Abstract:

Current digital resources and technological tools offer opportunities for communication and interaction not ever imagined, overcoming temporal and geographical limitations and significantly amplifying our capacity for collaboration, communication co-construction of knowledge and learning.

In the educational domain, the combination of stimuli through visual and auditory channels enhances information delivery and meaning-making, allowing multimedia learning. In the case of science education, simulations, e-laboratories (virtual or remote) or augmented reality tools open new doors for experiential and active learning, overcoming limitations related to the lack of resources required for traditional experimental practices that usually demand specific laboratories, not easily available products, and expensive instruments and devices.

Within educational technology, Open Educational Resources (OER) bring the added value of free distribution and access and the possibility to edit, reuse and adapt them to different target groups and educational contexts. It facilitates the exploitation of resources and amplify their scope. Furthermore, building on what has already been done facilitates progress and continuous improvement. In addition, when OER are accompanied with case studies and successful illustrative experiences of application they inspire and promote innovation and open new possibilities in teaching and learning.

However not all OER are designed and used as cognitive tools for active and meaningful learning and the mere application of OER is not a guarantee of enhanced education. In fact, the benefits of OER on teaching and learning are affected by multiple factors. Identifying key designing features and pedagogical principles for effective use is essential for unfolding the whole potential of OER.
The present work describes the design of a research study aimed at analysing the quality of the OER available in a public repository produced by the project EDIA as well as their impact on teaching and learning. The project EDIA has been developed by The National Centre for Curricular Design in Non-Proprietary Systems (CEDEC) of the Ministry of Education in Spain.

The research study addressed the following research question:
1. To what extent do OER in EDIA repository meet quality criteria based on key technological and pedagogical features?
2. What are teachers’ beliefs and practices concerning the use of OER?
3. What is the effect of OER on students’ motivation for learning?
4. What is the effect of OER on the type of learning that takes place (either superficial or deep learning?

A mix method research methodology has been used, combining quantitative and qualitative methods and a wide variety of research instruments including student and teacher questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations, rubrics and the analysis of artefacts. The development and validation of instruments as well as some preliminary results will be presented and discussed.

Keywords:

Open Educational Resources, teachers’ beliefs, teachers’ practices, students’ motivation, deep learning, superficial learning.