THE PERVADING NOTION OF OER AS A NETWORKED CONCEPT TO FACILITATE COOPERATION AND TEAM-BASED DEVELOPMENT

The European project “Innovative OER in European Higher Education” has provided a dedicated space of research to explore the instrumental use and impact of OER to successes and failures of team-based cooperation. OER-HE consists of 12 European Universities and is co-funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme, within the Erasmus strand Virtual Campus.

In this paper, OER is judged on its merits to improve processes of team-based cooperation. By hand of review of the concept of OER and a careful analysis of OER affordances, we investigate where OER might be used in an instrumental way to improve cooperation. A theoretic reconstitution is made as to how we may represent the different processes of team-based cooperation, and how found OER affordances can connect to certain strengths and weaknesses in order to catalyse team success. For instance, it has been stated that modern ICT can enhance the efficiency of team work (e.g., a local-based team use video conferencing with an international expert and thus reduce costs). However, international teams often are exposed to different cultural backgrounds which can inhibit team success. In this case, it is important for each member to clearly states his/her “way of doing things”. The impact of ICT on team-based development in general can be enlarged even more by integrating the concept of OER. This may well function as a driver for international cooperation and enable smoother assembly of teams, whereas under previous conditions this would be unthinkable. We will review front running European OER initiatives and case studies to exemplify the catalytic impact. In addition to that, expert interviews with leading representatives of the field are carried out to obtain an in-depth insight into barriers and potentials of OER. Special importance goes out to factors that can enable win-win-situations among academic institutions or that can foster critical engagement of teams with OER.

To enlarge the potential grounds of success of the application of OER to teams, multiple theoretic leads on team cooperation are investigated, as opposed to upholding just one mono-disciplinary view. Following the theoretical narration of team cooperation and the affordances of OER, recommendations can now be given on the infusion of OER into certain processes of cooperation. Reflecting on the different theories under discussion of team-based cooperation, OER on the one hand catalyses certain factors, whereas on the other hand is able to suppress factors. We really support for our theoretical findings of how to use OER, by analysing cases which are completed and which have used OER in a team-based setting. Along with semi-structured interviews, we obtain a level of validation for our findings. Whereas descriptions include emerging (and not completed) cases on OER in teams, we make restrictions as to the strengths of our validation(s).

Taken together, the cross-case analysis appears to support the notion that a ‘networked concept’ of OER is able to facilitate cooperation and team-based development. Moreover, it reinforces some of the preliminary conclusions as drawn from reviewing theories in the area of ICT, Social Learning, and e-HRM supported collaborative processes. We encounter several elements from these theories and models in the cases which partly validate the notion that OER can play an important role in facilitating team-based processes.