Quality Assurance Guidelines for Open Educational Resources: TIPS Framework

Abstract

In our earlier version 1.0 of this TIPS Framework, there were three levels of localisation each with their own specific quality criteria : (i) the upper-most level-1 of the repository containing the internationalised OER that have been standardised by OER experts and like a textbook are almost context-free, (ii) the intermediate level-2 of readily adaptable OER, and then (iii) the ground level-3 of the fully localised OER used by actual students. There has been feedback to version 1.0 that suggests our combined criteria covering these three levels should be disentangled and presented separately. Briefly, the upper-most level-1 is the most restrictive interpretation of quality by OER experts and institutions, the intermediate level-2 is complex involving ease of adapting through re-contextualising OER by teachers, and the ground level-3 is quality in the hearts and minds of the students learning with the fully localised OER version. Very few, if any, studies have yet gathered feedback from students about their achieving improved learning using OER, the present study here reports on quality perceived at the other two levels: at level-1 of the OER experts, and at level-2 of the teachers.