Abstracts
Abstract
This study looks at OpenCourseWare (OCW) in Spain, a country where most public universities have tried to promote that particular model of open educational resources (OER) provision among academics. Using three universities with varying levels of OCW activity as a case study, this article examines key drivers behind the implementation of OCW initiatives and unpacks what it means, as an academic practice, to engage in OCW authoring. Following a qualitative case study approach and a multi-methods design, this study offers a basis for theoretical generalisations that can be useful for understanding similar dynamics taking place within different organisational contexts in Spain and beyond. The findings reveal a major disconnect between the drive to implement OCW initiatives in Spain and actual opportunities for academics to engage with them as part of their work. The author concludes that the extrapolation of a highly prescriptive model of OER provision into institutional realities different from the context where it was originally devised—in this case, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States—is rather problematic. The article also provides some recommendations to university leaders and policy makers, encouraging the creation of alternative models that are mindful of the institutional and cultural specificities of their own contexts and also to take into consideration the social and material realities of the communities they aim to provide with lifelong learning opportunities.
Keywords:
- OpenCourseWare,
- OCW,
- open educational resources,
- OER,
- open educational practices,
- OEP,
- open education,
- higher education,
- universities,
- Spain
Appendices
Bibliography
- Abelson, H. (2008). The creation of OpenCourseWare at MIT. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17(2), 164-174. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-007-9060-8
- Abelson, H., Miyagawa, S., & Yue, D. K. P. (2021, May 24). On the 20th anniversary of OpenCourseWare: How it began. MIT Faculty Newsletter, 33(5). https://fnl.mit.edu/may-june-2021/on-the-20th-anniversary-of-opencourseware-how-it-began/
- Andrews, R., & Haythornthwaite, C. (Eds.). (2007). The SAGE handbook of e-learning research. Sage Publications. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-handbook-of-e-learning-research/book243430
- Aranzadi, P., & Capdevila, R. (2011). Open Course Ware, recursos compartidos y conocimiento distribuido. La Cuestión Universitaria, 7, 126-133. http://polired.upm.es/index.php/lacuestionuniversitaria/article/view/3398
- Borrás Gené, O. (2010). Observatorio de plataformas para OCW. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
- Bryman, A. (2008). Social research methods (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Cachia, R., Aldaoud, M., Eldeib, A., Hiari, O., Tweissi, A., Villar-Onrubia, D., Wimpenny, K., & Maya, I. (2020). Cultural diversity in the adoption of open education in the Mediterranean basin: Collectivist values and power distance in the universities of the Middle East. Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política, Humanidades y Relaciones Internacionales, 22(44), 53-82. https://doi.org/10.12795/araucaria.2020.i44.03
- Carson, S. (2009). The unwalled garden: Growth of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, 2001-2008. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 24, 23-29. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680510802627787
- Carson, S., & Forward, M. L. (2010). Development of the OCW Consortium. In 2010 IEEE Education Engineering (EDUCON) (pp. 1657-1660). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON.2010.5492401
- Clifton, J., Díaz Fuentes, D., Fernández Gutiérrez, M., & Revuelta López, J. (2013). Difusión del proyecto OpenCourseWare—Universidad de Cantabria en asignaturas relativas a la economía mundial. In M. A. Bringas Gutiérrez, M. Fernández Gutiérrez, & M. Fernández Redondo (Eds.), XV Reunión de Economía Mundial / Sociedad de Economía Mundial (pp. 5-10). Universidad de Cantabria. http://hdl.handle.net/10902/4425
- Cox, G. (2013). Researching resistance to open education resource contribution: An activity theory approach. E-Learning and Digital Media, 10(2), 148-160. https://doi.org/10.2304/elea.2013.10.2.148
- Creanor, L., & Walker, S. (2012). Learning technology in context: A case for the sociotechnical interaction framework as an analytical lens for networked learning research. In L. Dirckinck-Holmfeld, V. Hodgson, & D. McConnell (Eds.), Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning (pp. 173-187). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0496-5_10
- Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-13099-000
- Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (4th ed., pp. 1-19). Sage Publications. https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/40425_Chapter1.pdf
- Eynon, R., & Malmberg, L.-E. (2021). Lifelong learning and the Internet: Who benefits most from learning online? British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(2), 569-583. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13041
- Falconer, I., Littlejohn, A., McGill, L., & Beetham, H. (2016). Motives and tensions in the release of open educational resources: The UKOER program. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 32(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.2258
- Frías-Navarro, M. D., Pascual Llobell, J., Monterde i Bort, H., Pascual Soler, M., Badenes Ribera, L., & Pascual Mengual, J. (2010). Impacto del Open Course Ware (OCW) en los docentes universitarios. Universidad de Valencia/Ministerio de Educación. https://perma.cc/H49P-UFTZ
- Gallardo Paúls, B. (2008). Teaching and open access: The Open Course Ware of the Universitat de València. @tic. Revista d’innovació Educativa, 1, 16-25. http://ojs.uv.es/index.php/attic/article/view/45
- Hatakka, M. (2009). Build it and they will come?—Inhibiting factors for reuse of open content in developing countries. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 37(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2009.tb00260.x
- Henderson, S., & Ostashewski, N. (2018). Barriers, incentives, and benefits of the open educational resources (OER) movement: An exploration into instructor perspectives. First Monday, 23(12). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v23i12.9172
- King, M., Pegrum, M., & Forsey, M. (2018). MOOCs and OER in the Global South: Problems and potential. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(5). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i5.3742
- Kling, R. (2007). What is social informatics and why does it matter? The Information Society, 23(4), 205-220. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972240701441556
- Kling, R., McKim, G., & King, A. (2003). A bit more to it: Scholarly communication forums as socio-technical interaction networks. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(1), 47-67. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.10154
- Knox, J. (2013). Five critiques of the open educational resources movement. Teaching in Higher Education, 18(8), 821-832. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2013.774354
- Kursun, E., Cagiltay, K., & Can, G. (2014). An investigation of faculty perspectives on barriers, incentives, and benefits of the OER movement in Turkey. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v15i6.1914
- Lerman, S. R., & Miyagawa, S. (2002). OpenCourseWare: A case study in institutional decision making. Academe, 88(5), 23-27. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ655807
- Lerman, S. R., Miyagawa, S., & Margulies, A. H. (2008). OpenCourseWare: Building a culture of sharing. In T. Iiyoshi & M. S. V. Kumar (Eds.), Opening up education: The collective advancement of education through open technology, open content, and open knowledge (pp. 213-227). MIT Press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/opening-education
- Llorens, F., Bayona, J. J., Gómez, J., & Sanguino, F. (2010). The University of Alicante’s institutional strategy to promote the open dissemination of knowledge. Online Information Review, 34(4), 565-582. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521011072981
- Llorente Cejudo, M. del C., Cabero Almenara, J., Vázquez Martínez, A. I., & Alducín Ochoa, J. M. (2013). Proyecto OpenCourseWare y su implantación en universidades andaluzas, 12(1), 11-21. http://dehesa.unex.es/handle/10662/724
- Lloyd, M. (2011, July 10). Billion-dollar benefactor for campuses in Latin America: A Spanish bank. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/billion-dollar-benefactor-for-campuses-in-latin-america-a-spanish-bank/
- McCoy, C., & Rosenbaum, H. (2019). Uncovering unintended and shadow practices of users of decision support system dashboards in higher education institutions. Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, 70(4), 370-384. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24131
- Meyer, E. T., Shankar, K., Willis, M., Sharma, S., & Sawyer, S. (2019). The social informatics of knowledge. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 70(4), 307-312. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24205
- Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1995-97407-000
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. (2019). Datos y cifras del sistema universitario Español 2018-2019 (Data and figures of the Spanish university system 2018-2019). Gobierno de España. https://www.educacionyfp.gob.es/dam/jcr:2af709c9-9532-414e-9bad-c390d32998d4/datos-y-cifras-sue-2018-19.pdf
- Oliver, M. (2011). Technological determinism in educational technology research: Some alternative ways of thinking about the relationship between learning and technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 27(5), 373-384. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00406.x
- Orlikowski, W. J., & Scott, S. V. (2008). Sociomateriality: Challenging the separation of technology, work and organization. The Academy of Management Annals, 2(1), 433-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520802211644
- Peter, S., & Deimann, M. (2013). On the role of openness in education: A historical reconstruction. Open Praxis, 5(1), 7-14. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.5.1.23
- Richards, L. (2009). Handling qualitative data: A practical guide (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
- Rohs, M., & Ganz, M. (2015). MOOCs and the claim of education for all: A disillusion by empirical data. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(6). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v16i6.2033
- Ros, S., Hernández, R., Read, T., Rodrı, M., Pastor, R., & Dı, G. (2014). UNED OER experience: From OCW to open UNED. IEEE Transactions on Education, 57(4), 248-254. https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2014.2331216
- Santos-Hermosa, G., Estupinyà, E., Nonó-Rius, B., Paris-Folch, L., & Prats-Prat, J. (2020). Open educational resources (OER) in the Spanish universities. Profesional de la Información, 29(6), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.nov.37
- Selwyn, N. (2013). Distrusting educational technology: Critical questions for changing times. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Distrusting-Educational-Technology-Critical-Questions-for-Changing-Times/Selwyn/p/book/9780415708005
- Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. Sage Publications. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-art-of-case-study-research/book4954
- Tovar, E., López, J., Piedra, N., Sancho, E., & Soto, Ó. (2013). Aplicación de tecnologías Web emergentes para el estudio del impacto de repositorios OpenCourseWare españoles y latinoamericanos en le Educación Superior. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid & Gobierno de España. http://ocw.uc3m.es/informe-final-ocw.pdf/at_download/file
- Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837-851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121
- UNESCO. (2002). Forum on the impact of open courseware for higher education in developing countries—Final report. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001285/128515e.pdf
- Villar-Onrubia, D. (2014). The value of Web mentions as data: Mapping attention to the notion of OER in the HE arena. In M. Sánchez & E. Romero Frías (Eds.), Ciencias sociales y humanidades digitales técnicas, herramientas y experiencias de e-research e investigación en colaboración (pp. 163-181). Sociedad Latina de Comunicación Social. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0aac8efd-f100-4a06-9fe5-7a1d849120bf
- Wei, H.-C., & Chou, C. (2021). Ready to do OpenCourseWare? A comparative study of Taiwan college faculty. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 22(2), 118-142. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v22i2.5252
- White, S., White, S., & Borthwick, K. (2020). Blended professionals, technology and online learning: Identifying a socio‐technical third space in higher education. Higher Education Quarterly, 75(1), 161-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12252
- Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). Sage Publications. https://www.worldcat.org/title/case-study-research-design-and-methods/oclc/50866947