OERs for teachers or learners?

I am sure most OER projects would say both…but in looking at this area recently it is clear there is a fundamental difference in expectations between making your OER available in iTunesU or YouTube and placing it in a repository – yet most of the debate in this area does not make the distinction.

In Oxford we have a track record in both, iTunesU is acting as the launch pad for our OER work, but projects like Mosaic were always more teacher focused.  I know both camps would want all of these to be used by everyone, but I suspect there is more we could be doing to make it actually happen.

One Response to “OERs for teachers or learners?”

  1. HelenB Says:

    Hi Marion, this is a good point but there has been some discussion of it in the OER programme. In our recent presentation to HEFCE we suggested there were three (now updated to four!) sustainable approaches to OER, where each approach encompasses motivation, strategies, community scenarios. One thing differentiating them is whether they are interested in sharing among a community of academics, or showcasing resources to potential users. And another is whether ‘potential users’ are learners, other academics, or other stakeholders etc. So this is a really helpful addition to the emerging picture. Helen