oerresearchub.org Developing sustainable business models for institutions’ provision of open educational resources: Learning from OpenLearn users Leigh-Anne Perryman, OER Research Hub, The Open University Patrina Law, Open Media Unit, The Open University Andrew Law, Open Media Unit, The Open University

oerresearchub.org “The basic paradox is between the laudable desire, in the spirit of the open educational resources (OER) movement (UNESCO, 2012) to make knowledge the common property of humankind, and to find a business model that generates money for doing it’.” Sir John Daniel, 2012

oerresearchub.org OECD (2007) report  Altruism  Leveraging taxpayers’ money  Efficiency  Showcase  Taster  Internal development OECD (2007) Giving Knowledge for Free: the emergence of open educational resources:

oerresearchub.org Paul Stacey (2012) OER… “accelerate learning by providing educational resources for just-in-time, direct, informal use by both students and self-directed learners” Stacey, P. (2012) The economics of open:

oerresearchub.org “Open education acts as a bridge to formal education, and is complementary, not competitive, with it.” Photo Credit: F H Mira CC-BY-SA 58/

oerresearchub.org Launched million unique visitors since launch Over 5 million people per year Over 10% click through to ‘Study with the OU’

 Online survey (n=1067)  Majority aged  Formal students (FT=8%; PT=6%);  Informal learners (87%);  Educators (16%). oerresearchub.org

OER as a bridge to formal learning OER as showcase OER as taster OER as accelerating learning through study skills/confidence development

oerresearchub.org ‘I recommended OpenLearn to a colleague who was thinking of doing an OU course on retirement’ I have shared contents with friends and family, some of whom went on to serious OU study’ OpenLearn as ‘showcase’

oerresearchub.org ‘I’ve used OpenLearn to try things out before signing up for a module…you have the ability to 'taste' areas of the modules before signing yourself up for something which may or may not be suited to you.’ OpenLearn as ‘taster’ ‘All OU modules should have content on OpenLearn’

oerresearchub.org 49% of informal learners and 58% of formal students said their motivation to use OpenLearn was to improve their study skills OpenLearn & study skills

oerresearchub.org Barriers to OER use

oerresearchub.org Recommendations Increase awareness of the platform and discoverability of OpenLearn resources, especially for people outside higher education. Make the content more engaging for learners. Photo Credit: margot.trudell CC-BY-NC-ND

Reaching new learners via extending syndication

Building social recommendation via social networks

Badges will: Motivate entry-level learners Build confidence Allow the exploitation of viral features to spread the word Encourage sign-in/registration (useful data, opportunity to build relationships) Using badges to support progression, drive sign-in, and add to viral impact

Supported by #OERRHub