Thread:Quality of OER (8)

I was away for several days (trying to recruit people for the Academic Volunteers International effort for the OER-u which brings me to my thoughts on OER and quality.  As an adult educator with special interest in self-directed learning I have a slightly different view of quality in OER or any educational effort.  I measure quality by its accessibility to the learner, its adaptability to the learner's needs, and the ability of the learner to use his/her learning to: improve the quality of life, meet vocational/career goals, document learning so that it can be used to build and enhance credentials (such as an e-portfolio).  So for me high quality OER materials are easy for learners to access, easy for learners to evaluate, clearly organized so that learners can not only gain factual knowledge but also learn analytical processes, consolidate complex learning, use new learning in creative ways, and apply/transfer their learning to a variety of situations. High quality OER's therefore have clear guidelines and readily available feedback and provide some kind of tools students can use to make their own judgments about their value.

I do not think it is up to some international body to define quality or value, but I do think it is up to use to help learners develop intellectual criteria to make their own judgments and guide their own learning. Joyce McKnight, Empire State College (US)