Open Educational Resources: Research

Open scholarship, such as the sharing of articles, code, data, and educational resources, has the potential to improve university research and education as well as increase the impact universities can have beyond their own walls. To support this perspective, I present evidence from case studies, published literature, and personal experiences as a practicing open scholar. I describe some of the challenges inherent to practicing open scholarship and some of the tensions created by incompatibilities between institutional policies and personal practice. To address this, I propose several concrete actions universities could take to support open scholarship and outline ways in which such initiatives could benefit the public as well as institutions. Importantly, I do not think most of these actions would require new funding but rather a redistribution of existing funds and a rewriting of internal policies to better align with university missions of knowledge dissemination and societal impact.

Open educational resources (OERs) are becoming increasingly common as a tool in education, particularly in medical and biomedical education. However, three key barriers have been identified to their use: 1) lack of awareness of OERs, 2) lack of motivation to use OERs, and 3) lack of training in the use of OERs. Here, we explore these three barriers with teachers of medical and biomedical science to establish how best to enhance the use of OERs to improve pedagogical outcomes. An online survey was completed by 209 educators, many of whom (68.4%) reported using OERs in their teaching and almost all (99.5%) showing awareness of at least one OER. The results suggest that key problems that prevent educators from adopting OERs in their teaching include suitability for particular classes, time, and copyright. Most (81.8%) educators were somewhat, very, or extremely comfortable with OERs so there is no innate motivational barrier to adoption. A lack of training was reported by 13.9% of respondents, and 40% of respondents stated that there was little or no support from their institutions. OER users were no more comfortable with technology or better supported by departments but tended to be aware of a greater number of sources of OERs. Our study illustrates key opportunities for the expansion of OER use in physiology and medical teaching: increased breadth of awareness, increased institutional support (including time, training, and copyright support), and greater sharing of diverse OERs to suit the range of teaching challenges faced by staff in different subdisciplines.

Recent advances in internet technology have transformed how we gather and share information in today's world and have provided us with a platform to access educational resources and related information on the Internet. Every day, new technologies are developed that are changing the when and where we access that information. The capabilities of new technologies have allowed society to access information and learn virtually anywhere. As technical ingenuity continues to generate new technologies and paths of communication, we must look for opportunities to collaborate, share and extend our educational resources in higher education. Distributing Open Educational Resources (OER) in the form of freely licensed materials is necessary in order to laterally influence current advances in learning technologies. Online resources are being used in a variety of contexts to supplement instruction and training at higher education institutions. The aim of this Open Educational Resource project was to design and develop a blended learning instructional program to assist online users in developing familiarity with laboratory techniques prior to conducting molecular biology research in an authentic laboratory setting. This paper will look at the background of OER, describe the online materials that the Center for Cardiovascular Research (CCR) developed for open use, and discuss the outcomes and implications for use.