1. Educational Repositories: Looking for European Successes Leo Højsholt-Poulsen UNIC The Danish IT Centre for Education and Research Denmark Leo.Hojsholt-Poulsen@uni-c.dk

2. 2 MANY titles FEW users DER / DLR Digital educational resources Digital learning resources The learning resource of the 21 Century:

3. 3 Standard software Presentations tools Laboratory software Information software Search tools Educational (subject oriented) software Big programs (courseware) Software with books and TV (and vice versa) Totally integrated software: TV/computer My software “Types of software for learning” (LHP 1997) Virtual learning environments – Learning management systems ?

4. 4 Include content to help beginners Be open to allow for new content A new digital learning resource should

5. 5 Most countries: Learning resources for schools are paid by ‘public’ money – in one way or the other Numerous national support programmes Public support strategies to digital learning resources 1.To providers? 2.To end-users? In some countries the Government provides a free set of digital learning resources, e.g.: Korea ( - www.edunet4u.net) [1+2] Hungary ( - sdt.sulinet.hu)[1+2] Also initiatives in France, Spain and Norway[1] Austria and Italy[2] Digital learning resources – Public vs. Private

6. 6 Where are the users ? Where are the learning resources ?

7. 7 Repositories of learning resources External bases with collections and materials Producers: Register, update, upload, search, read statistics on usage Teachers, librarians, students etc.: Search, browse, download, upload, feed-back Repository Repositories are key disseminators of information of available learning resources In repositories users search or browse for relevant resources (text books, websites, digital learning resources etc.) among the vast supply on the market

8. The EdReNe Network EdReNe is a thematic network co-funded by the European Union, through the eContentplus programme

9. 9 EdReNe – thematic network of central actors Founding members UNIC (Denmark)UNIC EUN – European Schoolnet (Europe)EUN – European Schoolnet EENET - European Expert's Network for Education and Technology (Europe)EENET - European Expert's Network for Education and Technology Menon Network (Europe)Menon Network EDEN - European Distance and E-Learning Network (Europe)EDEN - European Distance and E-Learning Network FWU - Institut für Film und Bild in Wissenschaft und Unterricht (Germany)FWU - Institut für Film und Bild in Wissenschaft und Unterricht EAPC - Public Administration School of Catalunya (Spain)EAPC - Public Administration School of Catalunya TLF - Tiger Leap Foundation (Estonia)TLF - Tiger Leap Foundation UNI-LJ-FMF, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Uni. of Ljubljana (Slovenia)UNI-LJ-FMF, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Uni. of Ljubljana ITC - Centre of IT in Education (Lithuania)ITC - Centre of IT in Education MSU - The Swedish National Agency for School Improvement (Sweden)MSU - The Swedish National Agency for School Improvement ENIS Austria (Austria)ENIS Austria NCTE –National Centre for Technology in Education (Ireland)NCTE –National Centre for Technology in Education Kennisnet – Sticting Kennisnet Ict op School (The Netherlands)Kennisnet – Sticting Kennisnet Ict op School Becta - British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (UK)Becta - British Educational Communications and Technology Agency CNDP - Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique (France)CNDP - Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique Giunti Interactive Labs (Italy)Giunti Interactive Labs BFU- Brancheforeningen for undervisningsmidler (Denmark)BFU- Brancheforeningen for undervisningsmidler bit media eLearning solutions (Austria)bit media eLearning solutions AIE - Associazione Italiana Editori (Italy)AIE - Associazione Italiana Editori EduLearn (Portugal)EduLearn sDae - Sociedad Digital De Autores Y Esitores (Spain)sDae - Sociedad Digital De Autores Y Esitores IML - Umeå University Department of Interactive Media and Learning (Sweden)IML - Umeå University Department ofInteractive Media and Learning Associated members Utdanning.no (Norway)Utdanning.no Utdanningsdirektoratet (Norway)Utdanningsdirektoratet VETAMIX (Finland)VETAMIX Lektion.se (Sweden)Lektion.se Intrallect Ltd (UK) Intrallect Ltd SLO - Netherland’s Institute for Curriculum Development (The Netherlands) SLO - Netherland’s Institute for Curriculum Development CTIE - Centre suisse des technologies de l'information dans l'enseignement (Switzerland)CTIE APS IT-diensten (The Netherlands)APS IT-diensten TLU-CET - Talinn University (Estonia)TLU-CET - Talinn University CTE - Centre de technologie de l'éducation (Luxembourg)CTE - Centre de technologie de l'éducation Ontwikkelcentrum (The Netherlands)Ontwikkelcentrum LTScotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland (UK)LTScotland Encyclopaedia Britannica Education (UK)Encyclopaedia Britannica Education DGIDC –Ministry of Education (Portugal)DGIDC –Ministry of Education

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11. 11 develops practical guidelines and recommendations on educational repositories will establish a lasting collegial network of European repository nodes and stakeholders. Main outputs: a comprehensive website (www.edrene.org) with recommendations, documentation, templates, roadmaps and documents describing issues, state-of-the-art offering solutionswww.edrene.org Existing repositories can cut some corners, and new repositories may have a less costly and much less complicated path in life. EdReNe

12. 12 A basic list of issues sets the agenda How do you establish a repository of learning resources together with producers and users Everyday organisation and management of a repository Optimising number of titles and users Quality frameworks and criteria Networking repositories Functionalities and features of a repository Pedagogical metadata and links to curriculum Management of IPR screening and clearance Role of repositories in the new web environment

13. 13 The EdReNe series of strategic seminars and expert workshops May 07 july 07Jan 08 July 08 Jan 09 July 09 Jan 10 April 10 Strategic seminars on Policies and Strategies Expert workshops: Repositories and resources, general level Standards and interoperability Engagement of producers and users, operational level Rights issues

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15. 15 EdReNe New version of the State of the Art - Educational repositories in Europe –Looking for trends, evidence of success and impact (quantity and/or quality) –Current status of European educational repositories Published December 2008

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17. 17 SoA - “Huge variety of repositories across Europe” Catalogues of descriptions (metadata, links) Catalogues and Containers of content (metadata & data) Networks of repositories Digital resources - All types of resources Free content – Commercial content For everybody – Membership based (login) Validated/screened (quality assurance, rights management) Some facilitate feedback Target: schools, further/higher ed., homes

18. 18 SoA – obvious trends Public money in one way or the other –Central or regional initiatives –to encourage teachers’ uptake of innovative materials and learning styles (traditional textbooks are still preferred by a majority of the teachers) –But also examples of successful commercial or user driven repositories Digital resources –web resource (a collection of web sites) somewhere in cyberspace Catalogues and containers of content (metadata & data) For everybody (no membership requested) Target schools (further/higher ed. separately)

19. 19 Success indicators –A successful repository is a platform that many use to find learning resources of high quality. –Use should be regular and frequent. –Quality not quantity –Expected Usage pattern

20. 20 Danish national repositories use statistics

21. 21 SoA - some success stories Education Highway in Austria. By far the biggest educational repository, offering –36 subject oriented portals –over 800 thematic collections –more than 80.000 titles Educasources in France. A Digital Educational Resources Metadata Repository containing about 7.000 online references GOLD database in Italy. About 3.000 users per day

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23. 23 EduHi.at – Page views per month

24. 24 Since February 1994 online Repository started with a database in 1996 Subject oriented repositories since 1996/1997 First subject: Chemistry www.schule.at adapted to this concept in 2000www.schule.at Today still the most successful portals in Austria www.eduhi.atwww.eduhi.at / www.schule.atwww.schule.at

25. 25 Eduhi.at – Why are we successful? “As our editors are teachers they know what their colleagues need and try to provide this content and links on the subject oriented platforms. The teachers like that they can access relevant content and helpful links.” “Students like that they find relevant content for presentations and reports, because the work of filtering the content has already been done by teachers.”

26. 26 SoA - some success stories KlasCement in Belgium, an initiative of a non-profit organization. Maintained by five teachers funded by the government, and everything is submitted by teachers Lektion.se in Sweden, a private initiative founded by teachers. It is the most popular service currently with more than 170.000 users, and is a rapidly expanding base of shared lesson plans Often user based repositories appear to impact better than traditional top-down approaches

27. 27 No quality control Community based

28. 28 Very successful commercial repository

29. 29 SoA – some general observations Content is linked to the curriculum –e.g. in France, Ireland, Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Austria, Norway and the UK (the now closed Curriculum Online service) New developments Users meet the repository or a collection of repositories at their local school web portal or in their own virtual learning environment –e.g. Sweden (The Spider), The Netherlands (Edurep), Denmark (Materialeplatformen) Initiatives combine central repositories with school learning platforms –e.g. England, Scotland, Spain, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Italy, Finland and Austrian regions The National Digital Resource Bank in England will provide a national repository to house content created by schools and local authorities

30. 30 EDUREP value chain and communities Model for Succes - 3 tier solution. Specialisation is the key

31. 31 SoA – new players on the pitch Cultural heritage (educational) repositories have emerged –e.g. Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK Broadcasting companies have established popular services by which schools can subscribe to TV and radio productions –e.g. DR – the Danish public service TV channel, the Finnish National Broadcasting Company (YLE), Dutch TV and RTE in Ireland

32. 32 SoA – Quality (“you may read more at…”) Quality assurance and rights issues play a big role Summary of findings from the EdReNe Quality Assurance sessions Q4R Best Practices Becta plans: Guidelines for Repository Owners