scholarly journals Engaging with OER at universities

EDMETIC ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Rosana Montes Soldado ◽  
Miguel Gea Megías ◽  
Claudio Dondi

<p>At present, there is great interest over the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) in all of its forms: OpenCourseware repositories OCW, spare open resources, or even more recently as Massive Online Open Courses (also called MOOC). This panorama has generated considerable debate about their effectiveness in terms of learning, sustainability and especially the role that higher education institutions play in this context. We understand that students are involved on formal and informal learning activities, and require universities should have new model to recognize their skills and abilities on these scenarios. One case study is the MOOC learning framework, where universities are interested but there are nowadays some doubts and fears about the official recognition as a usual learning activity. In this article we analyse some data from the activity in an Open Course developed in the University of Granada and the implications regarding learning skills and recognition.  Finally, we link this approach with the studies given in the Open Learning Framework developed within the European project OERtest, in which five higher education institutions have conducted a pilot on this issue. We can offer some conclusions regarding the feasibility of certifying and award credits to a student.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuryadi Wijiharjono

This title of article is Business Analytics for Higher Education Institutions. By taking a case study at the Universitas Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. Hamka (UHAMKA), this article aims to analyze and provide recommendations for the plan to establish a new academic of undergraduate degree program. Analysis of the institutional and technical environment that affects the legitimacy and sustainability of the university. This study uses the SWOT analysis method in the perspective of Business Analytics, where data availability plays a key role.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-427
Author(s):  
Erika Setyanti Kusumaputri ◽  
Hanifah Latif Muslimah ◽  
Adib Ahmad ◽  
Mayreyna Nurwardani

In the present era of globalisation, higher-education institutions are required to focus on innovation to deal with the various challenges. Considering what Islamic higher-education institutions in Indonesia, have achieved in recent times, they face an uphill struggle to compete at the global level. This study aimed at identifying and analysing the dynamics of resilience for globalisation in a state Islamic–University in Indonesia. The results of studies on the management of Islamic tertiary institutions, specifically on organizational resilience, are very difficult to find. This study used the qualitative analysis method of a case-study and comprised in-depth interviews with key people concerned with the management of the university, observation, and secondary data namely academic documents, photos, and information from the university’s official website. The findings showed the university’s continuous efforts to improve not only the academic community’s management skills, knowledge, and expertise but also the implementation of international-curriculum standardization and cooperation with overseas universities. These actions cannot be separated from obstacles faced by university from within and without particularly in terms of funding-related policies. The university’s program-based innovations which are yet to be carried out by other Islamic-universities in Indonesia indicate this institution’s initiative to break the obstacles.


2018 ◽  
Vol 325 ◽  
pp. 227-234
Author(s):  
Tatiana Chiriac

The purpose of this study is to analyze the phenomenon of openness in higher education and its trends and technologies of expanding educational opportunities in the digital information society of Moldovan universities. The main concepts of openness in education are associated with the practice of online learning and constructivist approaches, technical optimization of delivering information, continuous professional development and globalization of higher education. Since skilled knowledge becomes the main value of the market, then higher education perspective as a tool of knowledge reproduction is transformed into the basic space of openness and accommodation to innovative use of educational resources. The key issues related to openness in order to impact higher education target the development of Open Educational Resources (OER), as well as implication of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), relatively new online learning trend. There are institutional practices of the adoption and use of open education technologies in some international universities and organizations, which could be extended as well to create an open learning system in the Republic of Moldova, focusing on national practices of education. Openness of Moldovan HEIs is a strategic choice for the future in a rapidly changing educational market that should proliferate.


Author(s):  
Lesley le Grange ◽  
Petro du Preez ◽  
Labby Ramrathan ◽  
Sylvan Blignaut

In this article, we report on four case studies of how higher education institutions have grappled with the demands of decolonisation of their curricula. In some respects, the cases differ in form and content, and the unique responses to decolonisation of each institution are described and analysed. An important similarity among the institutions was the use of extensive public lectures, seminars, and workshops as a common strategy to deal with the calls for the decolonising of curricula. The inquiry is motivated by our concern that some institutions, in an effort to comply, might resort to instrumentalist and quick-fix solutions to decolonise curricula, which result in decolonial-washing rather than substantive change. We discuss the following themes based on the data and literature: decolonial-washing; decolonising of curricula as a national project; political symbolism; and the need for complicated conversations. We also reflect on the methodology used in this study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-693
Author(s):  
Seth D. Thompson ◽  
Adrienne Muir

The aim of the research was to investigate why and how Scottish university libraries support open educational resources and to assess their ability to provide support services for their development and use within higher education institutions. There has been little research on the role of academic libraries in supporting open educational resources in Scotland and previous research found that there is a lack of awareness of them in Scottish higher education institutions and few have open educational resources policies. The case study methodology therefore involved two Scottish academic libraries providing open educational resources services. The libraries’ motivation includes supporting teaching and learning and the development of educator digital skills and copyright knowledge. However, there are a number of barriers limiting the services the libraries are able to provide, particularly lack of human resources. The research confirmed the findings of previous research on the importance of institutional commitment, incentives for educator engagement, and understanding of copyright and licensing issues by educators and library staff.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Bengtsson

This work describes a systematic review of the research on take-home exams in tertiary education. It was found that there is some disagreement in the community about the virtues of take-home exams but also a lot of agreement. It is concluded that take-home exams may be the preferred choice of assessment method on the higher taxonomy levels because they promote higher-order thinking skills and allow time for reflection. They are also more consonant with constructive alignment theories and turn the assessment into a learning activity. Due to the obvious risk of unethical student behavior, take-home exams are not recommended on the lowest taxonomy level. It is concluded that there is still a lot of research missing concerning take-home exams in higher education and some of this research may be urgent due to the emergence of massive online open courses (MOOCs) and online universities where non-proctored exams prevail.


Author(s):  
Katerina Odyssea Georgaki ◽  
Andri Anastasiou

Higher education institutions and universities represent a vital part of any society and are continuously faced with numerous new environmental and social challenges. Universities are moving toward corporatization, which calls for them to be good corporate citizens. In order to meet the expectations of the stakeholders, they need to adopt a social responsibility strategy just like other organizations. This chapter discusses how universities could achieve development, sustainability, and competitiveness through applying university social responsibility (USR). It presents a case study of USR, namely UNIC Mentor Youth Guidance Programme applied by the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. The initiative connects university students to at-risk youth, so that they act as agents of social change and mentors. The chapter describes the benefits, long-term effects, and impact of this particular USR activity, both for the organization itself and the various stakeholders.


Author(s):  
Jessie Choi

This chapter offers insights into, the benefits, and the problems behind the use of MOOC courses in the higher education arena. For the last two decades, the education world has been obsessed with the use of technology, particularly with respect to course development and delivery, which has changed the way courses are created and taught. In addition, higher education institutions are now open to knowledge sharing and the role open online programs can play in the new ecosystem is worth looking at. The emergence of open online programs strengthens innovation as co-creation, co-operation, and joint ventures among institutions are now made possible. Nevertheless, more and more research is beginning to highlight the concerns of the development of free open courses. In some cases, such developments are seen as a growth, but in other cases, a threat. This chapter analyses the current situation and suggests ways to better utilize the development.


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