How OpenLearn supports a business model for OER
| Published | April 2017 |
| Journal | Distance Education Volume 38, Issue 1, Pages 5–22 |
ABSTRACT
In 2013, the Open University (OU) in the UK launched a large-scale survey of users of its OpenLearn platform for open educational resources. The survey results revealed that OpenLearn is functioning as a showcase and a taster for the OU, thereby offering informal learners a bridge to formal education. In 2014 and 2015, the OpenLearn survey was repeated. This paper reports a comparison of the results of the surveys, highlighting considerable changes in learner characteristics, priorities and motivations over a 3-year period. The data also reveal a substantial increase in the number of learners identifying study performance-related benefits resulting from OpenLearn use and, in addition, that educators reveal increasingly positive changes in their approach to teaching. This paper outlines some of the ways in which the OU is responding to the data and discusses how further development of the platform could better meet institutional and learner needs.| Keywords | business model · OER · Open Educational Resources · openlearn |
| Other number | 1 |
| Refereed | Yes |
| Rights | Copyright © 2017 Informa UK Limited |
| DOI | 10.1080/01587919.2017.1299558 |
| URL | http://oro.open.ac.uk/48995/ |
| Export options | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
Viewed by 127 distinct readers
CLOUD COMMUNITY REVIEWS
The evaluations below represent the judgements of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cloud editors.
Click a star to be the first to rate this document
▶ POST A COMMENT
SIMILAR RECORDS
Ten years of open practice: a reflection on the impact of OpenLearn
Law, Patrina; Jelfs, Anne
The Open University (OU) makes a proportion of all its taught modules available to the public via OpenLearn each year. This process involves the modification, of module excerpts, showcasing subject matter and teaching ...
Match: law, patrina; openlearn; oer; open educational resources
Opening up for OpenLearn: issues in providing open educational resources
McAndrew, Patrick; Santos, Andreia; Godwin, Stephen
The Open University is undertaking a major initiative (OpenLearn) to provide free access to learning material within an environment that allows learners to work with the material and use tools to help make sense of it, ...
Match: openlearn; oer; open educational resources
Business models for online education and open educational resources
Okoli, Chitu; Wang, Ning
This project aims to determine the key stakeholders, goals and existing business models for online education and open educational resources (OER) by focusing on three major research questions:
• Who are the key ...
Match: business; oer; open educational resources
Badging and employability at the Open University
Law, Patrina; Perryman, L -A.; Law, Andrew
Awarding badges to recognise achievement is nothing new. Of late, badging has gone digital, offering new ways to recognise learning and motivate learners, providing evidence of skills and achievements both within and ...
Match: law, patrina; openlearn; open educational resources
Strategies for sustainable business models for Open Educational Resources
de Langen, F H T.; McGreal, Rory; Conrad, Dianne
For several years, the importance of continuous education has been stressed by several governmental and non-governmental institutions (Janssen & Schuwer, 2012; Marshall & Casserly, 2006). Education is seen as important ...
Match: business; business model; oer
Business models in OER, a contingency approach
Helsdingen, Anne; Janssen, Ben; Schuwer, Stefan
We will present an analysis of data from a literature review and semi-structured interviews with experts on OER, to identify different aspects of OER business models and to establish how the success of the OER ...
Match: business
There is no business model for open educational resources: A business model approach
de Langen, Frank
The economic proverb ‘There is no such thing such as a free lunch’ applies also to open educational resources (OER). In recent years, several authors have used revenue models and business models to analyse the ...
Match: business; oer
Is “free” more expensive than commercial? Open educational resources as part of a sustainable business model for postsecondary institutions
Singer, Marc P.
As the cost of post-secondary education rapidly increases in the United States and Canada, it threatens to make education less accessible to students even as the need for university credentials grows. The use of Open ...
Match: business; open educational resources
Output 12 SCORE2020: Business models for regional support centres
SCORE2020
The SCORE2020 project focused on (regional) support structures in the development and delivery of Open Education and especially of MOOCs. In total, thirteen intellectual outputs are ...
Match: business
Addressing a national crisis in learning: Open educational resources, teacher-education in India and the role of online communities of practice
Perryman, Leigh-Anne
India currently suffers from an estimated 1.33 million shortfall in teachers and many existing teachers are unqualified, resulting in inadequate access to education and poor standards of learning for those already in ...
Match: perryman, leigh-anne; oer
