Open education

Web technologies make it easier than ever for institutions to open up their teaching, and research to the public. From putting lecture handouts up on the web, to publishing videos or podcasts, to running a public online course (or MOOC), there are many ways of sharing education with a wider audience. There are also a wealth of open educational resources (OERs) already available to be reused and built upon.

Planning

Publishing OERs

To start planning, think about:

• Why do you want to put the resource online?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Do you hope it will be used in a particular way?
• What will the content be?
• Do you have the right to make it public?

Using OERs

You'll need to think about:

• What OERs you are planning to use, and why?
• How do you intend to use them? Has the author has granted you the permissions you need?
• Are you confident about the quality?

Case studies

• Hippocrates - online material to support face-to-face sessions
• Student e-learning projects in Medicine

Further reading

• Open Educational Resources guide
• MOOCs and Open Education: Implications for Higher Education
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Data on higher education
• More Than a MOOC—Seven Learning and Teaching Scenarios to Use MOOCs in Higher Education and Beyond
• Creative Commons licences
• Creative Commons OER case studies