The use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) by Tecnologico de Monterrey faculty through its Knowledge Hub search engine initiative in Mexico and world wide: Best Practices.
Presenting the research results of the adoption and implementation by Tecnologico de Monterrey College Faculty of Open Educational Resources (OERs) through the use and help of the Knowledge Hub search engine initiative created and managed by this institution (http://khub.itesm.mx/) in 2008. The purpose of this paper presentation will comment on the best practices used by professors on incorporating and implementing Open Educational Resources available at the World Wide Web within their college courses (http://www.itesm.edu/)(http://www.ruv.itesm.mx/).
Abstract
Title: The use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) by Tecnologico de Monterrey faculty through its Knowledge Hub search engine initiative in Mexico and world wide: Best Practices.
Purpose of the presentation:
1.What audience will learn? And what audience will find in the session? To recognize the importance on the Open Educational Resources (OERs) movement and the educational perspectives on the use of open access resources, data-bases, and metadata for distance education, e-learning, and traditional face-to-face education.
2.To enrich the practice of distance education professionals through the understanding of disadvantages and advantages of open educational resources, and learn about best practices in the use and adoption of Open Educational Resources from the Internet.
3.Audience will find a practical case of an open educational resources search engine available globally within the Internet.
Audience:
Higher Education, Community Colleges, Professionals of Distance Education and Distance Learning, Open Educational Resources, Open Access, and General Audience interested in distance education, e-learning experiences, computer education, and open access issues.
Objectives and Practical Applications:
1. Presenting the research results of the adoption and implementation by Tecnologico de Monterrey College Faculty of Open Educational Resources (OERs) through the use and help of the Knowledge Hub search engine initiative created and managed by this institution (http://khub.itesm.mx/) in 2008. The purpose of this paper presentation will comment on the best practices used by professors on incorporating and implementing Open Educational Resources available at the World Wide Web within their college courses (http://www.itesm.edu/)(http://www.ruv.itesm.mx/).
2. Describing the documentation and indexing process of Open Educational Resources (OERs), within the Knowledge Hub (KHub) website search engine initiative, also how OERs are adopted and implementing by teachers and professors to enhance the course material and class presentations. Describing KHub characteristics, potentialities, goals, target audience, functions, successes and constraints.
3. The paper conference will present two surveys results, as a part of a research study conducted during the past 2008 fall semester, to evaluate and to know how was developed this initiative of Open Educational Resources, and how faculty professors used them in their courses. One faculty survey on the documentation and adoption of OERs (149 professors responded the survey) was conducted, and a student survey was also conducted the fall semester of 2008 (471 students responded). Also, 25 qualitative structured interviews were conducted as a part of the qualitative section of the study, included two focus groups among faculty who are adopting and using these OERs at the Tecnologico de Monterrey.
4. Finally, the paper will present the result of the evaluation process of the effectiveness and quality of the Knowledge Hub search engine initiative and the best teaching practices developed by faculty while are using OERs.
Theoretical Framework (Information):
Currently Open Educational Resources (OER) is one of the most important trends that are helping education through the Internet all over the world, and it is every day more used in many higher education institutions; especially those which have embraced distance education and any other form of e-learning as one of their major institutional and teaching efforts, such as “The Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey” (ITESM –Tecnológico de Monterrey) has done in Mexico.
One of the most competitive private higher education institutions in Mexico, “El Tecnológico de Monterrey” (ITESM) (also named TEC de Monterrey), has implemented for more than 15 years videoconferencing, TV satellite and online instruction to deliver distance education courses and programs, and also more than 10 years using different e-learning platforms (LearningSpace, BlackBoard, FirstClass, BSCW, WebTec) to enhance its traditional face-to-face and distance education programs at undergraduate and graduate level (Masters and Doctoral).
Through this e-learning electronic delivery educational platforms ITESM has reached all its 20 or more campuses around Mexico; allowing them delivery, currently, more than twelve thousand e-learning courses every semester. Blackboard is its major e-learning platform, and it is widely used both locally (each campus has certain autonomy in its use) and through the entire ITESM system.
To help this institutional distance education effort and to respond to Mexican and Latino American educational needs “El Tecnológico de Monterrey” has developed an important educational initiative, named : “Knowledge Hub” (KHub). It is a search engine for open educational resources, which is available in the Internet for any people interested in educational resources available online, especially for teachers and professor of higher education level (undergraduate and graduate) (its website: http://khub.itesm.mx/).
Knowledge Hub is an academic search engine, which is specialized on academic material with educational content to help and support courses of different topics. It was created to assist mainly “Tecnológico de Monterrey” faculty, also to help professors and students from outside and other educational institutions and entities (http://khub.itesm.mx/) (http://khub.itesm.mx/legal), as an open educational resources search engine. The main idea of KHub is to have an open data base of educational resources (e.g.: PPT presentations, podcasts, videos-on-demand, web sites, blogs, and so on) available in the Internet to help students and teachers all over the world. Educational material from different universities world wide will be available openly, following the global open access trend. Already has educational material from MIT, UCLA, Berkeley and Tecnlógico de Monterrey.
Currently, after more the one year to be online, KHub has more than 230 faculty members (Tecnológico de Monterrey professors) working on the selection, gather, and evaluation of these educational resources available in the Internet, following academic criteria in its selection and copy right issues. The educational resources already selected (5,192 indexed material –July 2008) are from diverse higher education topics on the fields of: administration, accountability, business, marketing, engineering, telecommunications, physics, architecture, social sciences, liberal arts, ethics, etc.
The main goal of this paper presentation at the TTIX, Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange Conference is to comment and describe the best teaching practices on the use of Open Educational Resources through the KHub, and comment and describe how has been working and its characteristics, how the target audience has been responded to it, how faculty and students have used it.
Presenter
Fernando J. Mortera-Gutierrez
Presenter Qualifications: B.A. in Social Anthropology at ENAH, Mexico city; M.A. in Sociology (Socio-Demography) at FLACSO, Mexico City; Ph.D. (Doctor) in Educational Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. Currently, Full Time Research Professor at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM),Virtual University (UV), Monterrey City campus, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Most Recent Presentation Experiences:
1. “Fostering Creativity in a Qualitative Research Course Using Blackboard with a Blended Learning Approach: Best Practices”. At the Ed-Media 2007 –World Conference: Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications-, Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Montréal, Vancouver, Canada, 2007.
2. “Quality Issues in the Blended Learning and E-learning Instructional Model of “Tecnológico de Monterrey”, Mexico City Campus: A Mexican Case Study”. At the Ed-Media 2005 (AACE), Montréal,Quebec, Canada, 2005.