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Abstract

Open education promotes an absolute openness in the dissemination of education, eliminating barriers including, but not limited to, cost and access to free and relevant resources. For open education, digital content has provided a means of not just sharing resources, but for promoting an interactive and collaborative culture of pooled Open Educational Resources to help others have the freedom of learning and educating themselves as per their necessity and yearning. Open Educational Resources in higher education have quickly gained a reputation, expanded and evolved with Massive Open Online Courses. In this paper, the significance, approach and implications of open education are extended to secondary education. Recommendations are reported for the development of High School Open Educational Resources in New Zealand, including the establishment of a High School Object Repository.

Keywords

Open education Open Educational Resources Massive Open Online Courses digital communication repository

Introduction

The future of education can be explored through current trends in globalisation, particularly those that have been associated with the Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) phenomena. OER are resources that exist in the public domain with unrestricted intellectual property licences that authorise their free use for teaching and learning (Atkins et al., 2007). One of the key principles in OER development is that resources should be developed in such a way that they are easily reusable: technically, linguistically, culturally and pedagogically (Wiley, 2007). This requires new techniques for both designing and delivering programmes. OER include complete courses, course materials, a programme of studies, school/course books, live online videos, assessments, software, and any other tools, or modes used to support admittance to knowledge. OER are shareable assets which have the potential to (i) provide a wide variety of learning experiences for learners in different countries, and (ii) increase the range and type of learning opportunities available for those who have traditionally found access to educational institutions a challenge (for instance, due to accessibility, selection or employment issues). However, despite a growing body of published writing and public opinion supporting the economic, social and political rewards of open education (OE), there remains a need for the growth and execution of policies at government and institutional levels for OER to become efficacious (D’Antoni et al., 2012; European Parliament, 2014).

A substantial MOOC can attract thousands of students, who watch pre-recorded/live streaming lectures, have weekly assignments that are peer graded and periodically engage in course-related chat rooms (Zemsky, 2014). MOOCs are the most visible forms of e-learning or online courses focused on open contribution and access via the web and usually delivered free of charge, lowering social, cultural and geographic roadblocks to participation. MOOCs draw on the vastness of the web, spanning boundaries and bringing people together. The open and online courses have been regarded as offering an effective approach to many forms of professional learning, potentially supporting professional development opportunities through the opportunity to tailor specific learning obligations to work requirements (Milligan and Littlejohn, 2014).

While MOOCs are regarded as having removed geographical boundaries for access, nations remain interested in the local opportunities and implications. For instance, a comprehensive report was published for the development of MOOCs in New Zealand (NZ). The report focused on the teaching and learning issues around MOOCs in NZ and reported that tertiary education organisations are mainly in their inception phase of MOOC development. In addition, the report identified that there are many issues that need to be addressed before the mass MOOCification of NZ tertiary education can take place (Gordon et al., 2014).

With the probability of increasing opportunities, as well as challenges, at tertiary level, it is important to also consider implications for the secondary school curriculum. Hence, this paper focuses on a range of options for opening up access to curriculum and explores implications for both policy and practice. While the analysis focuses on schooling in NZ, issues explored may well be relevant to school systems around the world.

OE research and practice

OE has a main focus of making educational resources more accessible. Around the globe, organisations are progressively sharing their resources, without restrictions, from lectures, talks, speeches to textbooks and readers (under an open license). Based on an expectation of the right to access quality education, OE research focuses primarily on the development of well-thought-out flexible learning that has as its purpose the diminishing of barriers of access (including gender, religion, ability, time, budget, geography and era). OE research advocates for the unrestricted and free of charge sharing of academic, educational and scholastic publications for academics, researchers and libraries.

Participants at a turn of the century United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2002: 24) Forum defined OER as ‘the open provision of educational resources, enabled by information and communication technologies, for consultation, use and adaptation by a community of users for non-commercial purposes’. This interest in OER has been regarded as a driven by the process of educational systemic coherence across nations and institutions; for instance, in The Bologna Process (Geser, 2007). However, openness in education has a longer history than the 21st century. OE in its institutional form is typically associated with The Open University in the United Kingdom, which has maintained the principle of open access with no entry requirements necessary for almost five decades.

In 2002, OE took a quantum leap with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT course materials were made available to the world through its Open Course Ware (OCW), and this move was followed by institutions around the world. For instance, in Canada, Athabasca University (AU), referred to as Canada’s first provider of OER, recommended that faculty, academic and professional staff must deposit an electronic copy of any published research articles into an AU repository (McGreal et al., 2015).

MOOCs have quickly gained popularity and have also developed quickly through advances in web technologies to deliver video lecture content, implement social forums and track student progress. However, early empirical studies have shown that the value of a MOOC for student learning depends significantly on how learning processes are facilitated, stimulated and assessed (Admiraal et al., 2015). Admiral et al.’s (2015) research indicates that there are two predominant and influential forms of MOOCs: the connectivist MOOCs, hosted using free social network sites, wikis and blogs; and xMOOCs, characterised by breaking down the content into small steps and reliant on video lecture content and automated assessment. The xMOOCs follow the similar course design model of many of the on-campus higher education courses.

Research of MOOCs around the world has focused on the evolution of open access to research and data in Australian higher education (Picasso and Phelan, 2014); the use of globally accessible MOOCs for addressing the needs of learners at community learning centres in Northern Sweden (Norberg et al., 2015); guidelines for MOOC implementation in the context of limited resources in Africa (Oyo and Kalema, 2014); experience and efforts of a teaching team involved in the localised use of German-based MOOCs that offered courses in German, English and Chinese (Che et al., 2016) and the impact of a Curtin University (in Australia) bilingually delivered MOOC on Australia China Trade (Ostashewski et al., 2013).

Research has also explored how secondary school students engage in tertiary MOOC environments. For instance, high school student experiences of learning and assessment of a Behavioural Economics MOOC were researched in a university preparatory Economics course (Najafi et al., 2014). In addition, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki researched the impact of a MOOC offered to high school students in Finland (Kurhila and Vihavainen, 2015). The students were invited for an interview after completing a required number of weekly programming tasks, and successful students were granted a full study for their bachelors and masters in computer science at the University of Helsinki.

A survey conducted by UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) reported that OER were being developed at all educational levels, from early childhood level to doctorate level, in over 80 countries (Hoosen, 2012). For instance, after the OER initiative in 2003, 12 leading universities established the China Open Resources for Education and started to translate all of MIT’s OCW into Chinese free of charge. Korea (another major producer of OER in Asia) has produced more than 140,000 lectures after starting Korea Open Courseware in 2007 (Dhanarajan and Porter, 2013).

In addition, the Indonesia Open University has developed over 500 OER in the form of Audio-Visual, Graphics and Adobe Systems while Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan (the world’s fourth largest institution of higher education) offers distance education in engineering, law, philosophy and social sciences. In 2012, the South African Ministry of Higher Education and Training stated that combined development of high-quality education resources that are obtainable as OER offer the opportunity both for improved access and quality and is less costly due to reduced copying and better usage (Department of Higher Education and Training [DHET], 2012). Additionally, the DHET has recently stated its objective to work ‘toward creating a post-school distance education built on open learning philosophies and ideologies’ (DHET, 2013).

Looking at developments across national borders, the COL has established a Transnational Qualifications Framework (TQF) used by the Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth. The intention of the TQF is to simplify contrasts between qualifications and supporting an improved demand for knowledge, awareness, abilities, skills, aptitudes and competences (COL, 2010). The TQF is also a source to plan individual courses and qualifications to the National Qualifications Frameworks of Commonwealth member states. The structure and scheme are beneficial and convenient for countries which have current National Qualification Frameworks (e.g. Australia, South Africa, Namibia and NZ). The COL is, at the same time, encouraging the improvement of National Qualifications Frameworks among Commonwealth member states (Conrad et al., 2013).

While much of this research works within and across national borders within the scope of state systems, it is important to note that the launch of MOOCs has opened up access to new education providers and created new forms of education markets. Well-known leading providers like Coursers, edX and Udacity have been very successful in this market, resulting in significant growth. In 2013, over a two-month period, the number of MOOCs offered in Europe increased from 250 to 350 (Gaebel, 2013).

Development of OER in NZ

In NZ there are a growing number of examples of the OE movement. From primary schools like Warrington School to tertiary institutions like Lincoln and Otago Polytechnic, NZ educationalists are progressively presenting their work to the world, freely and openly, for everyone to share and reuse. Many NZ tertiary organisations are part of the Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand OER programme, a self-governing, not-for-profit set up that promotes free online courses for students’ worldwide. As of March 2014, more than 40 NZ schools have also implemented creative commons strategies.

Research of NZ tertiary MOOC experiences has yet to take hold. However, it is worth noting related research of online education more generally. For instance, research of tertiary instructors indicated that systems such as Moodle were an effective learning management system that accommodates higher order learning activities and teaching of programmes (Barr et al., 2007). Victoria University conducted a survey of four NZ educational institutions and reported that five factors have been identified as significant influences on the ability of organisations to change in response to the technology of the NZ tertiary sector (Marshall, 2012). These factors include a range of course-related obstacles to open learning pedagogies that enable the productive use of technology as well as more systemic barriers such as cost, access to materials and technical knowledge. These issues may be better addressed by improving networking between organisations (Gordon et al., 2014), including across sectors.

The delivery of OER by the NZ state education sector is supported and recognised by the NZ Government. The NZ Government has a clear concern and agenda for tertiary institutions to strengthen the use of technology (Ministry of Economic Development, 2008), albeit with, at times, competing agendas. Technology education is comprehended as a very significant requisite for skills improvement and supporting skills development of the NZ economy. Hence the education system has taken very seriously the development of MOOCs around the globe.

For the Creative Commons movement, the benefits to be advocated are more social than economic. From their position, educational, scholastic and learning resources should be freely accessible under an open licence, to support anyone around the globe. This comprises resources created or funded by the Ministry of Education, as well as resources produced and provided by educationalists working in NZ’s public education system. Students can also save money and time by using free, open textbooks that they can access, download and reuse without overstepping copyright. According to the US census bureau, textbook costs in the US amplified 812% between 1978 and 2012, thrice the rate of inflation. Therefore, many public funding groups and organisations are demanding that taxpayer-funded textbooks be made obtainable under a Creative Commons licence, to make certain that educational resources are accessible and inexpensive for every person. In NZ this includes the encouragement of both tertiary and pre-tertiary institutions to follow the New Zealand Government’s Open Access and Licensing framework when releasing their copyright works.

The OERu

With the support of UNESCO, in February 2011, the OER Foundation held a meeting at Otago Polytechnic with a focus on using OER for assessment, evaluation and recognition for students. The meeting in Dunedin was restricted to 23 members. However, the associated live web stream supported by UNESCO involved an additional 203 participants from 45 countries. This meeting opened participation and collaboration on a global scale (Taylor and Mackintosh, 2011). Arguably, these developments in NZ indicate a potential for innovation and originality that can have a low cost, low-risk model but that have a great influence in shaping OE futures all around the globe.

The OER University (OERu) offers free learning opportunities for learners worldwide via courses constructed exclusively on OER and open access resources. The initiative is coordinated and synchronised by the OER Foundation, in NZ, which is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that works globally to support implementation of OER into education sectors (Mackintosh, 2012). The OER Foundation is coordinating a global organisation of recognised universities, polytechnics and community colleges dedicated to offering supplementary inexpensive education for learners presently excluded from the recognised higher education sector. Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, NorthTec, the Open Polytechnic, Otago Polytechnic and the University of Canterbury are leading OE in NZ through their contribution to the OERu (McGreal et al., 2014).

The OERu is a collective partnership presently consisting of 30 institutions. The set-up comprises nationally recognised universities, polytechnics and colleges and publicly funded institutes (Mackintosh et al., 2011). OERu’s existing geographic range of institutions includes Australia, NZ, Canada, the USA, England, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, India and the South Pacific. Mackintosh et al. (2011) outlined the purpose and objective of the OERu as contributing free education to learners globally using OER as learning resources, thus providing ways for learners to gain qualifications from recognised educational institutions.

Organisations that are associates of the OERu network have dedicated to evolving a parallel learning universe that will supplement traditional systems in post-secondary education. The ultimate idea of the OERu is to enable free learning opportunities on a massive scale for learners who lack the financial resources to get a traditional higher education (Conrad et al., 2013).

In the OERu’s structure, the elementary features of education programmes, traditionally perceived, are redefined as placeholders and are opened up to substitution and disaggregation. Any learner can study any topic or content, supported in any instructional arrangements (Murray and Friesen, 2011). This has led to innovations in assessment and accreditation. For instance, 30 OERu associate institutions formed a ‘world OER credit bank’ and successfully completed the learning outcomes and accepted the inventory of study courses that will be accessible under an assessment-only model in the approaching years (McGreal et al., 2014). However, in broad consultations within NZ and with international specialists in OER and distance education and online learning, there is still concern that, while there might be a small number of benefits of OER and MOOCs, they are unlikely to shift long held beliefs about the nature of higher education and the long-established university experience (Hayne, 2013). These traditions and traditional relationships may be challenged by a turn to the experience of using OER and MOOCs at high school.

Development of OER in NZ high schools

The future of OER in higher education has implications for and requires attention by high school education. One such implication is a need to support the development of key competencies that support students in an OER space. These competencies can be acquired through the application of new OER in high schools. Experience of OER during high school can additionally, potentially, support students in some of the following ways:

learning from a range of previously inaccessible or limited subjects

access to higher quality resources

raising levels of academic achievement

mobility with transferrable credits

In this section, I will briefly focus on the development of a High School Open Educational Resource (HSOER) in NZ. In the national scenario, two options could be considered: (i) to have one centralised HSOER across the country, and (ii) to have every region develop their HSOER according to their contexts, limitations and educational priorities. Focusing on option two and looking at the diversity among NZ regions, all high schools could be interlinked with the local university. For example, almost 20 high schools in the Waikato region comprising Thames-Coromandel District, Hauraki District, Waikato District, Matamata-Piako District, Waipa District, Otorohanga District, South Waikato District, Waitomo District, Taupo District and 11 high schools of Hamilton City could be centralised with the administration of the University of Waikato. Faculty and postgraduate research students can play an active role in the development of HSOERs.

In order to run an effective HSOER programme within a regional network, the following structural components are suggested:

Establishing a Programme Evaluation Team comprising school administrators and head of the departments of different institutions

Establish close links with national qualifications authorities (in NZ the New Zealand Qualifications Authority)

Regular updates to ensure consistency of content/material

A monitoring and evaluation process

One-on-one interviews, workshops and seminars with teachers in order to provide support for using and developing the HSOER

Considering outsourced material (including assessment tools)

Addressing and adjusting policies and processes

Simple processes for the licensing of shared resources

Most importantly, for an HSOER to work, high school administrations must support the idea that sharing and reusing of open resources from a shared pool of content, with the necessary infrastructure, can have many favourable effects for the institution, teachers and students. One such effect is increases in institutional collaboration in developing an HSOER. This could be regarded as an incentive for the faculty of a regional university. Another benefit can be seen for individual teachers, who get an opportunity to become the facilitators of open educational practices that emphasise in developing competences, knowledge and skills.

In developing HSOERs, teachers can enhance their skills in:

assessing the quality of information sources

modify, combine, exchange and repurpose material

continuous questioning, evaluation and improvement of educational practices and resources

In addition, other school staff, for instance, librarians, gain and develop skills in:

collaborative project work with teachers

scholarly communication

teaching information literacy skills in the online environment

managing publishing in open access formats

In an HSOER environment, high school students can develop an interest in the qualities of OER. Students connected with HSOERs during their high school studies prepare for university degrees/diploma, polytechnic courses, overseas education and MOOCs at tertiary level. This may benefit students who missed or need to resit exams or for whom preferred subjects are not provided in their community or by their school. One of the other advantages of High School Object Repository is that if a teacher is not available for a week, high school students can just log in and study the weekly topic of a particular HSOER.

HSOERs can also facilitate the community to be aware of the subjects of their interest by installing HSOERs in the community library and hence forming a wider knowledge community. There are many possible benefits for this last point in terms of growing a regional learning network and opening pathways to higher education that should be explored further. For instance, the benefits of an effective repository may support a whole community. Repositories in high schools can provide a community with continuously up to date material across a wide range of disciplines.

Conclusion

The focus of this paper has been the development of OE and, in particular, the integration of OE in NZ high schools. OE will address some challenges and create some new possibilities for high school students to move from high school to tertiary study. In addition, an HSOER can create a learning resource for a whole community. Challenges to develop HSOERs can be overcome by raising awareness and promoting realisation in teachers and educators that the long-term benefits of HSOERs facilitate low-cost and free material to students. Educational policymakers and funding organisations regularly indicate an intention to support and advance lifetime learning practices that encourage required proficiencies, skills and expertise for society. OE is a critical and recognised way to make sure that these practices are supported with academic and pedagogical resources, made freely accessible under appropriate licence.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biography

Sittara Hakim received master's degree in Physics, from the University of the Punjab, Lahore Pakistan in 1995, taught Cambridge International Examinations, Advanced Placement and Federal board curriculum in Mathematics and Physics for twelve years and moved to New Zealand in 2009. Presently works at Hamilton Girls High School and she believes New Zealand has provided her an opportunity to gain knowledge and explore diverse cultures and traditions. Sittara wishes to continue her journey as a learner in the vital, demanding and challenging the field of education.

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Supporting access to open education resources and massive open online courses for high school students of New Zealand

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

OE research and practice

Development of OER in NZ

The OERu

Development of OER in NZ high schools

Conclusion

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

Author Biography

References