Stimulating Publishing Open Educational Resources within the Industrial Design Engineering Faculty

Abstract

The Delft University of Technology wants their teachers to create and publish Open Educational Resources (OER). And even though they have an OER policy in place, creating and publishing OER is not yet a common practice. Therefore, this research aims to answer the question “How can a communication tool be used to help increase the creation and/or publishing of (little) OER at the Industrial Design Engineering faculty?”. It does so by taking a design-based approach and using the double diamond method.

This thesis starts by using literature to create a combined framework which combined the reasoned action approach with the OER adoption pyramid. This combined framework showed multiple factors that are relevant in influencing the motivation of teachers to create or publish OER. These motivational factors were incorporated into the questions and topics that were discussed in the semi structured interviews. The outcome of the interviews was compiled into a causal loop diagram that showed how different factors influence the willingness of teachers to create or publish OER. The causal loop diagram also showed how some factors could be both a driver and barrier depending on the situation. Based on the interview results the critical nodes were identified in the causal loop diagram. The critical nodes being: available time, perceived institutional support, perceive time and effort it cost to publish OER, clarity in expectations of OER, social responsibility to create/publish OER, Sharing ER with colleagues.

Using the critical nodes, a design goal was formulated. This design goal resulted in the design of a roadmap that laid out the phases in which the TU Delft can support IDE teachers in publishing their educational resources as open educational resources. The first phase addresses the creation of a designated support team and spreading awareness about OER. The second phase outlines that teachers first publish in a closed system, since sharing their material with colleagues is something teachers already do. During the second phase the educational material will also be improved via peer-to-peer feedback and the support team will ensure the quality. In the final phase the material will be published as open educational resource.

In conclusion, using this roadmap should make it easier to increase the creation and publication of OER at the IDE faculty by lowering barriers for teachers and playing into teachers’ drivers. For further research, it is recommended to validate the design and look into possible differences between teachers for master and bachelor courses.