Community outreach for mainstreaming OER in Germany – attempting a nexus between bottom-up to top-do Home : #OER18

Public Group Active 6 years, 8 months ago

Wed, Apr 18 2018, 1:30pm – 2:30pm

Authors: Dominic Orr, Jöran Muuß-Merholz, and Jan Neumann

Room: Cinema 2

Theme: Politics in Action

Type: Presentation

Description

Germany has been a laggard to the OER world in many ways, but this is only the case if all the bottom-up initiatives are neglected (Wikimedia Deutschland e. V., 2016). The laggard has instead been policy. There are, however, strong signs that the most recent policy initiative launched by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research has been able to foster a working nexus between bottom-up – small group – initiatives and the wish for policy to test how OER can be mainstreamed. Within a larger context of digitalisation of education and new challenges for industry 4.0, the so-called OERinfo funding programme, which started in 2016, has focussed on enabling an interface between top-down interests and bottom-up activities.

The funding line is designed with two pillars at its core (Surmann, 2017):

The development of a central information website, which provides high quality information about OER to the interested (professional) public
The development of the required skills to use, develop and distribute OER in the course of 21 train-the-trainer-projects.

The programme covers multiple educational sectors, starting from an existing comparative strength in the school sector, preparing a breakthrough of OER in the higher education sector and opening the door for OER in the field of vocational and adult education. At the same time, the programme provides the German federal and state governments with the opportunity to gather more experience of practices and potential around OER, so that future policy-related interventions can be prepared.

It is interesting to note that the OERinfo funding programme works well, no matter what future political decisions related to OER might look like. If there is a decision to step deeper into OER, OERinfo is a perfect starter for the wider programme. However, even if policy engagement remains small, OERinfo still makes sense, since the various awareness-raising activities and opportunities for knowledge exchange will arguably increase the number of people using OER platforms and tools.

Moreover, this nexus approach is fruitful for implementing change management (Cerna, 2013; Figgis et al., 2007) and builds particularly on the open practice philosophy fostered within the OER space.

The presentation will offer a review of the outcomes made possible through this open practice approach to supporting implementation of OER in different educational settings and make recommendations for other countries based on the German experience.

References

Cerna, L. (2013). The Nature of Policy Change and Implementation: A Review of Different Theoretical Approaches. OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/The Nature of Policy Change and Implementation.pdf

Figgis, J., Butorac, A., Clayton, B., Meyers, D., Dickie, M., Malley, J., & Mcdonald, R. (2007). Advancing equity: Merging “bottom up” initiatives with “top down” strategies. National Centre for Vocational Education Research Australia. Retrieved from http://www.ncver.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/8abab373-a4ad-42d0-b701-d43190aff593/nr4023.doc?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=8abab373-a4ad-42d0-b701-d43190aff593

Surmann, C. (2017). Open Education und Open Educational Resources – Deutsche und Europäische Policy im Überblick. Fachmagazin Synergie, (3). Retrieved from https://uhh.de/2dxy1

Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. (Ed.). (2016). Praxisrahmen für Open Educational Resources (OER) in Deutschland. Retrieved from http://mapping-oer.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Praxisrahmen-für-OER-in-Deutschland_Online-1.pdf

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