Exploration in Hermeneutics of Dedicated OER Policies and Implications for Post-Secondary Institutions
| Published | July 2023 |
| Type of work | Doctoral dissertation |
| Institution | Athabasca University |
| Country | Canada, North America |
ABSTRACT
This exploratory study, framed in an interpretivist paradigm and hermeneutic approach, examined a world-wide collection of 28 dedicated open educational resources (OER) policy documents published on the Internet from post-secondary institutions. The guiding research question was how to understand OER in a dedicated OER policy corpus, that was answered through an interpretation of the policy texts. Thus, a rich picture of post-secondary institutional dedicated OER policies developed with close and distant readings that revealed emergent patterns, control patterns, and key terms such as liability. Emergent patterns in the dedicated OER policy corpus were: branding, Creative Commons, liability, licenses, metadata, OER definition, preamble, and roles. Emergent patterns of the corpus texts and institutional OER policy templates illuminated differences in consistency, commitment, and comprehensiveness of the policy texts for how OER was expressed within the dedicated OER policy corpus. Patterns of control for institutional entities in production, support, collaboration, and voluntariness revealed inequalities in student production, support, and collaboration. An interpretation of dedicated OER policy is that it is more about institutional organization than OER material. The utility and opportunities of the findings suggest that institutional dedicated OER policy could evolve with consideration for, but not limited to, standardisation, engagement of academic community, role modelling free and open source software (FOSS), liability for OER stakeholders, and students as primary stakeholders for development and implementation of dedicated OER policy. OER activities, such as online open etextbook publishing, could benefit from a supportive dedicated OER policy for guidance, promotion, development, and sustainability of OER.| Keywords | dedicated OER policy · hermeneutics · close reading · distant reading |
| Published at | Athabasca, Alberta |
| Language | English |
| Refereed | Yes |
| Rights | CC BY |
| URL | https://dt.athabascau.ca/jspui/handle/10791/419 |
| Export options | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
AVAILABLE FILES
Viewed by 715 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
Rethinking openness for learning in open distance learning institutions
Akintolu, Morakinyo; Letseka, Moeketsi
The trends in open distance learning over the years and its evolution to higher education are interesting phenomena that continue to gain acceptance. While open distance learning serves as an intervening solution, ...
Match: institutions
Alternate academy: Investigating the use of Open Educational Resources by students at the University of Lagos in Nigeria
Onaifo, Daniel; Quan-Haase, Anabel
Open educational resources (OER) are increasingly used to support pedagogical initiatives and learning needs at institutions of higher education across the globe. In this thesis, I examined key issues in the use of OER ...
Match: canada
Incentivizing the production and use of Open Educational Resources in higher education institutions
Annand, David; Jensen, Tilly
Substituting open educational resources (OER) for commercially-produced textbooks results in demonstrable cost savings for students in most higher education institutions. Yet OER are still not widely used, and progress ...
Match: institutions
Massive, open, online, and national? A study of how national governments and institutions shape the development of MOOCs
Tømte, Cathrine; Fevolden, Arne Martin; Aanstad, Siri
We explore interpretations of MOOCs around the globe and, in particular, interpretations of MOOCs in Norway. Based on a review of previous studies relevant to these topics, we present two contrasting views on the ...
Match: institutions
MOOC strategies of European institutions: Status report based on a mapping survey conducted in November 2016 – February 2017
Konings, Lizzie; Jansen, Darco
Executive Summary
This report presents the results of a MOOC survey amongst Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a focus on Europe (97% of responses out of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)). The majority ...
Match: institutions
Current trends in institutional repositories for institutions offering Master's and Baccalaureate degrees
Xia, Jingfeng; Opperman, David B.
This article describes the current practices of institutional repositories at master's and baccalaureate institutions (M&BIs) in the United States. The focus includes repository content composition, operational style, ...
Match: institutions
Rethinking A Framework for Contextualising and Collaborating in MOOCs by Higher Education Institutions in Africa
Erkkie, Haipinge; Kadhila, Ngepathimo
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are online courses that are open to anyone with Internet access. Pioneered in North America, they were developed for contexts with broader access to technology and wider access to the ...
Match: institutions
Video for Wikipedia and the open web: A guide to best practices for cultural and educational institutions
Kaufman, Peter B.
Match: institutions
New technologies for teaching and learning: Challenges for higher learning institutions in developing countries
The application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is already changing the organization and delivery of higher education. The pedagogical and socio-economic forces that have driven the higher learning ...
Match: institutions
An Assessment of Open Educational Resources by students in selected Academic Institutions in Southwest, Nigeria
Miracle, Njeze
This paper examined assessment of Open Educational Resources (OER) by students in selected Academic Institutions in Southwest Nigeria. A descriptive research design was used for this study and the instrument used for ...
Match: institutions









