such as: identifying right holders; aspects of the content that need to be removed or replaced; and whether the learning material could be made available in a mix of formats.

Stage 3: Reuse/Repurpose

Reuse and repurpose are about the learning materials achieving actual OER status through a process of validation. This involves first the OTTER team, followed by our UoL partners and finally the end-users: students to get the learner voice plus educators inside and outside the UK. This stage reflects socio-cultural perspectives of the OER.

Stage 4: Evidence

The final stage is evidence. Our framework is designed to assess the value and usefulness of the OER through a process of tracking using an end-user survey mechanism. We ask questions such as the identity of the user, the value of the OER, what adaptations have been made to the OER and challenges experienced accessing and using it.

Such feedback would be useful for sustainability and also for making the business case of how we move forward with the future development of OERs.

Samuel Nikoi