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Wikieducator.org – OER[YUN1] Online Community – An Online Community Ethnography

11/29/2011

Increasingly interacting with digital media, spending thousands of hours watching television, surfing the internet, or playing video games, an ever growing number of individuals can be considered digital natives or digital immigrants (Prensky, 2010; Tapscott, 2008). As a result of this recent change, it is important to understand how these interactions affect individuals living in our time and space, their cognitive abilities and what it all means for the youth of tomorrow. These are among some of the topics that have recently risen to challenge the modern ethnographer. The rapid technological change witnessed by societies in recent years has led to an increasing disconnection between generations. Phrases such as the Net Generation, Digital Natives, or Google Generation are surfacing regularly in popular news channels and have been the subject of recent publications (Tapscott, 2008; Prensky, 2010; Rowlands, et al., 2008). Whether one considers oneself a late adopter or laggard, or an innovator or early adopter we all should have an interest in understanding these changes (Rogers, 2003; Kurzweil, 2006). Therefore, it is important for studies to be conducted that would help us to understand better what happens during the thousands of hours that digital natives spend exploring virtual worlds and immersing themselves in epic digital adventures[YUN2] (Harry, 2005; Yee, 2006).

By allowing individuals to connect with anyone in the world who shares a similar interest, subcultures are able to thrive at a level only possible before in large urban settings. Through the internet, individuals can code a program collaboratively, play video games internationally, live “second” lives, buy property within online environments, and develop online learning communities based upon a shared vision and mission such as is the case of Wikipedia and WikiEducator. Through websites such as Ning.com and Groups.Google.com, individuals can connect with likeminded people and change the method through which knowledge is produced. Some of these communities, such as Wikipedia, have been the subject of both intense praise and criticism in press and journal articles as a result of their innovative but controversial collaborative framework and organizational culture.

In a whirlwind of change, Wikipedia, has in a decade, become one of the most visited websites in the world. It encompasses millions of articles that anyone with internet access can create and edit. Wikipedia’s success has been to a large extent a result of its wiki structure, the charismatic leadership of “benevolent dictator” Jim Wales, and its consensus oriented decision making process (Reagle Jr., 2010). Wikipedia has risen to challenge even the highly regarded, professionally written Encyclopedia Britannica, first published in 1797 (Kafker & Loveland, 2009; Katz, 2008). The degree of impact Wikipedia has had as a freely accessible reference tool and the transformative power that results from collective or cooperative knowledge production warrants further study. According to the most recent Alexa rakings, Wikipedia was the 8^th most visited website on the internet from February to April 2011, used primarily by childless people under the age of 35 with postgraduate educations browsing at school or work (Alexa, 2011).

Since the success of Wikipedia, other Wiki websites have attempted to replicate its model. Currently there are many other popular wikis, and some of them, such as Wikia.com and WikiHow.com, have been the subject of recent scholarly research (Levine, 2006; Murley, 2008). This paper analyzes a different wiki community, WikiEducator, which has the potential to bring about a transformative change in education and the way in which youth will learn in the future. WikiEducator hopes to build a worldwide community of educators focused on the development of quality open education resources for K-12 and Higher Education. The success of WikiEducator and OER[YUN3] would not only enhance education in developing countries but also in developed countries, by supplementing traditional education.

Through the development of Open Education Resources (OER), freely sharable educational materials that can be modified, remixed and redistributed, sites such as WikiEducator may play a role in improving access to high quality educational content and in meeting the goal of creating an increasingly affluent world (Baraniuk R. , 2006; Kamenetz, 2010; Sachs, 2005). Another possible impact of OER would be to reduce textbook costs by either replacing proprietary textbooks or increasing competition among publishers. OER could lead to the increased reuse, modification and redistribution of educational material, provide students with additional resources to supplement their course materials and improve the number and quality of lifelong learning resources. For some, this type of resource could even potentially contribute to the development of an online only educational system where students would be able to obtain a quality higher education but pay only a small amount in fees. As Jim Taylor (2007) remarks OER are not “intended to threaten existing models of higher education provision, but to create a parallel universe capable of ameliorating the apparently insurmountable problem of meeting the worldwide demand for higher education.” Just “India alone would need nearly 2400 additional universities in the next 25 years – or roughly two new universities per week” to meet the demand for higher education (HE) as more students finish secondary education or need to return to school in a search for a new career or simply for enjoyment (Daniel et al., 2007).

The objectives of people involved in WikiEducator vary by member, yet they all share the conviction of its founder, Dr Wayne Mackintosh, whose vision is to turn “the digital divide into digital dividends using free content and open networks” (WikiEducator, 2010). Similar to Wikipedia’s Jim Wales, Wayne Mackintosh shares some of the charismatic appeal and friendliness of a “benevolent dictator”. Yet, Mackintosh is only one of many scholars who have written about the transformative potential of OER.

Although the term OER was first coined by UNESCO in 2002, open educational resources have been available since educational materials (formal and informal) were first developed and freely shared with someone else. As social interactions fill our world with meanings, the first educational material was probably a story that was shared orally by members of the community. Hearing a story and retelling it with a slight modification is the equivalent of the remixing idea promoted by OER. More than just free of cost, OER are concerned with freedom of access and the ability to build upon previous works by modifying or remixing them (Baraniuk R. , 2006). OER today are associated primarily with digital resources yet, depending on the definition, OER also include many non-digital materials. For OER supporters, it is important for information to be available through a multiplicity of formats. One of the benefits of OER is their potential to increase the amount of high quality educational materials available online, and to reach individuals with different learning modalities, who can then access materials through a number of devices, asynchronously, at no or much reduced costs.

Since 2002 the OER movement has been spearheaded by the OECD and the Hewitt Foundation together with UNESCO. Various institutions such as MIT, UK Open University, Carnegie Mellon, Rice, Stanford, Yale, and Berkeley have developed, or promoted the development of, OER (OECD, 2007; UNESCO, 2011; Walsh, 2010). Other organizations or online communities have also been pivotal in promoting OER, such as Saylor.org, Opencollegetextbook.org, Creativecommons.org, and Opencontent.org. Yet one of the few communities that has centered specifically on the development of OER content is WikiEducator.

This paper is a report of an ethnographic study of the WikiEducator community I conducted during the spring semester of 2011, as the precursor to a larger analysis and more in depth study of WikiEducator. This paper used a constructivist methodology in the hope of understanding what WikiEducator represents for its members and to understand some of the inner functions of this online community. As an exploratory study, this study also attempted to establish long term relationships with various members of WikiEducator through the use of semi-structured interviews and participant observation.

Value Premises

Whether we like it or not, bias is there, and despite attempts to reduce it, a researcher should be aware that his/her interactions will affect the results of the study. His/her interaction with participants will be unique and could never be fully replicated (Wolcott, 2008; Fetterman, 1989; Kouritzin, 2002). Because bias is unavoidable scholars stand to benefit and aid their readers by stating their beliefs openly (Myrdal, 1972). As a researcher, I find it difficult to separate the private and the public; writing is to me, as to many critical theory researchers, inherently political (Hanisch, 1970; Elliot, 2009; Crotty, 1998). As Foucault eloquently wrote; “knowledge is not for knowing; knowledge is for cutting” (Foucault, 1984). Through my writings, I hope to show both the limitations and capabilities of OER, yet personally I am interested in the success of this model and the reduction of HE costs worldwide. Having benefited to a great extent from the opportunities that were available to me through a result of both hard work and serendipity, I am aware that while I have succeeded others were not as lucky. Many individuals out there deserve the chance to explore their full potential, to have the opportunity to access higher education, obtain an advanced degree, and feel empowered through their education. To break the cycle of dependency, we need to work so that more and more individuals from low income economies can obtain this opportunity. It is my personal objective to increase access to educational resources and, by doing so, reduce the achievement gap. Yet, while I am passionate about the possibilities of OER, as a scholar it is important to question assumptions and explore even counterintuitive ways to bring about the necessary changes. As OER scholars debate whether or not private primary schooling may have certain advantages over public primary universal schooling in terms of quality, even at low income levels, so too should the sustainability of OER and its financial model continue to be questioned (Wiley, 2007; Downes, 2007). One of the most frequently expressed concerns by WikiEducators is the need for increased government support and the limited amount of grants available from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or national governments. Other organizations are hesitant to support the initiative, citing fears that the spread of OER could endanger their job security. Another important concern relates to the distinction between universal knowledge, or “free culture,” and knowledge that should remain private to stimulate further innovation and for national security purposes (Lessig, 2005; Kramer, Starr, & Wentz, 2009).

Methodology and Methods

This study conducts an online or virtual ethnography of the WikiEducator community by comparing it to the literature on online learning communities and online ethnographies (Palloff, 2009; Gee, 2003; Nardi, 2010; Boellstorff, 2008). While the digital world offers new possibilities, it also brings new challenges for ethnographic research due to indirect nature of the interactive space (Fetterman, 1989). Online environments, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, offer their users the possibility to escape their physical environment and live in a world of fantasy (Boellstorff, 2008; Nardi, 2010). Researching on the internet raises a number of complications, such as the limitations of interacting through the internet, complications of obtaining access to information or observing behavior online, difficulties of real vs. constructed fictional identities and lack of context apart from text or voice. However, some of these concerns are being addressed through the increased capabilities of information communication technologies (ICT) as well as through the graphical representation or increased complexity of online environments (Bilir, 2009; Harry, 2005; Wittel, 2000) Online ethnographies will become increasingly relevant as more and more individuals spend time interacting with digital technologies (Correll, 1995; Hine, 2000). This study builds on prior literature by providing a window into an increasingly popular wiki environment (Friesen & Hopkins, 2008). WikiEducator illustrates the possibilities of open-source economics and how a small group of people can effect macro changes through online collaboration (Benkler, 2009; Reagle Jr., 2010).

Methods

To increase the reliability and transferability of the study, I triangulated my methods using participant observation, a literature review, interviews, and discourse[YUN4] analysis of forum data (Wolcott, 2008). This enabled me to understand the community more deeply. By reading forum discussions as well as conducting interviews, I developed a deeper relationship with respondents. This paper focuses on my interviews and the participant observation aspects of the study.

For this study, I spent various hours a week visiting WikiEducator.org and related OER organizations. During my study the interrelated nature and support between different OER organizations was evident. Other websites that were visited include the OERU Google Group website (Pic 1), Scope OERU Forum (Pic 2), and the WSIS OERU forums (Pic 3). While these sites are managed separately and have their own community numbers, many of the members of one of the communities are also members of the other three. The other three communities visited include a forum for discussion, yet it is only in WikiEducator (Pic 4) where participants are developing content. During my study of the community I came to feel that I was becoming a part of it, transforming myself into a WikiEducator. As part of my participant observation, I wanted to participate in the development of resources and observe how they were developed. In addition, to feel more integrated within the community, I developed a WikiEducator profile page and became involved in the creation of OER, but I was unable to develop as much content as I originally intended. Collaboration when developing OER is primarily asynchronous and it seemed to be at a lower level than I had originally expected.

During the interviews, it was common for WikiEducators to mention having a personal relationship with Wayne Mackintosh and the close knit nature of the OER community, with many of its administrative members communicating regularly over Skype or via e-mail. As an online community the members are spread throughout different countries and the use of ICT technologies is needed for the coordination of events and the development of objectives that guide OER production. Despite of the high level of interest and possibilities for OER in the developing world, most of the members of WikiEducator lived in countries with[YUN5] high income economies such as the USA, Canada, New Zealand, France, Australia, and the United Kingdom. However, there were also members from countries with low income and middle income economies, including Jamaica, Guyana, India, Trinidad, Samoa, Brazil, among others.

To understand the OER community better and, in particular, WikiEducator, I attended a number of OER / WikiEducator sponsored events, which included a planning meeting on February 23^rd and a five day course on Open Content Licensing for Educators (OCL4Ed). By attending[YUN6] these two events, I was able to participate as a student in WikiEducator’s educational activities, and learn more about the OERU University initiative. The February 23^rd meeting was broadcast live through UStream, an online environment that allows attendees to interact digitally with those in the meeting through the UStream chat or by posting messages in indenti.ca, an open social microblogging service similar to twitter. The OCL4Ed course allowed me to see firsthand the quality of their education materials and to become familiar with key texts on OER.

Participant Observation

The February 23^rd meeting shed light on the different connections WikiEducator has with the Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO, as well as Athabasca University, Otagon Polytechnic and the University of Southern Queensland. The meeting included presentations from a number of professors including Jim Taylor, Phil Ker, Robin Day, David Porter, Paul Stacey and Wayne Mackintosh. The model to follow for the development of an OERU was discussed, as was the history of OER and the need to increase credibility. The concept of the OERU and whether or not the accreditation system would be free were two other major topics of debate. Contrary to popular opinion, OER are not necessarily free. While most of the content may be obtained from the internet free of charge, the OERU was primarily envisioned as consortium of universities that would, after accepting a commonly agreed upon standard for a particular degree, accept a standardized set of courses from any university and provide the students with a degree. Starting with three open universities in three countries, the OERU would originally cost students only a small administrative fee (Pic 5). In theory, the project would allow anyone to take courses from a variety of places, to register and obtain a diploma or take the courses they have yet to complete to obtain the degree. This added flexibility would permit students to receive credits for courses they have taken in the past, or even in different countries. During the meeting they opened an identi.ca feed #OERU and after a few suggestions they decided to project microblog posts on a wall via a projector. However, despite efforts to include the voice of those attending via the internet, the ability to participate virtually was limited. The planning session also included a couple of closed meetings, yet, as can be seen in the agenda, most of the event was open to the public and the conclusions to those meetings were shared with virtual attendees when the general assembly reconvened[1]. A number of prominent OER figures such as Stephen Downes and Pheo Martin as well as 202 other members from 46 countries registered for the meeting, many of whom attended virtually. Various virtual participants later expressed their opinion about the event through their personal blogs[2].

At the beginning of the meeting, Sir. John Daniel talked about the need for focusing on innovation in only a few aspects at a time to increase credibility, and the need for an open but tough institution. Daniel, the CEO and President of the Commonwealth of Learning (2004-Currently), is considered the founding patron of WikiEducator. As the former Vice-Chancellor of the UK Open University (1990-2001) and having served as UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education (2001-2004), he is enthusiastic about finding new ways in which to extend education to individuals who currently are unable to attend a university. Various countries now face a situation where millions of students are college ready, having benefited from the successful growth in attendance and graduation from primary and secondary education, but lack access to higher education (Taylor, 2007; Daniel et al., 2007). It is important to meet this challenge, but in a way that allows students to obtain a credible credential at an affordable rate.

Following the meeting, I visited a number of blogs from participants and familiarized myself with the resources available through WikiEducator.org.[3] I completed the wiki editing tutorial and edited a basic wiki page.[4] I then visited the page catalog, which includes links to all of the wiki pages available through WikiEducator.org and the number of editors who have worked on those particular wikis. With over 500 wikis between the letters A to C, it was evident that the site included thousands of wiki pages. The community currently has 19,484 users and holds regular Learning4Content workshops to enable visitors to “familiarize themselves with their new neighborhood” (Mackintosh, 2011). Various wiki pages indicated the multinational reach of the initiative. WikiEducators in Colombia, Argentina, and Africa, among other groups, had created a wiki for individuals interested in developing context specific resources and learning about courses for educators being taught in these locations. Considering knowledge as a common good, editors are forewarned that material published on WikiEducator will be licensed under a Creative Commons (CC) CC-BY license. CC-BY is currently the most open Creative Commons license, permitting the remixing, reproduction and commercialization of the content. The only two types of materials accepted by WikiEducator are CC-BY or CC-BY-SA. By adding the SA or Share-Alike condition to the OER, individuals are required to openly share any derivative of the original OER under the same, or a more restrictive license. Other institutions such as MIT have adopted a CC-BY-NC-SA license, requiring individuals to share any modified products under the same license and prohibiting the commercialization of materials.

Apart from visiting various OER resources and collaborating in their development, I also attended the OCL4Ed course for a week to experience WikiEducator as a course participant. After enrolling online free of charge participants were taught a number of basic OER concepts such as open licensing, creating and using an identi.ca account and the objectives of WikiEducator. Readings by OER advocates and videos on various key issues about licensing and the possibilities of OER were assigned. To aid participants in familiarizing themselves with various creative commons licenses, scenarios were presented and participants were asked to explain if the individual had violated copyright law and how that could have been prevented.

Another important objective of the OCL4Ed course was the development of a peer learning environment. The course began by asking everyone to share with the class their name, their country of origin, and their opinions about OER. By posting these answers on a Moodle site, others were able to comment and inquire about the member’s responses. Additionally, through identi.ca, participants were asked to share their opinions on the class topic in less than 144 characters. Posts that were particularly insightful were then retweeted by Wayne Mackintosh (Pic 6). Hosted in New Zealand but offered to participants worldwide, learning took place asynchronously and participants were able to share their thoughts about the course subject-matter in their own time frame and schedule.

Individuals could visit and learn from these materials any time of the year as all of the resources are accessible through WikiEducator. By encouraging multiple types of feedback OCL4Ed was a very effective and efficient course as individuals were able to obtain a good understanding of CC and the importance of open content, and the course provided for a high level of interaction between participants. While some individuals were more expressive than others in their tweets, there seemed to be a high degree of satisfaction with the course, eliciting comments such as “this is the best course I have ever taken”[5]. However, as with other online courses, interaction with other class members was entirely textual and no interactive meetings with other class members were held. While in the future interactions in online classes may increasingly include the use of video conferences and provide for a more personal environment, online classes today, due to their asynchronous elements and distance between participants, allow some participants to feel more comfortable in expressing themselves more freely.

Other important elements of my study as an active participant included visiting the WSIS OER website and responding to the debate regarding whether or not OER should allow commercialization. Voting ended with 57% in favor of commercialization to 43% against it. (WSIS, 2011) Further investigation of this issue would be helpful and a future study should include additional observation of relationships in the wider OER community.

Interviews

After attending the meeting, in an attempt to become better acquainted with the community, I used the list of 226 attendees to construct a database of participants’ names, organization, and email address as well as their administrative position, their blog (if available), and their country of origin. Following the development of this list, an email message was drafted and individuals were subsequently contacted for a 30 minute interview. This process[YUN7] allowed me to meet 13 different WikiEducators and OER supporters.

A first email was sent only to the 23 individuals who registered to physically attend the OERU meeting. This email included not only the purpose of my study but also a brief disclaimer about my personal views and value premises (Annex 1). Receiving only one hesitant response from 23 emails the letter was shortened, removing my value premises. While the lack of responses to the first email was discouraging, it was not unexpected as many of these individuals hold high level administrative positions and are also some of the most prominent members of the community. The second letter (Annex 2), sent to 226 people, resulted in a higher response rate with 13 individuals being interviewed through Skype. Participants were able to sign up for any date in March, April and May where there were times available (Pic 8).

Surprisingly, several of the individuals who responded were administrators or directors of different OER programs. The rest of the individuals who were interviewed were OER producers and university professors at their particular institutions. Respondents included Cable Green (Director of Global Learning – Creative Commons), Abel Caine (UNESCO – OER Project Administrator), Joyce McKight (SUNY Empire State College, April 2011 WikiEducator of the Month), Richard Heller (Director of the People’s University), Steve Forester (LCO Ojibwe Community College, Consultant), Pheo Martin (Director of the Realizing Education’s Potential Institute (REPI)), Joan Garfield* (College Open Textbook Communities)[6], Simon Yalams (Professor at the University of Technology, Jamaica), Anna Gruszczynska (C-SAP – University of Birmingham OER initiative), Sean Linton (PhD Student – Otago Polytechnic), Jane Park (Creative Commons Education Coordinator), Dennis Taylor (HIRAM College – Co-Director STEM Program), Benjamin Steward (Autonomous University Aguascalientes) and David Porter (Executive Director – Bccampus.ca, British Columbia). Having scheduled interviews through an email, without prior personal contacts, the project obtained a respectable 5% response rate. While five percent of individuals responded to my request for interviews, another five percent communicated with me to express an interest in scheduling an interview at a later date or contributing to the research project, and 90% of those emailed did not reply or participate. As individuals are bombarded by emails, 10% represents an acceptable response rate yet, for an open community, their cooperation with the study was not unusually high.

Some of these interviews were subsequently transcribed and emailed to the participants for further clarification. It is the project’s objective to develop a reciprocal relationship with participants and, once they are finalized, I will email all of the transcripts to the participants. To prevent the unexpected loss of data, interviews were recorded through three electronic[YUN8] devices simultaneously, a digital recorder (Olympus DS-61), a desktop screen / video recorder (Camtasia), and a virtual video recorder (Audacity) (Pic 9). On more than one occasion one of the recording devices experienced a minor malfunction. Having three recording devices increased reliability. The interviewees were asked whether they wanted their interviews to be private or public and under what license they could be shared. With one exception, all of the participants interviewed were comfortable with the open publication of the interview and the use of an open license without first reading the transcript.

After transcribing the interviews and obtaining further feedback or clarification from the interviewees the interviews were coded according to themes. Some of these themes are discussed in the following section. As mentioned by one of the interviewees, despite a degree of philosophical homogeneity among participants, members who were interviewed had differences of opinion regarding the goal of OER, the future outlook of OER, whether OER is a social and/or international movement, their sustainability, and ways in which the community could conduct further outreach and raise awareness about OER.

The interview questions were analyzed by two graduate students and a faculty member from Curriculum and Instruction after the original draft and modified to increase their effectiveness as well as to single out questions that would be of greater interest to the participants. A list of questions can be read in the annex section (Annex 3). Apart from recording the interviews and analyzing differences of opinion and similarities through the interviews, the study also hoped to find out how open the community is to outsiders, what it takes to be accepted as a member of the community and whether members would be willing to support a researcher from a closed institution? During my study, I was not questioned as to why I was studying OER and WikiEducator, rather respondents were sympathetic and keen to help a PhD student interested in their subject area. They encouraged me to play a stronger role in the community in the future.

Preliminary Findings (Pilot Mini Ethnography – Spring 2011), Openness, OER, and WikiEducators:

Defining the term “open resource” and the degree of openness of OER and WikiEducator are questions of heated debate within the OER community. Various individuals interviewed were unsure which open license they regularly used for their materials. In addition, the licenses recommended by major OER producers varied. While WikiEducator recommends the use of CC-BY licensing which does not require remixed materials to be shared or to be limited to non-commercial endeavors, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Joint Information System Committee (JISC) promotes the use of CC-BY-NC-SA for most materials, and the CC-BY-NC-ND license for ‘sensitive’ resources[7]. Despite the support for open licenses among OER advocates, I noticed that several OER supporters have published books that sell for a price similar to that of an average paperback book. The books were not expensive, but it symbolizes the balance that individuals have to make between their ideological beliefs and their financial reality.

An inclusive and diverse movement, OER are not all produced under the same license. WikiEducator, through their OCL4Ed course, has attempted to promote the advantages of CC-BY over other licenses. By providing individuals with the freedom to use the resource as they see fit, OER follow closely Stallman’s quote of Open Source Software (OSS) being more like free speech than free beer (GNU, 2010). With the goal of increasing society’s creative output and the amount of knowledge accessible to all, Mackintosh hopes that others will also decide to share their remixed or original OER under the CC-BY license yet individuals are free to choose the license they are most comfortable in supporting. For WikiEducators, OER should contain four essential freedoms: the freedom to use a resource, to adapt it to your needs, to help your neighbor (by sharing copies), and to help your community. Focused on the practical and improving the living conditions of not just the user but the community, WikiEducator hosts courses and hopes to reduce barriers for people who cannot attend Higher Education courses or obtain credentials.

Sustainability

A major concern of my informants was the need for greater government support. According to Joyce McKnight (SUNY), without the support of the government, various OER programs will likely experience financial difficulties. However, Cable Green (CC) explained how the disappearance of a particular OER, due to lack of maintenance or a server crash is likely to happen at times, but the community will likely either replace the lost material, or have uploaded it to a different site before the server went offline, lost or erased the data. Yet, grants for OER projects are increasingly competitive and it is likely that some programs will lack the financial resources to sustain their OER , as has been the case with many dot com initiatives.

During my interview with Anna Gruszczynska (JISC) she mentioned the likelihood of her program losing financial support at the end of this year. While the project has received funding for two years, the inability to be self-sufficient financially may result in the loss of their expertise. While she believed that OER created by independent producers will continue to be developed without financial support, larger scale initiatives could expand rapidly if only they were given the right type of incentives. While all of the individuals interviewed expressed their desire to continue producing OER and wished to spend more time developing these resources, full time faculty members and many other educators already have a very busy schedule. If administrations were to offer benefits for teachers to publish in open access journals or develop open education resources, their quantity and quality could grow exponentially. Abel Caine (UNESCO) argued that concerns of educators regarding a loss of job security from the growth of OER is a “red herring,” or misconception, as many students would continue to prefer living the college experience, going out and socializing, and living away from home to exclusively using online resources. In addition, there is a large unmet demand of students who are capable but unable to attend a higher education institution (Daniel et al, 2007; Taylor, 2007).

Jane Park (CC) reiterated that recent policy changes, such as the US government recently requiring educational resources produced with a $2 billion grant to be published under a CC-BY license are steps in the right direction that will hopefully continue (DOL, 2011). Similar pressure from national governments and grant makers in the future would provide the OER movement with much needed support and legitimacy, increasing the chances of obtaining a critical mass of supporters, and reaching a tipping point (Rogers, 2003).

Networking and Relationships

From the interviews, it became apparent that many participants communicated with each other on a regular basis. Unlike in larger networks, it seemed that the most active members of the OER community were regularly in touch with each other. New information communication technologies (ICT) have clearly played a role not only in making it possible for almost 20,000 individuals to develop OER through WikiEducator alone, but also to build a sense of community and camaraderie. A recent survey of WikiEducator members showed that 60.5% had found out about the site from a friend or a referral, 19.3% had found the site through a search engine, 2.7% through a social tagging site, and 20% through other ways (WikiEducator, 2008). It appears that the open nature of the movement, in particular its leadership, has aided its early expansion.

Unlike more traditional academic fields, OER scholars are few and they appear to hold minor or mid-level management positions within their institutions, making it difficult to influence high level administrators. In addition, while it was MIT which first opened its courses to the World Wide Web, and was soon followed by Yale and other top tier US universities, members from these institutions do not seem to be present on a regular basis within any of the OER communities I studied. Having started my study by visiting the OCW Consortium website, it quickly becomes clear that while the universities within the consortium are producing some of the most valuable content within the OER movement, their online forums are not very active. WikiEducator seems to have, and be increasingly developing, this interactive environment yet, as David Porter (BC) stated, the quality of WikiEducator resources has still not reached the desired level. However, just as the internet and wiki technologies proved to be essential to the success of Wikipedia, these technologies can also enable WikiEducators have a broader societal impact. The ability for anyone with access to the internet to use OER from any place in the world, reduces the number of individuals who are needed for the movement to develop a critical mass.

This will be particularly helpful for the success of OER as their supporters are growing but limited in number in comparison to the broader population. Out of 7 billion people, what can be achieved by 20,000 members? Cumulatively, much more that most would expect! However, while some respondents considered OER to be part of a social movement, most of them asserted that OER is not a commonly known term, and has only moderate support. Abel Caine (UNESCO) envisions a steady growth in the use of OER and its support, yet he does not envision its development or use growing exponentially. David Porter emphasized the need to promote the reuse of OER, increase quality, and encourage new members to advocate for OER. In his view, OER communities are led by various charismatic individuals who, while they have been essential for the growth of OER, have also not provided much of a space for new voices to be heard.

The “benevolent dictator” is considered an influential aspect of other Free Culture initiatives such as Wikipedia, Linux, and OSS. While there are OSS initiatives without a charismatic leader, some of the most successful projects do have a key figure who plays an important role in guiding and developing the initiative. Functioning as CEOs these members hold considerable influence and contribute to the overall success of the initiative. This seemed to hold true for WikiEducator, according to my respondents. All of the individuals who were interviewed knew or had spoken to Wayne Mackintosh on some level, and had connections with various other OER members.

Apart from the regular exchange of ideas between different members of the OER community, David Porter mentioned that there is a high level of philosophical homogeneity among supporters. This was seconded by Joan Garfield*, as well as Joyce McKnight (SUNY), and Pheo Martin (REPI). Yet, Pheo Martin and others emphasized that, given the small size of the OER community, this degree of homogeneity is not surprising. However, as the community expands, it will be more likely for subcultures or subsets of the community to develop. As of now, the number of developers and advocates is small and their sense of community has increased the sustainability of the OER movement by constructing a network of knowledge and support. Surprisingly, despite the collective spirit of WikiEducator, several of the individuals interviewed mentioned that resources are currently developed primarily by individual contributors and cooperation is not as common as one would expect.

Conclusions from Interviews and Participant Observation

After conducting 13 interviews and being part of the community for most of the spring 2011 semester, it became apparent that WikiEducators, despite sharing a belief in the importance of developing OER, have different motivations for joining the community. Reasons given ranged from having been hired by an institution supportive of OER to having a desire to make education free for all and developing resources during their spare time. Despite my interest in learning more about the importance of WikiEducator for developing countries, only one participant from a developing country was interviewed. Simon Yalams (Jamaica Technology University) expressed a strong interest in OER, but had not been able to spend as much time developing them as he had hoped. He saw the need for more resources to be developed locally, but was primarily interested in increasing their use and support across Jamaica. With 47 countries represented in the OERU planning meeting it would be beneficial to analyze WikiEducator from a multicultural perspective. In regards to sustainability, it would be interesting to see if they will have financial difficulties in the upcoming years, or whether the open model will continue to sustain itself. The WikiEducator website generates between 8 and 10 million online hits per month. Developing a sustainable financial model will require a substantial amount of donations and grant awards. To meet this challenge, they have developed packages for individuals and organizations to buy a membership and be part of the OER Foundation (OERF). Members did not answer whether they thought WikiEducator itself was sustainable, but rather discussed economic problems in terms of the broader OER movement. In general, WikiEducator is a very open and community oriented environment. They have concerns over quality, but they have continuously increased the number of resources available and participating members, and they are confident about meeting the quality challenge over time. Reaching a critical mass of contributors and supporters is key to increasing adoption and to the overall success of the initiative. Opinions about the future of OER and WikiEducator or whether OER was a social and/or an international movement varied, yet respondents generally agreed that the community will continue to grow over time. A very close community, OER have benefited from inter-institutional cooperation and support. Having members from a long list of countries and places, but being a project of the Commonwealth of Learning, whose countries communicate primarily in English, parallel WikiEducator projects in different languages may not be as successful. Further study will help clarify some of these questions.

Conclusions – Research Framework

While this preliminary study provided me with a broad understanding of WikiEducator and the OER community and the relationships between different institutions supporting OER, asking questions that deal with more specific details would be helpful in producing a more nuanced and in-depth study. Additional interviews would enable me to find out more about certain issues, as well as increase the number of members from other countries who participate in WikiEducator, adding their perspectives to my analysis. Aiming to provide the reader with the thickest description possible, spending 9 months to a year participating in WikiEducator would help me to develop deeper and more nourishing relationships with community members who may then be more open to sharing further details about their experiences. Perhaps I would eventually obtain access to some of the people in key administrative roles within WikiEducator.

Thank you WikiEducators for your help and collaboration in making this idea a reality!

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Annex #1 – Original Letter Sent to OER and WikiEducator Supporters

To: Mark Brown

Dear OER and Wikieducator.org supporter,

My name is Alfonso Sintjago, I am a PhD student from Venezuela studying at the University of Minnesota and I am currently conducting an ethnographic study of the OERU – Wikieducator.org initiative (http://wikieducator.org/User:Sintjago). Apart from engaging in the community as a participant observer and analyzing forum data through discourse analysis, I am hoping to conduct interviews regarding OERs and investigate how individuals become involved in this initiative, their aspirations, their outlooks, and other personal opinions.

I hope to record video conferences with users, OER advocates, developers, and other community members and share the interviews through the use of a CC-BY license. These interviews may be podcasted, vodcasted, and placed on a YouTube channel for increased viewing. The interviews could also be private and anonymous if this is in the interest of the participant. I appreciate your time and collaboration. Please contact me if you are interested in scheduling an interview. My schedule is currently flexible and I am available most days.

To increase transparency, I wanted to clarify my personal beliefs and possible biases. I am currently promoting the increased use of OER in Latin America and development of them from educators in the United States in institutions such as the University of Minnesota, as well as through academic communities whose work focuses on development issues or public studies. I am also interested in promoting the development of OER by academics who have left developing countries, by promoting a brain gain or the production of “knowledge remittances”. However, I am interested in learning about your opinion and experience, and listening to the multiple influences, perspectives and voices about OER, its local and global implications.

These conversations have the flexibility to be private or open to accommodate different opinions and desires. Participants will have the opportunity at the beginning and the end of the study to express their desire for the information to be considered private, confidential and anonymous. I truly hope you are able to participate. While I plan on doing my personal remix with materials captured through the conversations, by being CC-BY, this material could later be used in a number of additional ways. Willing your participation, this material could also later be expanded through focus groups organized according to type of interaction (student, developer), region, or mixed groups to further discuss some shared topics, goals, and experiences.

I hope you are able to share with me sometime in the upcoming weeks your motivation, your experience and your thoughts as an OER developer.

Thank you for your time,

Alfonso Sintjago

352-359-4026

sintj002@umn.edu

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To: Dennis Taylor

Annex #2 – Modified Letter Sent to OER and WikiEducator Supporters

Dear OER and Wikieducator.org supporter,

My name is Alfonso Sintjago, I am a PhD student from Venezuela studying at the University of Minnesota, USA and I am currently conducting an ethnographic study of the OERU – Wikieducator.org initiative (http://wikieducator.org/User:Sintjago). Apart from engaging in the community as a participant observer and analyzing forum data through discourse analysis, I am hoping to conduct interviews regarding OERs and investigate how individuals become involved in this initiative, the broader OER movement, their aspirations, their outlooks, and other personal opinions.

I hope to either take notes during the meeting, or record the audio or video from the interview, depending on the wishes of the participant. The interview can be private and anonymous if this is in the interest of the participant. If the participant wishes, the recorded audio, video or written notes from the interview can be posted online and shared through the use of a CC-BY license.
I appreciate your time and collaboration. Please contact me if you are interested in scheduling an interview. My schedule is currently flexible and I am available most days.

I hope you are able to share with me sometime in the upcoming weeks your motivation, your experience and your thoughts as an OER developer.

Thank you for your time,

Alfonso Sintjago

352-359-4026

sintj002@umn.edu

skype: fastfonz

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An Appointment

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Annex #3 – Original List of Questions for Semi-Structured Interviews

OER Ethnography Study – Questions (1^st Draft)

Thank you for deciding to contribute to this study. Below are some of the questions that we may discuss during the interview. The interview will be semi-structured and I am also interested in learning from you what you consider relevant. Feel free to expand on any point or make suggestions about other areas to explore. These questions are only an outline of potential topics. The questions will be refined and modified after a predetermined number of interviews to better address relevant issues. Some of the questions will not be addressed due to time constrains and availability.

Thank you for your collaboration,

Alfonso Sintjago

How and when did you first become involved with OER? How has your involvement with OER changed over time? What attracts you the most about OER?

If the answer is different from the previous question, how and when did you first become involved with Wikieducator.org and the OERU initiative?

How does OER influence knowledge and technology transfers? locally and globally what, in your opinion, is the goal of the OER movement? Is the OER a social movement?

Do you consider Wikieducator.org and OERU an international movement or an international initiative? Why or why not?

What are some of the greatest obstacles facing OER? Should every country participate in the development of OER?

Should OER be produced in least spoken languages as well as major languages?

Would you say they are currently being developed in a large number of languages, which languages are most prevalent? How important is contextualization in the production of OER?

What license should OER be produced under (if Creative Commons, what type of Creative Commons)? What license do you publish most of your work under?

Are you currently employed? Does your employer support the development of OER?

How important is strong support from the university administration for the development of OER?

How important is grass roots support of local communities for the development of OER? Is Wikieducator.org sustainable? Which other OER supporting websites are, in your opinion, sustainable?

What are some obstacles that limit you from spending a greater amount of time developing OER?

What are some of the greatest obstacles the OERU and the WikiEducator initiative face? What are some of the initiative greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses?

What are some limitations of OER? Wikieducator.org and the OERU initiative?

Are most people aware of what OER means or are they passive users of OER?

What leads a person to become more active in the community? How does the community strengthen itself?

Is Wikieducator.org doing enough in terms of outreach? Is the OER community doing enough in terms of outreach?

How are the wikieducator.org and OERU community different from the OER community at large?

Should the term OER be a household or commonly known term? Have you taught your children about OER? Are your family and friends supportive of OER?

Are most of your friends aware of what OER are and are they supportive of the idea?

Have you met people within Wikieducator.org? Have these relationships extended between the online community? What has been the nature of these relationships?

To what extent do you consider OERU and Wikieducator.org to be an online community? What has limited it from growing?

If you do not mind me asking, how do you identify yourself; political conservative, liberal, independent?

How do you envision the OER movement to be in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years? What role with the OERU and Wikieducator.org play in the future of OER? What role does OER play within ICT4D?

How many hours do you devote a week to the development of OER? How frequently do you visit Wikieducator.org or affiliated websites? Which other websites do you visit?

Which OER sites do you frequently visit? How did the OERU idea develop? What has been your level of involvement with the OERU initiative?

What do you think is the greatest barrier for other universities when considering whether or not to join the OER movement?

What has the OER community done to increase awareness of OER? What other steps need to be taken?

What to you is the ultimate goal of OER? Are OERs sustainable? Why or why not?

Please explain your work within OER and what led you to choose this approach when developing education resources? What is your average day like? Have you recently participated in OER courses?

If there was one variable missing from the OER that is most hindering its growth and expansion, what would that be? What is the greatest piece missing in the OER movement?

Annex #4 – Modified List of Questions for Semi-Structured Interviews

Most Frequently Asked Questions (2^nd Draft)