OEGlobal 2024

In an academic institution, a strong policy is the foundation that guides operations, mirroring and harmonizing with the strategic direction of the university. At Queensland University of Technology (QUT), an Open Educational Resources (OER) policy was endorsed in 2016, making it one of the first OER policies implemented in an Australian university. Jointly developed by QUT’s Learning and Teaching Unit and the Library, the purpose of the policy is to provide clear direction to the University’s staff and students with relation to the adoption, adaptation, or creation of OERs.

The initial version of the policy supported the development of open educational resources, including some open textbooks. The Library and Learning and Teaching Unit were natural partners in this venture: the Library would support staff to find suitable resources; and the Learning and Teaching Unit would provide technical, curriculum and platform support, as well as strategic consideration. In Semester 2, 2020 the University launched the Open Textbooks with Pressbooks Pilot with the aim of understanding if the Pressbooks publishing platform was fit for purpose in supporting the adoption, adaptation and creation of open textbooks for positive academic and student outcomes.

This pilot, delivered by the Library and the Learning and Teaching Unit, was deemed successful and among the recommendations, Pressbooks is now the endorsed platform for OER creation and adaption at QUT; and the policy received further refinement and changes reflected in the wide range of perspectives and growing expertise.

A strong policy is often the linchpin that ensures consistency, fairness, and accountability in decision-making processes within an academic institution. The QUT OER policy serves as a roadmap, outlining clear expectations, responsibilities and standards for all stakeholders, including faculty, staff, and administrators.

While use and creation of OERs at QUT was slow at first, we appear to be beginning to turn the corner. Momentum is definitely growing at QUT to adopt, adapt, and create open textbooks. Cultural and organisational change can be a gradual process, even when supported by a strong policy. We have found that advocacy efforts and implementation strategies must be aligned to the requirements of teaching staff and the resources available for providing training and support within the institution. It's crucial to minimize barriers to facilitate smooth progress.

This lightning talk focuses on the importance of partnerships in supporting the development of a robust OER policy. In 2024, QUT’s OER policy will be updated again to reflect emerging global practices.



Included in [Session 2D]: Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
open education resources, policy development, partnerships, collaboration

For OEGlobal 2024 I've been facilitating a series of asynchronous online Reimagining Open At The Crossroads activities in the OEGlobal 2024 Interaction Zone. Activities kicked off October 14, 2024 with an Introduction and an activity called Reimagining Open At The Crossroads Through Music followed by three other weekly activities. All activities have been asynchronous and open to everyone to participate in whether attending the OEGlobal 2024 conference in-person or not. 
These activities carry forward the work of Catherine Cronin and Laura Czerniewicz who gave a joint keynote entitled “The Future isn’t what it used to be: Open Education at a Crossroads” at the March ALT OER 2024 conference in Ireland. Their keynote situated open education at a crossroads in a polycrisis world and issued a call for the open education community to take action to move forward from that crossroads. It’s a bit unusual to carry forward a call to action from one conference to another and I gratefully acknowledge Catherine and Laura’s permission and encouragement for me to do so. 
In Brisbane I'm facilitating in-person the fourth Reimagining Open at the Crossroads activity called Pathways and Connections.

This activity invites you to create a visual representation of your personal open education path forward from this crossroads in time. Plurality of paths are welcome. A template using the Brisbane River in Australia will be provided for you to imagine your open education path as a river with tributaries. 
This activity invites you to:

• identify your main pathway and places along it. Your main path can be based on your current open education work or on a reimagining of open education you've been contemplating. 
• create tributaries that connect with and feed into your main path. Tributaries represent other practices you believe can enhance your main pathway. Tributaries could be emergent trends affecting open education such as AI, open pedagogy, and the notion of digital public goods. Tributaries could connect other forms of open to your open education path e.g. open science, open access, open infrastructure, open data, open culture. Tributaries could be people or events that will inform your path going forward.
• Explore and integrate music, What if?, and Make Claims outputs from Reimagining Open At The Crossroads activities 1, 2, and 3 into your pathway.

The activity concludes with opportunities to share and discuss pathways along with finding others pursuing similar pathways you can connect with. This in person sharing intentionally aims to braid your work with others.
Come and invent your future in open education.


Included in [Session 2D]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Cronin C., Czerniewicz L. ALT OER 2024 https://altc.alt.ac.uk/blog/2024/03/oer24-the-future-isnt-what-it-used-to-be/

Author Keywords
reimagining open, call to action, music, what if?, make claims, personal pathways

In response to growing demand from academics requiring resources on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for their students, Charles Sturt Librarians developed an Open Education Resource (OER) titled Using AI tools at university. This resource aims to equip university students and researchers with the knowledge and skills necessary to utilise AI tools productively, ethically and responsibly. Our project, undertaken collaboratively by Charles Sturt Librarians, seeks to democratise access to AI literacy.

Generative AI technologies and AI tools for research are increasingly prevalent in academic settings, yet students and researchers often lack guidance on the responsible and ethical use and how they can be used productively. Our OER addresses this gap by providing comprehensive information on AI tools, their applications, and ethical considerations. The resource emphasises the importance of understanding AI biases, data privacy, and the ethical implications of AI-driven decisions.

The benefits of OER for students are extensive. Research indicates that using OER enhances student learning (Cheung, 2019) and serves as an effective learning intervention by providing equal access to educational resources for all students (Grimaldi et al., 2019). Open textbooks can be continuously and easily updated to remain relevant, which is especially crucial given the rapid advancements in AI. Considering the importance of equitable access to information for our students and the challenges posed by traditional publishing models, such as high costs and restrictive licensing, OER offers valuable resources that ensure equitable access for all students.

The Pressbooks platform was used and incorporated interactive media and active learning through H5P. It seamlessly embedded in the learning management system plus allowed direct linking to specific chapters, when students had assessment requirements requiring specific AI literate information and evaluation. The project not only provided specific resources at the request of academics needing information on AI use for their students assessment tasks but was expanded to provide a complete AI literacy resource that can be used by all undertaking research. It covers algorithmic literacy (Ridley & Pawlick-Potts, 2021), understanding bias, developing competency in critical ignoring (Kozyreva et al., 2023), detecting hallucinations and communicating with AI through effective prompt engineering (Lo, 2023).

The project also had a secondary objective to familarise Librarians with developing content for an OER with then having a locally produced OER to demonstrate to academics. This initiative aligns with the broader movement towards open education and the sharing of knowledge across institutions.

Our OER, Using AI tools at university, empowers students from diverse backgrounds to engage actively with AI tools. By breaking down complex concepts into understandable modules, we foster responsible AI use and encourage student contributions to AI development. Moving forward, we aim to expand this resource and integrate it into existing digital literacy modules across disciplines. This integration will support the development of critical thinking and digital literacy skills, preparing students for the evolving digital landscape.

Link to OER: https://opentext.csu.edu.au/usingai/



Included in [Session 3D]: Digital Capability, Artificial Intelligence

References
Cheung, S. K. S. (2019). A Study on the University Students’ Use of Open Educational Resources for Learning Purposes. Technology in Education: Pedagogical Innovations (pp. 146-155). Springer Singapore.

Grimaldi, P. J., Basu Mallick, D., Waters, A. E., & Baraniuk, R. G. (2019). Do open educational resources improve student learning? Implications of the access hypothesis. PloS One, 14(3), e0212508. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212508

Kozyreva, A., Wineburg, S., Lewandowsky, S., & Hertwig, R. (2023). Critical ignoring as a core competence for digital citizens. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 32(1), 81–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214221121570

Lo, L. S. (2023). The CLEAR path: A framework for enhancing information literacy through prompt engineering. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(4), 102720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2023.102720

Ridley, M., & Pawlick-Potts, D. (2021). Algorithmic literacy and the role for libraries. Information Technology and Libraries (Online), 40(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v40i2.12963

Author Keywords
Artificial Intelligence, Algorithmic Literacy, Open Educational Resources, GenAI, Digital Literacy, AI Literacy, OER, Open Textbooks

Since Open is everyone’s business, and Generative Artificial Intelligence is portrayed as a mechanism whereby to scale education for everyone everywhere, it is fundamentally problematic that large language models, which are utilised, amongst other functions, for the translation of texts, literally require a very large corpora of texts - on both sides - to function adequately. To demonstrate this, examples will be given of problematic translations from English into isiXhosa, which produce errors even at an elementary level of education.

Practitioners from the Global South realistically fear a widening of the divide as a result of the fact that many local, indigenous languages only have a small corpus of texts online. This could potentially lead to a data race, and concerns would be raised as to whether copyright may be violated in the uploading of texts. But the far more overarching concern is that of an increased dominance of already dominant languages, which could be read as a re-colonisation and negatively impact on local indigenous cultures and ways of knowing as well as impacting on the dissemination of indigenous knowledge systems.

The presentation will reflect on how Generative Artificial Intelligence functions, systematically cover issues of inclusion, diversity, equity, and access that arise as a result of using it when only a small corpus of texts is available, and then ask participants to reflect upon open education policies and strategies that arise as a result especially given potential negative impacts in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, AI in this context not only relates to SDG 4, but also on 6 & 7 in terms of sustainability as AI consumes massive amounts of fossil fuels and also water, 9 in terms of the infrastructure required, 10 in terms of inequality and 12 in terms of responsible consumption and production.

The presentation will also refer to recent research indicating that while the power of the model has grown and grown with the size of the training datasets, that recent evidence is that these power curves are starting to level off and this has implications in terms of sustainability.



Included in [Session 3D]: Digital Capability, Artificial Intelligence

Author Keywords
Artificial intelligence, Sustainability, Open education policy and strategies, Inclusion diversity equity and access, Local Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing

The possibilities for using AI in education are exploding. AI is already widely used in education, and with the recent emergence of generative AI, the possibilities are being more actively explored. However, ethical concerns about the use of AI continue to arise. In particular, teachers, who take the lead in education, need to be empowered with ethical competencies that consider the impact of AI and digital technologies while using AI.

Accordingly, this study aims to develop a framework for teachers' ethical competencies in AI and its sub competencies and behavioral indicators. To this end, an initial competency framework and behavioral indicators were developed through a systematic literature review. At the same time, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 in-service teachers and implications were derived according to Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis procedure.

The findings of the study, based on the synthesis of the literature review and the interview results, revealed a set of AI ethics competencies for teachers consisting of awareness, judgment, and practice, with corresponding sub-competencies and behavioral indicators. This study has significance in that it systematically presents the ethical competencies of teachers for coexistence with AI amid the ongoing development of AI from a post-humanistic perspective.



Included in [Session 3D]: Digital Capability, Artificial Intelligence

Author Keywords
AI in Education, Ethical Competence, Teacher Education

Fostering faculty participation in adopting Open Educational Resources can be challenging when faculty lack full competency in digital literacy. Digital literacy is a pillar of UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goals and integral to the adoption of OER. Creating resources and training to provide faculty comfort in learning digital literacy can help in the buy-in and adoption of OER. This requires collaboration in a variety of areas across campus and identification of people who can teach these skills in multiple areas.

This presentation will focus on how to use public relations tactics to create buy-in among faculty members that promotes institutional spread of digital literacy and OER across a small, non-profit minority-serving institution in the United States.



Included in [Session 3D]: Digital Capability, Artificial Intelligence

References
https://prsa.org iabc.com

Author Keywords
Digital competence, Public Relations, Open Educational Practices, Open Educational Strategies

This study explores the integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into robotics programming education to enrich inquiry-based science learning, particularly in the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) domains, with a focus on its impact on elementary science education. Through hands-on STEAM activities, students enhance problem-solving skills, collaboration, and develop a strong interest in science learning. Utilizing Scratch, a free and open programming language, students not only learn programming basics but also deepen their understanding and application of scientific concepts. The research targets elementary school students, incorporating technology, mathematics, and physical education into a series of STEAM education experiments. Results underscore the importance of open educational resources in supporting STEAM education, enhancing scientific learning, fostering creativity, and teamwork, thereby positively influencing educational equity and quality. The example of a baseball robot illustrates the potential benefits and challenges of utilizing open educational resources.

Inquiry-based science learning encourages questioning, investigation, and knowledge construction through exploration and experimentation. Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence, especially Generative AI (GenAI), offer novel tools to enhance this educational approach. This paper examines how integrating GenAI can enrich the learning experience, focusing on a STEAM project involving the design and implementation of a baseball robot.

Utilizing the 6E experiential learning model, GenAI assumes multiple roles across the learning stages. Initially, in the Engage phase, GenAI acts as a catalyst, captivating student interest through Scratch, thereby igniting curiosity. In the subsequent Explore phase, GenAI transitions into a mentor, providing tailored learning pathways and resources, facilitating guided exploration. As the learning progresses into the Explain phase, GenAI transforms into an instructor, simplifying intricate concepts and theories through textual content. During the Engineer phase, GenAI serves as a design assistant, assisting students in utilizing tools like LEGO SPIKE for project development. Moving forward to the Enrich phase, GenAI becomes an inspiration, expanding students' knowledge and fostering interdisciplinary integration and innovative thinking. Finally, in the Evaluate phase, GenAI transitions into an assessor, delivering real-time feedback and assessments to aid students and teachers in reviewing and reflecting on learning outcomes. GenAI plays a crucial role in scientific inquiry activities, offering expertise, guidance, and support throughout the project phases, thereby enriching students' learning experiences and fostering knowledge exchange in STEAM fields.

The combination of GenAI and Open Educational Resources (OER) in STEAM education enhances learning by personalizing pathways, improving accessibility, and ensuring quality education for all. This model fosters students' passion for science and technology, enhances problem-solving skills, and cultivates future innovators. It demonstrates the potential of Generative AI in modern education, emphasizing the importance of open education in global learning initiatives.



Included in [Session 3D]: Digital Capability, Artificial Intelligence

References
Burke, D. (2014). E byDeSGN" Model. Chiou, G.-L., Lee, M.-H., & Tsai, C.-C. (2013). High school students’ approaches to learning physics with relationship to epistemic views on physics and conceptions of learning physics. Research in Science & Technological Education, 31(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/02635143.2013.794134

García-Carmona, A. (2020). From Inquiry-Based Science Education to the Approach Based on Scientific Practices. Science & Education, 29(2), 443-463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-020-00108-8

Hwang, G.-J., Yang, L.-H., & Wang, S.-Y. (2013). A concept map-embedded educational computer game for improving students' learning performance in natural science courses. Computers & Education, 69, 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.07.008

Inguva, P., Shah, P., Shah, U., & Brechtelsbauer, C. (2021). How to Design Experiential Learning Resources for Independent Learning. Journal of Chemical Education, 98(4), 1182-1192. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00990

Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press.

Kuen-Yi Lin, H.-S. H., P. John Williams & Yu-Han Chen. (2020). Effects of 6E-oriented STEM practical activities in cultivating middle school. https://doi.org/10.1080/02635143.2018.1561432

Li, X., Muniz, M., Chun, K., Tai, J., Guerra, F., & York, D. M. (2022). Inquiry-Based Activities and Games That Engage Students in Learning Atomic Orbitals. J Chem Educ, 99(5), 2175-2181. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c01023

Pintrich, P. R., & De Groot, E. V. (1990). Motivational_and_self_regulated_learning. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.82.1.33

States, N. L. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/doi:10.17226/18290

Wang, H.-H., Moore, T. J., & Roehrig, G. H. (2011). STEM Integration: Teacher Perceptions and Practice. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284314636

Author Keywords
STEAM, Programming Education, Exploratory Learning, Generative Artificial Intelligence, Computational Thinking

Panel Title: Is equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in Open Education everyone’s business?
 
Introduction to the discussion
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) have been significant topics within the Open Education (OE) community. However, simply providing free and online resources, such as Open Educational Resources (OER), does not guarantee equitable, diverse, and inclusive access to these resources. The vast majority of OER is only available in the English language, making it challenging for many learners worldwide to access them, especially those in the Global South. This example highlights that openness may not reach everyone and underscores the need for more efforts to ensure that openness is equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

Other instances where EDI in OE might not reach or even be applicable for everyone are:

• Resistance to change – as not everyone may be open to embracing EDI principles and practices. Individuals or institutions with entrenched biases or outdated beliefs may resist efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in open education.
• Cultural beliefs - cultural differences and norms can influence the acceptance and implementation of openness, such as indigenous knowledge. Some communities or institutions may have cultural traditions or beliefs that need to be respected, but also clash with certain aspects of openness, posing challenges to its widespread adoption.
• Lack of awareness - some open practitioners may not fully grasp the importance of EDI or may be unaware of the impact of systemic inequalities on marginalized groups. This lack of awareness can impede efforts to promote EDI across all educational contexts, in particular in open education.

This panel aims to provide a venue to further discuss the issues above and hopefully together we can come up with solutions to create conditions and an environment where OE is more equitable, diverse, and inclusive to those who need the most. To address these aims, our panel members will answer the following questions:

In your context, what are other examples where open education might not reach learners and users?

Also withing our context, what can we do, on an individual, community, institutional and/or even sector levels to make sure the EDI in OE is everyone’s business?

Panel members will have 5 minutes to answer both questions. After that, panel members will then answer questions from the audience.
 
Our Panel Members are:
 
Prof María Soledad Ramírez Montoya - solramirez@tec.mx
María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya is a research professor at Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey. Her work is focused on developing local and global initiatives for education, involving research and innovation, as a means of social transformation and impact for lifelong learning and sustainable development. She coordinates an Interdisciplinary Research Group, which includes the implementation of training systems supported with Open Science and Technologies 4.0 strategies. Marisol is also a UNESCO Chair on "Open Education Movement for Latin America", and mobilises training, production and research initiatives for open education.

Dr Johanna Funk - johannafunk@hotmail.com
Jo Funk is an experienced Teacher, Researcher and Lecturer with a demonstrated history of working in the independent, higher and public education sectors. Johanna has a background in intercultural education in compulsory, private, flexible, second language and higher education sectors. Her research interests include open educational practices that support learner confidence and participation. She is currently teaching at Ipswich Flexible Learning Centre and a research fellow at Deakin University.

Melody Chin - melodychin@smu.edu.sg
Melody is Senior Librarian for Instruction & Learning at Singapore Management University, where she currently leads the OER initiative at SMU Libraries. She is passionate about Open Education, and is currently Co-Chair of the OER Special Interest Group for ASEAN. Melody has previously served as Asst. Hon. Secretary and Chair of the Library Association of Singapore (LAS) Membership Committee, and was also instructor for the ASEAN University Network’s AUNILO Train-the-Trainer OER workshop. She has recently won the OE Award for Excellence – Catalyst Award 2024.

Steven Chang - S.Chang@latrobe.edu.au
Steven Chang coordinates open education programs at the La Trobe eBureau. His focus is on empowering teaching academics and professional staff as emerging open practitioners through collaborative 'Third Space' projects. Steven is a Co-Convenor of the Open Educational Practices special interest group of ASCILITE. His current role is Coordinator, Open Education & Scholarship at La Trobe University.
 
Dr Glenda Cox - glenda.cox@uct.ac.za
Glenda is an associate professor in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) at the University of Cape Town and her portfolio includes Teaching in post graduate courses, supervision, Teaching innovation grants, Open Education Resources and Staff development. Her research focused on using the theoretical approach of Social Realism to explain why academic staff choose to contribute or not to contribute their teaching resources as open educational resources. Glenda is passionate about the role of Open Education in the changing world of Higher Education. Dr she is currently the Principal Investigator in the Digital Open Textbooks for Development (DOT4D) project, funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Dr Mais Fatayer - mais.fatayer@uts.edu.au
Mais is the learner experience design manager at the University of Technology, Sydney. She completed her PhD in the area of educational technology with focus on Open Educational Resources in learning and teaching. Following on from her doctoral work, Mais work has been focused on transforming the adoption of educational technology. Mais led many initiatives for educational professional development, participated in multidisciplinary research and designed innovative and award winning learning and teaching solutions. Currently she is part of the education portfolio at UTS working on transforming learning and teaching.

Chair: Dr Carina Bossu - carina.bossu@open.ac.uk

Included in [Session 4D]: Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Author Keywords
EDI, Equity diversity and inclusion in Open Education, EDI guidelines, EDI strategies for open education

This design-based research study investigated the effectiveness of using MOOC scaffolds with translanguaging integrated to enhance self-regulated learning (SRL) and English as a lingua franca (ELF) proficiency in high school students learning in English-medium instruction (EMI) MOOCs. The study focused on students facing the dual barriers of ELF proficiency and online learning. The recent adoption of the English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) policy in Taiwan targets the education sectors across all ages, endeavoring to internationalize the educational landscape through rapid EMI penetration, underscored by the need for comprehensive teacher support as educators transition to this new instructional medium.

Culturally responsive MOOCs have gained attention in recent years for their potential to support diverse learners globally. However, there needs to be more literature regarding wrapping English-taught MOOCs with a scaffolding, translanguaging MOOC, which could provide a more inclusive and supportive learning environment for bilingual students. This niche in “wrapped” MOOCs represents an opportunity for further research and development, as it could enhance MOOCs' effectiveness in catering to students' diverse linguistic needs. By incorporating translanguaging practices and culturally responsive content, wrapped MOOCs could potentially bridge the gap between monolingual English-taught courses and the diverse linguistic backgrounds of learners, fostering a more inclusive and practical learning experience.

We developed five design-based research objectives in this study:

• Realize translanguaging and self-regulated learning scaffolds into the EMI MOOCs.
• Initiate a design team to prototype the “wrapped” course activities for the EMI MOOCs.
• Implement the prototype as two courses on one of Taiwan’s MOOC platforms to evaluate learning activities and improve the developed course activities based on learner feedback.
• Encompass the other six courses across SDGs to observe EMI students’ practice and engagement when taking the wrapped EMI MOOCs in different areas.
• Develop research-supported instructional practice for translanguaging scaffoldings MOOCs and its continuing growth.

The present study embodies design-based research (DBR), whose main characteristic is balancing theory and practice, necessitating careful planning and arrangement. To realize “theory-in-context”, EMI scaffolds and online learner scaffolds were implemented in the 2022-2023 program of virtual overseas study tours (VOST) in MOOCs. The ewant-based learning activities were designed to collect student reflections by stage and in a mixed form of idea presentation (i.e., words and snapshots), thereby being able to scaffold EMI MOOC experiences at all stages, following structured class arrangements for FutureLearn courses. To understand learners’ attitudes toward VOST in iteration 3, a 75-item Likert scale survey was administered, including English as a Lingua Franca; Online Self-Regulated Learning; Learning Engagement; program satisfaction; and open-ended questions. The questionnaire measured functional beliefs and attitudes about communication and competence in learning and speaking English as an international language, SRL in online learning environments, learners' attitudes toward teachers, course requirements, expectations, and willingness to learn online.

Our findings suggest that translanguaging MOOC scaffolds can effectively improve ELF attitude and self-regulation in high school students learning through EMI MOOCs. In other words, using these scaffolds may help students overcome the dual barriers of ELF proficiency and online learning. (496 words).



Included in [Session 6D]: Open Pedagogy, Repositories

References
Chen, K. Z., & Oakley, B. (2020). Redeveloping a global MOOC to be more locally relevant: Design-based research. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17:9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-0178-6 Graham, K. M., & Yeh, Y-F. (2023). Teachers’ implementation of bilingual education in Taiwan: Challenges and arrangements: Asia Pacific Education Review, 24, 461–472. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-022-09791-4 Helm, F. (2020). EMI, internationalisation, and the digital. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23, 314-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1643823 Ho, J. & Tai, K.W.H. (2021). Translanguaging in digital learning: The making of translanguaging spaces in online English teaching videos. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2021.2001427

Author Keywords
High school students, English-medium instruction (EMI), Mass Open Online Courses (MOOCs), self-regulated learning, English as lingua franca

This exploration is inspired by a famous experiment performed by the German physicist and musician, Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni. He lived from 1756 to 1827 and is called the father of Acoustics because of his work on vibrating plates. He demonstrated the visualization of the nodal lines by sprinkling a layer of powder onto the surface of the vibrating plate. These observed patterns are called Chladni patterns.

This research is based on state-of-the-art theory to develop software for virtually emulating the nodal lines of a vibrating plate. The main aim is to provide a digital and open-source platform to assist students in learning the resonance phenomena of a vibrating plate. By using the developed platform, students can dynamically visualize the nodal-line formation of a vibrating plate without physical equipment. Since the developed simulator can be operated anytime and anywhere with a personal computer, it can greatly reduce the time required for the physical experiment. Furthermore, the dynamic visualization technology makes the educational process more convenient, expands the number of participants, and deepens the understanding of physical insights. The developed platform can be used in classrooms as well as informal places. Consequently, enables lifelong learning for anyone, makes physics education more diverse and inclusive, makes scientific education more diverse and interesting, and especially reduces educational gaps between urban and rural regions, and makes education more equitable for the general public, as well as enhances access to physics knowledge and digital education.

Since traditional Chladni plate resonance experiments often require a large amount of materials and complex equipment that are not available to every region or student, this research developed simulation software to solve the problem of difficult access to resources. Compared with existing similar works in the world (such as ShaderToy, and thelig.ht Chladni experiment), the simulation software developed in this research can provide users with a learning environment of interactivity and diversity. Through advanced audio processing technology, this simulator can produce a sense of presence, especially the realism of the sand movement and the resonant sound. Users can freely adjust the parameters of the experiment to observe and experience the realistic changes. Moreover, the developed simulator also provides users with the functions of image and data storage for further numerical analyses and scientific investigations, and then learn the principles of physics in depth. T

o sum up, the digital simulation tool developed in this research not only reduces the complexity of the experiments but also provides the functionality for distance education. The open-source nature of the simulator allows users to further customize this software according to their teaching and experiential needs, thereby making more contributions and sharing it for the education field.



Included in [Session 6D]: Open Pedagogy, Repositories

References
1. Tuan, P.H.; Wen, C.P.; Yu, Y.T.; Liang, H.C.; Huang, K.F.; Chen, Y.F. Exploring the distinction between experimental resonant modes and theoretical eigenmodes: From vibrating plates to laser cavities. Phys. Rev. E 2014, 89, 022911. 2. Tuan, P.H.; Wen, C.P.; Chiang, P.Y.; Yu, Y.T.; Liang, H.C.; Huang, K.F.; Chen, Y.F. Exploring the resonant vibration of thin plates: reconstruction of Chladni patterns and determination of resonant wave numbers. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2015, 137, 2113. 3. Tseng, Y.-C.; Hsu, Y.-H.; Lai Y.-H.; Yu, Y.-T.; Liang, H.-C.; Huang, K.-F.; Chen, Y.-F. Exploiting Modern Chladni Plates to Analogously Manifest the Point . Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 10094. 4. Dashti, S.; Prakash, E.; Navarro-Newball, AA.; Hussain, F.; Carroll, F. Chladni Plate Visualisation. (2022) 5. Yucel, V.; Yildan, I. Form Follows Algorithm: Differentiation of Chladni Patterns through Mathematical Functions in Processing . PROC 20 GENERATIVE A (2017) 6. Viktor M. Formation of Chladni patterns in virtual environment. November (2017)

Author Keywords
Educational equity, Open-source educational tools, Chladni Plates, Digital simulation, Resonance phenomena, Interactive learning, Dynamic visualization

Open pedagogy has become a topic of burgeoning interest in higher education for its potential to enhance students’ learning, broaden their awareness of their participation in information and knowledge creation, and promote affordability of course content. Open pedagogy challenges the norms of traditional educational settings and the assumptive roles of the instructor and the students. What happens, though, when students come to the classroom with expectations about how the course will be structured?

The didactic contract is a construct used in mathematics education that describes tacit classroom norms. It includes the set of behaviors expected by the students for their instructor, as well as the instructor’s expectations of their students. In a traditional didactic contract, the implicit role of the instructor is to facilitate the knowledge transfer of the content to the student; however, open pedagogy views students as co-creators of knowledge, which can complicate students’ expectations of their roles as learners. Much of the literature has focused on the success of open pedagogy in increasing student engagement, but is there a possibility that the shift in the didactic contract, or the expected norms of a course, can disrupt student engagement?

In this presentation, I will discuss how the didactic contract is a useful construct for open pedagogy, and how we can use it to inform best practices around student agency and empower students to become active participants in their learning. We will explore how the terms of the didactic contact can be negotiated to mitigate student resistance by helping them understand the impact of open publishing for their work.



Included in [Session 6D]: Open Pedagogy, Repositories

Author Keywords
open educational practices, open pedagogy, open practitioners, open education policies and strategies

( In Vietnam, Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives at universities, especially institutional OER repositories (IOER), are largely spontaneous, and few have been successfully developed. This leads to ambiguity in the development process of IOERs and the roles of campus stakeholders involved, resulting in a lack of confidence and unwillingness among higher education communities to engage with OER and IOER development.

Considering the development of IOER as an educational change at higher education organisations (HEOs) in Vietnam, this study utilises Michael Fullan's theory of Educational Change (2007) as a theoretical framework to ascertain the development of IOERs and clarify the roles of stakeholders in the process. In particular, two out of the three phases (Initiation, Implementation, and Institutionalisation) of the educational change process (Fullan, 2007) were adopted. Since only a few IOERs have been developed in Vietnam to date, it was not possible to investigate the Institutionalisation Phase of the change in this research.

Using a qualitative approach, this study involves twenty-one semi-structured interviews with OER champions, university leaders, faculty members, and library leaders and staff from various HEOs in Vietnam. Collected data were then analysed employing a directed content analysis approach (Hsieh and Shannon 2005). Participants in this study believe that the development process of IOERs aligns well with the first two phases of the educational change process, as proposed by Fullan. The initiation phase is not believed to require a high level of intricacy to progress, yet thorough preparation is significant for the project's approval. The implementation phase, on the other hand, is more complex and includes several steps, such as IOER management, OER awareness-raising, OER use, and IOER content creation.

These steps involve participation and collaboration among different campus stakeholders. In this collaborative process, the roles of libraries are significant as the implementers of IOER development projects. Although the indispensable roles of libraries are well-highlighted by the participants in this study, and VanScoy (2019) also indicates that libraries can potentially play the role of IOER policymakers, their roles in general are still underestimated due to the ingrained social prejudice regarding the peripheral role of libraries as merely book storage facilities in Vietnam. This perspective was mentioned by some participants and other researchers in Vietnam, such as Do et al. (2017).

By providing a picture of the current state of IOERs in Vietnam, this study helps clarify the IOERs development process and the campus stakeholders involved. It also highlights the significant roles of academic libraries in embracing the OER movement. Considering the findings, highly authorised stakeholders in Vietnam, such as the government or leaders of HEOs, can support and empower libraries to propose policies that effectively accelerate the OER movement in Vietnam, further facilitating open education for everyone.



Included in [Session 6D]: Open Pedagogy, Repositories

References
Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change (4th ed.). Teachers College Press. Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687 VanScoy, A. (2019). Bridging the chasm: Faculty support roles for academic librarians in the adoption of open educational resources. College & Research Libraries, 80(4), 426. DOI:10.5860/crl.80.4.426 Do, V. H., Kieu, T. N., Bui, T. T., & Pham, T. K. (2017). Vai trò của thư viện trong việc thực hiện các mục tiêu phát triển bền vững của Liên Hợp Quốc [The role of libraries in the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals]. Tạp chí Thư viện Việt Nam [Vietnam Library Journal], 4, 3-12. https://bit.ly/3ATdK5n

Author Keywords
Open Educational Resources, OER, institutional OER repositories, Vietnam, Library, Development process

One third of the world lacks internet access (ITU 2023), with greater disparity in poor countries. Even in developed regions such as British Columbia, areas north of population centers include significant numbers of people unable to connect online to the BCcampus Open Collection.

While print-based versions of their Pressbooks published open textbooks provide most of the content that can be accessed anywhere,, any interactive exercise or embedded media is rendered as a text box with a web address, that is of no use without internet connectivity.

This workshop will share a direct experience with a current project to make more than 80 open textbooks not only available in Learning Equality’s offline-first open source teaching and learning system, Kolibri (Learning Equality, 2024).

A number of solutions exist for offline-access to online content (Offline Internet Consortium, 2024), ranging from internet-in-a-box approaches to more advanced capabilities using local servers with near range wireless transmitters to run even learning management systems (e.g. MoodleBox). Kolibri is an important solution as it is one that does not require advanced technical expertises to operate. It also provides advanced features of syncing learner progress from remote devices or even between locations.

For BCcampus, Kolibri offers more than a content delivery platform, but a means to make content available without connectivity, including interactive H5P practice exercises, video, and audio. Kolibri also includes support tools for custom content organization, learner cohorts, and basic performance tracking.

We have presented the project concept (Friedman and Levine, 2024) but the purpose of this workshop is to allow participants to directly experience BCcampus content delivered from a local, offline device, and appreciate that challenges remain to provide the potential of the fully online learning materials.

We seek suggestions for other scenarios of application and strategies for implementing in different settings.

This is everybody’s business to make as much of the rich experience of online learning materials available to that one third of the world left out.

Included in [Session 7D]: Global Access and Equity (workshop)

References
International Telecommunications Union (2023), “Facts and Figures 2023”, accessed online (May 14, 2024) https://www.itu.int/itu-d/reports/statistics/facts-figures-2023/

Offline Internet Consortium (2024), accessed online (May 12, 2024) https://www.offline-internet.org/

Learning Equality (2024), “Kolibri” accessed online (May 14, 2024) https://learningequality.org/kolibri/

Friedman, Harper and Levine, Alan (2024), “An Online Presentation About Online OER: The BCcampus Open Collection Meets Kolibri”, presentation for the 2024 Open Education Conference https://bit.ly/bccampus-kolibri-opened24

Author Keywords
offline learning, open source, accessibility

Presentation Resources
Workshop materials (Google doc)

What happens when a long-standing commitment to open sharing of knowledge awakens to and begins to infuse responses to the stark reality of the climate emergency? What new learning practices are catalyzed, and how can this lead to a more just and livable world?

In this session, we’ll explore some ways that more timely, equitable and effective climate learning is being enabled by the methods and materials of open education; and also how open education practices can evolve to maximize the positive impacts of climate action efforts.

Substantial progress has been made on climate action and climate justice in recent years. But our “business as usual” trajectory of incremental change within existing systems still has us on track for warming of over 3C by 2100. This trajectory is less dire than the prospects of 4C+ that we faced a decade ago; but without much deeper transformations, we’re still on a path to trigger planetary tipping points, ecosystem collapses and mass disruptions of human society.

More must be done. And as a means of transformation, open practices have a key role to play.

These questions are playing out now in developing the Climate Project at MIT, an ambitious program announced in early 2024 to do bigger things faster and work more effectively with partners around the scientific and societal challenges of climate change.

In this session, we’ll highlight some of the ways that open knowledge practices are infusing climate work at MIT and in its collaborations, and ask what might be possible if a commitment to open knowledge practices spreads widely across climate action spaces.

At OE Global 2023, a workshop session began to consider an open climate knowledge community of practice. We discussed needs and opportunities, and identified some resources and programs that can serve as inspirations and a basis for future work. See workshop notes at https://bit.ly/oeglobal-climate-community.

One year later, where are we? How are open methods and materials making a difference for general public engagement and empowering k-12, post-secondary, workforce and professional learning about climate change and climate justice? Current and future generations are counting on us to make this everyone’s business.


Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Notes from OE Global’23 workshop on open climate knowledge: Accelerating Climate Action and Climate Justice Through Open Education.
OE Week 2024 event: Accelerating Climate Action and Climate Justice Through Open Education.
International Open Access Week 2022 webinar video: Learn Climate with Open MIT Resources.

Author Keywords
Lifelong and informal learning, Open educational practices, Open education policies and strategies, Social justice, Sustainability

Open Educational Resources (OER) have been discussed in Sweden as early as 2008 (Westman & Paulsson). Unfortunately, their adoption is still very limited due to a lack of understanding about their nature, how they can be used, and the opportunities they present (National Library of Sweden, 2022). In light of the UNESCO recommendation on OERs, the National Library of Sweden was tasked with developing national guidelines for open science by the Swedish Government. These were recently presented and include the use of OER (National Library of Sweden, 2024).

The national library's work on national guidelines was companied by The Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF) working group on OERs. SUHFs aim is to promote the sector interests to external actors and at strengthening internal cooperation. The task of the working group is to develop proposals for recommendations on what national OER coordination could look like and how educational institutions could create a long-term structure for the work. The OER working group reports first and foremost to the working group on open science, which put forward a roadmap for open science as early as 2021.

In line with the national recommendations for open science, SUHF updated their roadmap in the beginning of the year (SUHF, 2024) and includes now a section about OERs. The roadmap defines the responsibility of Swedish Higher Education institution to "actively work towards creating a sharing culture regarding educational resources by encouraging and promoting the creation, sharing, and use of open educational resources". In this presentation, a member of the OER working group presents the roadmap and its' accompanying guideline for the OER section, which tries to ensure that OERs are finally everybody's business in the Swedish Higher Education system.



Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Moore, M. G. (2022). From correspondence education to online distance education. In Handbook of Open, Distance and Digital Education (pp. 1-16). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

National Library of Sweden (2022). Öppna lärresurser – en kartläggning och analys: Redovisning av uppdraget om öppna lärresurser, U2021/04163. Available at: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kb:publ-691

National Library of Sweden (2024). Natio­nal guide­li­nes for promoting open science in Sweden. Available at: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kb:publ-722.

SUHF (2024). Färdplan för öppen vetenskap (reviderad). Available at: https://suhf.se/app/uploads/2024/02/REK-2021-1-Fardplan-for-oppen-vetenskap-SUHF-Antagen-av-SUHFs-presidium-REVIDERAD-240201-1.pdf.

Westman, P., & Paulsson, J. (2008). Open Educational Resources in Swedish Higher Education. ScieCom Info, 4(23).

Author Keywords
Open Educational Resources, National policies, Sweden, UNESCO recommendation on OER, Higher Education

In 2021 California made the largest public investment in history in OER and Zero Textbook Cost degrees with a $115M grant program. Beginning in 2022, all California Community Colleges received funds to develop and implement ZTC pathways. As of 2024, colleges are developing hundreds of ZTC pathways to transform the student experience in the United States’ largest system of higher education, serving 2M+ students.

In this session, hear from leaders who are coordinating and supporting colleges in this historic work. What supports are provided to colleges? How are diversity, equity, and inclusion woven into support for colleges? What role do Open Pedagogy and Generative AI play? What is the sustainability plan for this massive undertaking? We will also consider how California got here and what it will mean when all colleges offer ZTC pathways.

The unique audience of OEGlobal presents an opportunity to consider how the ZTC movement in California can impact higher education in general. 



Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

Author Keywords
Zero Textbook Cost degrees, Open Education policies and strategies, Community colleges

“An area of HE activity that is highly inequitable is the provision of expensive fully copyrighted print-based textbooks” (Cox, Masuku and Willmers: 2020).

Open educational resources (OER) have gained traction in many parts of the world, through their expression as open textbooks. South Africa is no exception when it comes to proclaiming their commitment to such open practice. The Open Learning Policy Framework for South African Post-School Education and Training commits higher education (HE) to such pursuits (Department: Higher Education and Training, 2017). As well as this national commitment, literature clearly demonstrates that open textbooks have the potential to disrupt the trajectory of exclusion in South African Higher Education by addressing issues of cost.

Open textbooks are also seen as a solution to variable quality of educational resources as well as addressing social injustice through increased access to learning materials (Cox et al., 2020; Hodgkinson-Williams & Arinto, 2017). The Digital Open Textbooks for Development (DOT4D) Project found that open textbooks “addressed economic, cultural, and political in justices faced by their students, issues not considered by traditional textbooks” (OER Africa, 2024). However, not much is known about the use of open textbooks in South African Higher education, especially in Accounting education and more specifically taxation education. Taxation is the focus of this study because of its content uniqueness to specific countries based on regional tax law.

In addition to the geographical uniqueness annual amendments to Tax Acts necessitate the continual updating of some content. Most universities in South Africa prescribe textbooks for undergraduate taxation modules (Department: Higher Education and Training, 2020). For all the reasons provided above and others reported in literature on open textbooks, this study aims to explore the use of open textbooks in Taxation. The challenge is that for the use of a taxation open textbooks to be sustainable, someone needs to take responsibility for updating for annual changes. Currently this function is performed by various commercial publishers who pay authors to do this.

The paper will report on a study focused on exploring the use of open textbooks in tax education. The paper will first report on a scoping review on the use of open textbooks in business education globally. The overarching question was: How are open textbooks used in business education? Following the scoping review, the study surveyed undergraduate taxation lecturers at South African universities to garner their perceptions regarding the use of open textbooks with the intention of introducing the use of open textbooks in tax education. The paper will report on the findings of this survey and more specifically identifying the challenges that need to be mitigated so that open textbooks or a sustainable alternative that speaks to increased access to learning materials and lower costs, can be introduced in the South African taxation education arena.



Included in [Session 10A]: Practice and Policy in OE

References
Cox, G., Masuku, B., & Willmers, M. (2020). Open textbooks and social justice: Open educational practices to address economic, cultural and political injustice at the University of Cape Town. Department: Higher Education and Training. (2017). Open Learning Policy Framework for Post-School Education and Training. (). https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201704/40772gon335.pdf Department: Higher education and Training. (2020). Students' Access to and Use of Learning Materials. Survey Report 2020. (). Pretoria: Department of Higher Education and Training. https://www.usaf.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/DHET_SAULM-Report-2020.pdf Hodgkinson-Williams, C., & Arinto, P. (2017). Adoption and impact of OER in the Global South. African Minds. OER Africa. (2024). What are the benefits of open textbooks in the Global South? OER Africa. Retrieved 19 May 2024, from https://www.oerafrica.org/content/what-are-benefits-open-textbooks-global-south

Author Keywords
Open Textbooks, OER, Accounting (Taxation)Education, Higher Education

Since changing roles from CEO to Head of Research at Moodle, Martin has had a lot more time in the past year to go deeper into new technologies and especially to study how they might affect education in general.

This presentation will cover:

- the long-term trends he's seeing around education and where that will probably take us in the next ten years and more.
- the main trends for the future of the Moodle platform, particularly for incorporating AI
- A discussion about a potentially important OER project for Open Education Global, on which your feedback is sought.

Included in [Session 11A]: Artificial Intelligence

AI pervades various facets of society, including education. In the open education domain, the notion of open AI, distinct from the entity OpenAI, is attracting attention. However, the precise connotations of "open" in conjunction with "AI" remain subject to diverse interpretations, reflecting conceptual tensions and longstanding differences around concepts of “open” in respective domains.

In a blog post last year, prominent edtech expert David Wiley wrote, “when people talk about whether or not generative AI should be “open,” they could be talking about whether the foundation models should be open, whether the modified model weights that result from fine-tuning should be open, and/or whether the prompts (which includes templates, embeddings, etc.) should be open” (Wiley, 2023). In a similar direction, focusing on licensing for different aspects of AI technology, the Open Source Initiative are currently developing an “open-source AI” definition (Open Source Initiative, 2024). On the other hand, in broader literature, definitions of open education and open technology encompass a wide range of concepts, where “open” could mean: “ethical” (Holmes et al., 2022), “inclusive” and “innovative” (Bozkurt, 2023), “co-created” and “learner-driven” (Walberg and Thomas, 1972), “non-proprietary” (Berners-Lee, 2023), “decentralised” (Crowston and Howison, 2005), “accessible without barriers” (Knox, 2013), “available to join”, “shared”, “not tightly controlled” (Weller, 2020), “available in the public domain or under an open license” (UNESCO, 2022), “interpretable” and “visible” (Conati, Porayska-Pomsta, and Mavrikis, 2018), and many others.

This indicates that “open AI” and “open-source AI” are overlapping but not identical concepts. “Open-source AI” seems to be about the tangible aspects of systems, whereas “open AI” is broader and potentially includes context of how systems can be used, who can use them, and what for. Rather than trying to resolve these debates into a single taxonomy/typology, we propose a meronomic, holistic account of openness in AI education which explores the relationship between definitions with respect to part-whole relationships. This will facilitate diverse contributions and critical discussion.

In this panel session, participants will have the opportunity to engage in the panel discussion and ask questions regarding the dimensions of openness of AI in education.

The agenda includes:

• 10 minutes: introductions, pre-recorded 1-slide lightning presentations from experts, panel reactions
• 10 minutes: panel interaction and debate
• 15 minutes: Q&A with panel members based on thoughts submitted by the audience (with backup questions prepared by the moderators).
• 5 minutes: closing discussion and synthesis.

Experts who agreed to contribute so far include David Wiley, Anne-Marie Scott, Aras Bozkurt, Chrissi Nerantzi and Leo Havemann. Some of them might join virtually. They will be provided with prompts ahead of time for their initial statements. Robert Farrow, an experienced moderator, will chair the panel discussion. During the discussion, delegates will be able to contribute reflections and questions through a back channel and these will be integrated into the discussion.

Included in [Session 11A]: Artificial Intelligence

References

Berners-Lee, T. (2023). Frequently asked questions by the Press – Tim BL (w3.org). Available at https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html (Accessed: 2 May 2024)

Bozkurt, A. (2023). Generative AI, Synthetic Contents, Open Educational Resources (OER), and Open Educational Practices (OEP): A New Front in the Openness Landscape. Open Praxis, 15(3), pp. 178–184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.15.3.579

Conati, C., Porayska-Pomsta, K. and Mavrikis, M., 2018. AI in Education needs interpretable machine learning: Lessons from Open Learner Modelling. arXiv preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.00154

Crowston, K. and Howison, J. (2005). The social structure of Free and Open Source software development. First Monday, Volume 10, Number 2 - 7 February 2005 Available at: https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/download/1207/1127 (Accessed: 2 May 2024)

Holmes, W., Porayska-Pomsta, K., Holstein, K., Sutherland, E., Baker, T., Shum, S.B., Santos, O.C., Rodrigo, M.T., Cukurova, M., Bittencourt, I.I. and Koedinger, K.R. (2022). Ethics of AI in education: Towards a community-wide framework. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, pp.1-23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021-00239-1

Knox, J. (2013). Five critiques of the open educational resources movement. Teaching in Higher Education, 18(8), pp. 821–832. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2013.774354

Open Source Initiative (2024). The Open Source AI Definition – draft v. 0.0.8. Available at: https://opensource.org/deepdive/drafts/the-open-source-ai-definition-draft-v-0-0-8 (Accessed: 2 May 2024)

UNESCO (2022). Understanding Open Science. UNESDOC Digital Library. DOI: https://doi.org/10.54677/UTCD9302

Walberg, H.J. and Thomas, S.C. (1972). Open education: An operational definition and validation in Great Britain and United States. American Educational Research Journal, 9(2), pp.197-208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312009002197

Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. Athabasca University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993050.01

Wiley, D. (2023). An analogy for understanding what it means for generative AI to be “Open”. Open Content. https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/7289

Author Keywords
Open AI, Open-source AI, Artificial Intelligence, Open data, Open-source technical platforms

The burgeoning integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT into the fabric of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has highlighted a promising new direction for enhancing automated essay assessment processes. This research delves into the practical implementation of LLMs for evaluating student essays within MOOC frameworks, focusing primarily on exploring advanced prompt engineering strategies.

We investigate a spectrum of methodologies, including few-shot learning, Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting, and fine-tuning techniques, to discern the most effective strategies for harnessing the capabilities of LLMs in this educational domain. Drawing from the latest advancements in natural language processing (NLP), our study examines the ability of LLMs to deliver accurate, efficient, and scalable assessments of student submissions.

MOOCs typically host hundreds to thousands of students per course, presenting significant logistical challenges regarding assignment evaluation. The volume of essays that require assessment can be overwhelming for instructors, making it virtually impossible to provide detailed, timely feedback without technological assistance. The deployment of LLMs promises not only to enhance the grading efficiency and maintain consistency in evaluation standards across large cohorts.

The primary objective of this study is to explore the application of generative AI (GAI) in assisting with essay grading, utilizing open courses hosted at ewant, the largest MOOCs platform run by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Taiwan . This course, "Required Credits for University Students - Emotional Education" is taught by Professor Chen Fei-Chuan at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Since its first delivery in 2015, this course has been offered 137 times, with nearly 20,000 students enrolled. From both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, this course represents an optimal choice for the study, offering substantial potential for further research and development. Assignments in this course predominantly involve open-ended questions without standard answers, encouraging students to reflect, discuss, share, and synthesize their personal experiences based on the knowledge acquired during the course. This type of unstructured assignment is better suited for introducing GAI than structured assignments in science and engineering courses with definitive answers.

This research aims to leverage a data-driven approach to develop a GAI system that replicates the grading standards and performance of the instructors or teaching assistants (graders), thereby assisting future educators in efficiently grading large volumes of written assignments. By analyzing the strengths and drawbacks of multiple prompt engineering and fine-tuning methods in automating essay evaluations, the study aims to establish a dataflow pipeline for AI-assisted essay grading, with the expectation of generalizing this process to other courses of a similar nature. Additionally, this research proposes recommendations for designing more effective and scalable automated essay assessment systems tailored for contemporary online education platforms.

Overall, this study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the potential of LLMs in transforming the landscape of essay assessment in MOOCs, thereby contributing valuable insights into the optimization of educational technologies in a GAI era.



Included in [Session 11A]: Artificial Intelligence

References
Brown, T., Mann, B., Ryder, N., Subbiah, M., Kaplan, J. D., Dhariwal, P., ... & Amodei, D. (2020). Language models are few-shot learners. Advances in neural information processing systems, 33, 1877-1901.

Kojima, T., Gu, S. S., Reid, M., Matsuo, Y., & Iwasawa, Y. (2022). Large language models are zero-shot reasoners. Advances in neural information processing systems, 35, 22199-22213.

Min, S., Lyu, X., Holtzman, A., Artetxe, M., Lewis, M., Hajishirzi, H., & Zettlemoyer, L. (2022). Rethinking the role of demonstrations: What makes in-context learning work?. arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.12837.

Wei, J., Bosma, M., Zhao, V. Y., Guu, K., Yu, A. W., Lester, B., ... & Le, Q. V. (2021). Finetuned language models are zero-shot learners. arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.01652.

Wei, J., Wang, X., Schuurmans, D., Bosma, M., Xia, F., Chi, E., ... & Zhou, D. (2022). Chain-of-thought prompting elicits reasoning in large language models. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 35, 24824-24837.

Author Keywords
Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models, Prompt Engineering, Assessment, MOOCs