This report provides an overview of definitions of quality for OER, suggests a conceptual mapping and reviews the major issues related to the quality for OER. The outcomes of the report can be outlined as follows: First, when reviewing a set of definitions of OER we find that they all: cover both use and reuse, repurposing, and modification of resources; include free use of these resources for educational purposes by teachers and learners; encompass all types of digital media. Secondly, there are a variety of quality approaches, tools and procedures which may be applied to OER. Due to the above-mentioned freedom, however, the traditional lifecycle of a resource, particularly with respect to the processes of creation, editing, evaluation and use, is significantly disrupted. Whereas before these steps were traditionally distinct, consecutive and managed by various actors, the freedom granted by OER leads to a blurring of these boundaries. The involvement of many more actors in each step therefore means a federation of responsibility for each step, which in turn can lead to cross-over in the functions and timing of processes, as well as sub-cycles (such as several rounds of editing and evaluation). Thirdly, opening up of learning architectures is in turn leading to the unbundling of processes of course design, teaching, learning, assessment and recognition within formal education and the emergence of innovative delivery models such as MOOCs. Within formal education, the quality of assessment and the recognition of awards based on these assessments is critical to recognising the quality of the teaching given and the learning achieved. We highlight, however, that recognition and assessment tools have not yet fully evolved to take into account the new phenomenon which has the potential to bypass existing trust networks that have been built up with formal education. (DIPF/author)

Keywords

lifecycle of resources · OER definition · OER instructional materials · OER quality