Grants/Open Educational Resources Content Repository for trainning educational researchers in Latin America
Describe the project you are proposing as clearly as possible in just five sentences.
Create a content repository of open educational resources (OER) and mobile learning resources on educational research and research training which will be available in a website, where these resources will be open, free and licensed for use, reuse and distribution in Mexico, Latin America and the rest of the world within the field of educational innovation with Creative Common Licenses.
Detail the tangible project output (e.g., paper, blog post, written materials, video/film, etc.; this would be in addition to the final written report that successful grant recipients will be expected to deliver to CC at the conclusion of the project).
A content repository website will be developed, and based on work of teachers and educational researchers of higher education to support the improvement of educational research process (such as: traditional face-to-face education, blended learning environments, distance learning environments, etc.), teaching professional development, research training in education, to contribute in reducing the digital gap, and to pursuit more equal access to educational resources will be done. All this will be expressed on conference papers, written materials, video training material, audio lectures and other open resources for training students, teachers and researchers.
Describe the community you are targeting. How would the project benefit the community?
Some of the benefits will be: • Create and share high quality of academic resources for training educational researchers • To foster positive sense and awareness on the use of open educational materials and resources • To boost the academic and intellectual capital of participant educators through a mechanism for sharing experience and knowledgebr />
Dr. Ramirez coordinates a research seminar, named "Cátedra de Investigación de Innovación en Tecnologia y Educación". This is a seminar where a group of educational researchers aims to contribute the development of scientific knowledge in the area of innovation in technology and education, from its theoretical foundation, to the analysis of concrete experiences in various settings, social impact assessment and proposals that can be put into practice to improve the training processes and quality in education.
Our most recent research projects (in 2009 and 2010) have been: [1] Open Educational Resources for basic and elementary education (K-12) in Mexico with the collaboration of 6 higher educational institutions and 20 elementary schools with the involment of 150 participant teachers; [2] Mobile Open Educational Resources for training educational researchers in Mexico and Latin America with 7 higher educational institutions. Both projects had the support of the "Corporación de Universidades para el Desarrollo del Internet" (CUDI) and by the "Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología" (CONACYT) of Mexico and hosted by the Tecnológico de Monterrey. [3] To asses to improve: an external educative evaluation system for schools with low academic achievement, sponsor by "Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología" from the state of Tabasco in Mexico.
How will you measure and evaluate your project’s impact - on your main participants? Other contributors? On the larger community?
Through the application of surveys to the community of the content repository of open educational resources, these surveys will assess the value and use of the implementation of OER. In addition, in the portal of the repository will be implemented several evaluation mechanisms of educational resources, such as: ratings and educators reviews that encourage the sharing of opinions on the use of materials in educational activities through academic peer review.
How many participants do you expect to be involved in your project? How will you seek and sustain their involvement?
To create the content repository 12 persons will be involved, to enrich the content repository with open educational resources 32 faculty (part time and full time) and for technical and publishing support 8 persons. The faculty belongs to the research seminar that Dr. Ramirez coordinates, named "Cátedra de Investigación de Innovación en Tecnologia y Educación": http://www.tecvirtual.itesm.mx/convenio/catedra/
Describe how your project will benefit Creative Commons' mission to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in "the commons".
Making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others open educational resources providing the mechanisms to publish work based on free licenses and other legal tools to foster creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, reuse, redistribute and so forth.
Describe what technologies and tools your project will use. What kinds of technical skills and expertise do you bring to the project? What are your technical needs?
Hardware: HP BL460c G6 CTO Blade that includes: • Double processor Intel Xeon Quad Core E5520 • 32Gb of RAM memory • Double Hard Disk of 1 terabyte • Double port • Include technical support for 3 years
Software: DSPACE: http://www.dspace.org/ JOOMLA: http://www.joomla.org/
What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them?
One of the challenges will be the lack of sharing culture among faculty and the lack of culture in the use of resources from others. We are going to facilitate conferences about the movement of open educational resources worldwide, the use of internet resources and the awareness of copyright and intellectual property.
How do you plan to sustain your project after the Creative Commons funding has ended? Detail specific plans. How do you plan to raise revenue to continue your efforts in the future?
We are exploring sustainable models such as: Institutional Membership Model, Donations Model, and Sponsorship Model. For detailed information about these models see "Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources" by Stephen Downes (2007) in: http://ijklo.org/Volume3/IJKLOv3p029-044Downes.pdf
How can this project be scalable, or have a scalable impact?
We believe that implementing the funding model the project will be sustainable over time, involving faculty from other institutions (national and international) and based on our own universities networks
What resources and support do you expect Creative Commons to provide to your project to ensure its success (if any)?
With the endowment of a fund to start operations of the project and support from experts to facilitate conferences to promote the movement of open educational resources, copyright and intelectual property. Also, guidances on the best use of Creative Commons Licences.
Describe how your organization currently communicates with its community members and network partners. (100 words)
Through various means of communication, such as: videoconferencing, collaborative websites, electronic bulletins, local and distance learning meetings, e-mail and educational platforms to facilitate sharing of documents and experiences. Outreach mechanisms, communications magazines and other modes to promote networking research.
Legal
Yes
