Challenges in OER Policy Implementation in Latin America and

Caribbean

Werner Westermann J.Library of National Congress of Chile

Sao Paulo, April 2017

America’s Regional Consultation

Personalized Web-Platforms

Case 1● Enlaces, Chilean Ministry of Education ICT

program for K-12 schools● “Pedagogical Integration Models”:

personalized, web-based content/assessment platforms for Math and English

● Third- to eighth-grade students (nearly 190.000, 5%) in public-funded schools (nearly 1.450, 12%)

● USD$ 2 million, cost mostly related to proprietary individual licenses of the user-subscription web service

Case 1● Evaluation Report findings:

http://historico.enlaces.cl/tp_enlaces/portales/tpe76eb4809f44/uploadImg/File/2014/documentos/modelos/InformeFinal_Modelos.pdf

● Use in hours of the platforms, in both English and Math, analysis disaggregated by type of platform and month, reported that use by students was near zero.

● Correlation between the subject, in both English and Math, and the standardized national tests was also close to zero.

● Accessibility issues because not being enough licenses led to:– use of a computer by two or more students disrupting the possibility of

personalized monitoring

– less engagement with the platform amongst passive students.

● The report strongly recommended:– placing greater emphasis on the process of the programme,

– pursue greater monitoring and tracking,

– ensure adoption and adaptation by teachers and school managers

Case 1

● Programme ceased operations at the beginning of the 2014 school year

● Should the Ministry consider a no-cost alternative, high quality, award-winning OER platform like the Khan Academy, which guarantees permanent online access to every student in Chile?

● Can the investment be directed towards the process of adopting and appropriately using OER, mainly by teachers and learning supporters, but also by parents and guardians, instead of spending on expensive “per-seat” commercial site licenses?

● How does Openness overcones this frustrated experience?

Public K-12 Textbook issue

Case 2

● Textbook program, Ministry of Education spends each year USD$ 53 Million– 2 foreign companies dominate 80% of public market

– Bids integrate Content-Printing-Distribution

● Quality, Format and Market of Textbooks (Ortuzar, 2014) http://www.ieschile.cl/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Informe-Textos-escolares.pdf– public and private marketplace did not encourage competition

for better quality content and products:● lower printing costs in order to win public contract bids● "incentives” to local authority and school managers to require textbooks

of an specific year or edition● same contents were reused repeatedly in both public and private

markets

Case 2

● Previous studies around the poor quality and limited use of textbooks in schools in last two decades

● Quality shortcomings concerned substantial features of a textbook:– limited and irrelevant information

– poor clarification of objectives

– reduced uptake by the authors of the contributions of current and innovative pedagogy and fundamental aspects of the discipline involved

– neglected details of presentation, planning and sequences

– scant regard for users

Case 2

● Can openness contribute a solution to fixing the broken public and private textbook market in Chile and strengthening competitiveness, particularly in the promotion of the local/national publishing industry?

● Can openness provide a setting for incremental quality improvement of key learning resources, as well have high return on public investment?

● How does openness contributes to fix the broken public textbook markey?

Challenges to Mainstream OER

● User’s capacity to access, reuse and share OER– Capacity building for all education stakeholders

– Skills development for use, reuse and sharing

● Issues related to language and culture● Ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality OER

– Accessibility for persons with disabilities

– Connectivity

– Quality concerns

● Need to change business models● Development of supportive policy environments

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Advocate on Benefits and Potential of Openness– Open Educational Practices and Open Pedagogies

→ catalyses innovation

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Advocate on Benefits and Potential of Openness– Correct partial understanding of Openness

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Advocate on Benefits and Potential of Openness– Correct misleading understanding (“open washing”)

of Openness

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Advocate on Benefits and Potential of Openness– Terms and Conditions in Educarchile/RELPE members:

● Use the contents diligently, correctly and legally.● Not to reproduce, copy, distribute, transform or modify,

make available, lease or communicate to the public the contents unless the express authorization of the holder of the corresponding rights is obtained.

● Do not suppress, evade or manipulate the copyright and other identifying data of the rights of educarchile or its holders incorporated into the contents, as well as technical protection devices, digital identifiers.

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Resources and Tools for OER Policies – Commenwealth of Learning COL

● Guidelines for Open Educational Resources for Higher Education http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002328/232855s.pdf

● Institutional OER Policy Template http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/2388

– OER Policy Development Tool http://policy.lumenlearning.com/es/

– ¿UNESCO’s OER Country Policy Template?

– Open Policy Network● Global Open Policy report

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Growing body of Research on adoption and impact of OER:– COUP Cost of education, student success

Outcomes, patterns of Usage of OER, and Perceptions of OER http://openedgroup.org

● 40 fellowships in 2 cohorts● Toolkit for research

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Growing body of Research on adoption and impact of OER:– Research of Open Educational Resources for

Development ROER4D http://roer4d.org

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

● Build a compelling narrative– Open Washington OER Network http://www.openwa.org

Capacity building for all education stakeholders

Quality Concerns

• Adaptation, Production, Improvement and Delivery

• Quality Assurance Guidelines for Open Educational Resources: TIPS Framework

• Open Educational Quality Initiative(OPAL)

• JISC OER Guide

K12 Public-funded Textbook issue

• Break the chain: Content-Printing-Distribution

• Openly lincense the Content as Public Good

• Challenge: How to assure access and update-improve the content?– Public content repository

– Delivery formats

– Quality framework and standards

– OEP/Open Pedagogy as strategy for sustainability

Supportive policy environments: Higher Education

• Uptake major problems– High dropout in first two years

– Low degree achievement

• Incentives for Professional Development through OER– Emphasis in academic publishing → Competition– Connect to other Open “Silos”: Open Data / Open Access

– Opportunity for Technical Institutions

– Leveling student inequality

• Consortia Approach: Community Colleges in USA

• Open Government Partnership OGP as platform

Supportive policy environments