In Martin Weller’s 2010 publication ‘Big and Little OER’ he made a clear distinction between the two types of OERs that exists and the advantages and disadvantages of both. He described The Big OER as the large-scale projects such as MIT’s Open Courseware and the Open University’s OpenLearn and The Sidecap Project was funded by the EU (ACP-European Union Cooperation Programme in Higher Education), and had partners in Scotland, England, Mauritius, West Indies and Fiji. (EDULINK). (Weller, 2010). On the other hand, he also focused on small-scale projects by individuals outside of formal education portals such as YouTube, Slideshare and Flickr just to name a few.
Weller explicitly defines the two OERs as follows:
Big OERs are institutionally generated ones that arise from projects such as OpenLearn. These are usually of high quality, contain explicit teaching aims, presented in a uniform style and form part of a time-limited, focused project with portal and associated research and data.
Little OERs are individually produced, low-cost resources. They are produced by anyone, not just educators, may not have explicit educational aims, have low production quality and are shared through a range of third-party sites and services. (Weller, 2010). There are potential benefits and drawbacks of both OER approaches as summarized in the following table.
The table below summarizes the benefits and drawbacks of “BIG” and “LITTLE” OERs.
Big OERs
Little OERs
Benefits
Granular High-quality Explicit learning aims Uniformed-style (can be institutionally branded) Reputable knowledge domain expertise Metadata Creativity focused upon structure and guidance Predictable use More choice Clear copyright and licensing advice Accessible Interoperable Greater scholarly outputs Enhances institutional reputation and prestige Formally recognised
Low-cost to free Shared through third-party sites / services Creativity focused upon production and aggregation Open filter – anyone can publish Sites facilitate social interaction / connection between user and producer Greater user hits / traffic to site Unconstrained creativity of material Unconstrained playfulness of material Enhances personal reputation and prestige Greater open access High reuse potential High search ability – can be found via public search engines like Google or Bing
Drawbacks
High-cost Closed filter – specialists can publish Less social interaction / connection between user and producer Less user hits / traffic to site Restrained creativity of material Restrained playfulness of material Variances in open access Low reuse potential Low search ability – locked into a repository search engine
Variances in granularity Variances in quality Variances in explicit learning aims Variances in knowledge domain expertise Variances in taxonomy / folksonomy Unpredictable use Limited choice Variances in copyright and licensing advice Variances in interoperability Variances in accessibility Variances in scholarly outputs Variances in formal recognition
There are a number of benefits and drawbacks to both OER approaches however Big OERs might be better able to offset whatever the drawbacks might be incurred since they have more resources both financial and human expertise to do so. Little OERs, on the other hand, are more specifically geared towards teachers and lecturers and although this approach is more informal in nature, it represents a more dynamic model that encourages greater participation and engaging experience to the learner so their drawbacks are ultimately minimized buy this flexibility (Weller, 2010).
Reference:
Weller, Martin (2010). Big and little OER. In: OpenED2010: Seventh Annual Open Education Conference, 2-4 Nov 2010, Barcelona, Spain.
Activity 11: Big and Little OER
In Martin Weller’s 2010 publication ‘Big and Little OER’ he made a clear distinction between the two types of OERs that exists and the advantages and disadvantages of both. He described The Big OER as the large-scale projects such as MIT’s Open Courseware and the Open University’s OpenLearn and The Sidecap Project was funded by the EU (ACP-European Union Cooperation Programme in Higher Education), and had partners in Scotland, England, Mauritius, West Indies and Fiji. (EDULINK). (Weller, 2010). On the other hand, he also focused on small-scale projects by individuals outside of formal education portals such as YouTube, Slideshare and Flickr just to name a few.
Weller explicitly defines the two OERs as follows:
Big OERs are institutionally generated ones that arise from projects such as OpenLearn. These are usually of high quality, contain explicit teaching aims, presented in a uniform style and form part of a time-limited, focused project with portal and associated research and data.
Little OERs are individually produced, low-cost resources. They are produced by anyone, not just educators, may not have explicit educational aims, have low production quality and are shared through a range of third-party sites and services. (Weller, 2010). There are potential benefits and drawbacks of both OER approaches as summarized in the following table.
The table below summarizes the benefits and drawbacks of “BIG” and “LITTLE” OERs.
Big OERs
Little OERs
Benefits
Granular
High-quality
Explicit learning aims
Uniformed-style (can be institutionally branded)
Reputable knowledge domain expertise
Metadata
Creativity focused upon structure and guidance
Predictable use
More choice
Clear copyright and licensing advice
Accessible
Interoperable
Greater scholarly outputs
Enhances institutional reputation and prestige
Formally recognised
Low-cost to free
Shared through third-party sites / services
Creativity focused upon production and aggregation
Open filter – anyone can publish
Sites facilitate social interaction / connection between user and producer
Greater user hits / traffic to site
Unconstrained creativity of material
Unconstrained playfulness of material
Enhances personal reputation and prestige
Greater open access
High reuse potential
High search ability – can be found via public search engines like Google or Bing
Drawbacks
High-cost
Closed filter – specialists can publish
Less social interaction / connection between user and producer
Less user hits / traffic to site
Restrained creativity of material
Restrained playfulness of material
Variances in open access
Low reuse potential
Low search ability – locked into a repository search engine
Variances in granularity
Variances in quality
Variances in explicit learning aims
Variances in knowledge domain expertise
Variances in taxonomy / folksonomy
Unpredictable use
Limited choice
Variances in copyright and licensing advice
Variances in interoperability
Variances in accessibility
Variances in scholarly outputs
Variances in formal recognition
There are a number of benefits and drawbacks to both OER approaches however Big OERs might be better able to offset whatever the drawbacks might be incurred since they have more resources both financial and human expertise to do so. Little OERs, on the other hand, are more specifically geared towards teachers and lecturers and although this approach is more informal in nature, it represents a more dynamic model that encourages greater participation and engaging experience to the learner so their drawbacks are ultimately minimized buy this flexibility (Weller, 2010).
Reference:
Weller, Martin (2010). Big and little OER. In: OpenED2010: Seventh Annual Open Education Conference, 2-4 Nov 2010, Barcelona, Spain.