New framework for open - CARE

I've been caught up in a conversation - well, as digital conversations go - about a framework for stewardship of open educational resources (OER). This started with a tweet from Jim Luke (@econproph) that was retweeted by Robin DeRosa (@actualham). The blog post Jim wrote [OER, CARE, Stewardship, and the Commons] caught my attention since I knew nothing about the framework being described. I noticed that Jim will be speaking at both the OER18 and OEGlobal conferences coming up in April.

So I began to read and dig a little deeper.

The framework comes from Lisa Petrides, Douglas Levin and C. Edward Watson - Toward a sustainable OER ecosystem: The case for OER stewardship. It proposes the following:

"The purpose of the CARE Framework is to articulate a set of shared values 

and a collective vision for the future of education and learning enabled 

by the widespread adoption and use of OER. It aims to address

the question of how an individual, institution, or organization 

seeking to be a 

good steward can contribute to the growth 

and sustainability of the 

OER movement 

consistent with the community’s values."

The article continues to expand on the role of stewards to contribute, attribute, release and empower.  These roles are described as a 'duty of care to the broader OER movement'.

The framework is discussed by David Wiley in a blog post [The CARE Framework] where he makes several interesting points. His followup post [The CARE Framework, Take 2] continues the discussion. I appreciate Wiley's belief to 'release early & release often' since it brings attention to a topic worthy of examination. I'm not sure I would have found this without the various tweets referencing this topic. Wiley begins by clarifying his stance - he likes the framework.

Ah, to be a fly on the wall when Jim Luke meets up with David Wiley at OER18!

Stephen Downes weighs in on the discussion with two blog posts - The CARE Framework, and Schrodinger's OER - both being a brief response to David Wiley's blog post. He states that OER can be destroyed without stewardship that will respect, protect and not destroy it. He points out the threat of 'conversion' which impacts OER and OEM. This led me to a post by Stephen about defining OER - Open educational resources: A definition. This one I'll keep for future reference.

My take on the CARE framework - its an interesting addition to the conversation and puts the responsibility squarely on the individuals and organizations in the movement. If thinking about stewardship is the right focus, then there is lots that can be shaped by other stewardship movements such as global climate change and the environmental movement.

References

Downes, S. (2018, March 15). Schrodinger's OER. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=67896

Downes, S. (2018, March 15). The CARE framework. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=67893

Downes, S. (2011, Jul 14). Open educational resources: A definition. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.downes.ca/post/57915 

Luke, J. (2018, March 17). OER, CARE, stewardship, and the commons. [blog post] Retrieved from https://econproph.com/2018/03/17/oer-care-stewardship-and-the-commons/

Petrides, L., Levin, D., & Watson, C. E. (2018, March 4). Toward a sustainable OER ecosystem: The case for OER stewardship. [blog post] Retrieved from https://careframework.org/

Wiley, D. (2017, March 19). The CARE framework, take 2 [Weblog post]. Retrieved from https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/5528

Wiley, D. (2017, March 9). The CARE framework. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/5487

Curation as a critical literacy

Nope, I'm NOT Nostradamus! How online pop-ups can make individual users feel like luddites or idiots when using their 'open' resources is a lesson for all open educational resource curators to remember. Customer service and design principles need to be applied to curated resources for higher education faculty and staff who are interested in using OER, learning about OEM and building on OEP.

In an article (where the Nostradamus pop-up happened) this statement caught my attention because of a connection to some thinking about curation as a critical digital literacy:
"Because faculty are the ones who plan courses and teach using these materials, OER’s points-of-access needs to be designed for them. They need to know where to go to find the best OER materials. Once they get there, all the essential information needs to be at hand: which textbooks and resources are available, how to best combine materials, what devices are supported, how to get technical support, and what will the cost be for faculty and students."

This can also be said for building a collection of OEP - practices, pedagogies and purposes - for the OER's that are applied to course design. It's one thing to put an OER into the course, but a whole other side to how that is being used to engage and enhance learning experiences. This ultimately is a call for those in the OEM - movement, makers, mindful educators - to openly share WHY and HOW they are using OER in their teaching.

Getting Air Time

Today - I'm listening to VoiceEd.ca radio show done by Terry Greene titled Getting Air (among others) to prep for my air-time debut. I've agreed to go on Terry's eCampus Ontario radio podcast. I'm jotting some notes to some of his common questions and lining up my 'must mention' items:

• think about what I do, where I work, how I teach and learn
• how I ended up in open educational spaces - OER, OEM, OEP
• metaphors for OPEN e.g. music
• connections in my PLN - bubbles that collide
• research connections - Hinrichsen & Coombs, Catherine Cronin, Veletsianos, Siemens, etc.

Next steps: re-connect with VoiceEd.ca organizer Stephen Hurley to get set up for blogging with/for this audience.