Quality Assurance in the Open: An Evaluation of OER Repositories

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Main author: Atenas, Javiera
Other authors: Havemann, Leo
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-17347
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description The World OER Declaration 2012 recommends that States join efforts to facilitate finding, retrieving and sharing OER. The OER movement has thus far spurred the creation of numerous repository initiatives worldwide with the aim of aiding the development of Open Educational Practice. This paper is based on the analysis on a set of 80 repositories of OER. In order to evaluate the quality of repositories, a set of ten quality indicators was obtained from an analysis of key literature. These indicators represent good practices in repository design, as they enable repositories to promote openness, sharing, reuse of resources and collaboration amongst academic communities. The incidence of the indicators within the actual repositories of OER is discussed, with the aim of understanding the extent to which these good practices are commonplace across repositories when considered by type, region, and overall. Although there are numerous references in the OER literature to the importance of these features in repository design, the actual initiatives demonstrate quite heterogeneous approaches, and some indicators achieve very low incidence considering the crucial role they play in supporting the aims of the OER movement. The significance of the various indicators is considered in relation to questions of overlap, practicality and sustainability, in order to suggest directions for further investigation and ultimately the improvement of these important repositories.
format Journal Article
author Atenas, Javiera
author_facet Atenas, Javiera
Havemann, Leo
authorStr Atenas, Javiera
author_letter Atenas, Javiera
author2 Havemann, Leo
author2Str Havemann, Leo
title Quality Assurance in the Open: An Evaluation of OER Repositories
publisher European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning EFQUEL
publishDate 2013
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17347/

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