Paul Maharg Glasgow Graduate School of Law

1. Simulations as open educational resources (OER) Karen Barton, School of Law, University of StrathclydePatricia McKellar, UK Centre for Legal Education Paul Maharg, School of Law, University of Northumbria Paul MahargGlasgow Graduate School of Law

2. OER – what are they? • Learning content - full courses, course materials, content modules, learning objects, collections and journals • Tools - software to support the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content including searching and organisation of content, content and learning management systems, content development tools and online learning communities. • Implementation resources - intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design principles and localisation of content.

3. Cape Town Open Education Declaration

4. why create OER? • Lowers the costs of educational materials for students • Fosters pedagogical innovation and relevance that avoids ‘teaching from the textbook’ • Gives faculty tools to gain control over learning content and delivery. • Share and remix learning materials for customized and localized use • Fast feedback loop on quality and relevance of learning materials => continual improvement and rapid development http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/OER+Benefits

5. 3 types of OER… • Institutional OpenCourseWare initiatives: eg MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Open University, etc • Disciplinary initiatives: eg HumBox, or disciplinary repositories • Pedagogic initiatives (simSHARE) • There are hundreds of examplesof each category http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Disciplinary_repositories

6. institutional OER: Open University

7. MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) Initiative • 2000: OpenCourseWareinitiated • Goal: to make allprimary course resources accessible on the web • 2002: launched 50-course pilot • 2009: 1,900 coursesavailable free online

8. disciplinary OER: HumBox Project

9. simulations: a definition • educational simulation : ‘a simplified, dynamic and precise representation of reality defined as a system...a model of reality defined as a system; a dynamic model; a simplified model; a model that has fidelity, accuracy and validity…[and] should address directly the learning outcomes’ • simulation game: ‘one or more players participate in a simulation and interact with its various components, [upon which] the notion of a winner and loser is introduced’ (Sauvé et al, 2007, pp251-253).

10. educational approach to simulation concept of transactional learning is active learning, is based on doing legal transactions, involves reflection on learning, enables deep collaborative learning, requires holistic or process learning, facilitates ethical and professional learning encourages immersion in professional role play develops task authenticity Paul Maharg (2004)

12. Provided academic staff in UK Universities with software tools to design and build simulations and collate all of the resources required Developed teaching, learning and assessment templates, including curriculum guidelines Provided tools to create a map and directory for a virtual town Enabled communication between students and simulated characters/staff Monitoring and mentoring functions Evaluated student and staff experiences in using the simulation environment what has the SIMPLE project done?

13. aims of the simSHARE project? • Collation of simulation resources which are repurposed as open educational content • Creation of guidelines for future publication of simulation projects • Help staff to use simulation more widely and effectively through staff development. • Create methodologies that will help staff to see more clearly how simulation OER can be interpreted and in particular how to: • Generate or re-purpose a simulation • Archive a simulation • Retrieve a simulation and analyse its component parts for educational value and purpose

14. project details • Funded in the by JISC & HEA through the subject centre – see http://www.jisc.ac.uk/oer for list of current projects • Core personnel: • Danielle Lysaght (Project Manager, UKCLE) • Julian Priddle, (Project Co-ordinator) • Sheila Skinner (Development Officer) • Gavin Maxwell (Web Developer)

16. my profile

23. future plans • Collation of as many interdisciplinary sims as we can get • Currently in dissemination phases of project • simSHARE adds value to open-source SIMPLE, by disseminating SIMPLE blueprints as open resources

24. 1. sustainability is not the main issue… • Simshare is not an organisation (Microsoft), it’s an ecosystem (Linux) • Like all Open ecosystems, it’s remarkably tolerant of failure • Cheap failure enables the creation of multiple possibilities • It best operates on a publish-then-filter model • This model requires very minimal infrastructure (Wikipedia vs Encarta)

25. … it’s the type of CoP we need … Re social capital, do we want – • Bonding capital? • Increase in trust & connections within a homogeneous group, eg a disciplinary group or even sub-group interested in sims • Relatively exclusive • People support each other’s worldviews • Bridging capital? • Increase in connections among heterogeneous groups, eg differentdisciplinary groups interested in sims • Relatively inclusive • Puts people at great risk of having good ideas… Thanx to Shirky, C. (2008) Here Comes Everybody, London, p.222

26. … and how we go about achieving it. • Construe Simshare as ‘commons-based peer production’ (Benkler) • Bring together heterogeneous groups, ie use bridging capital • Build from the most local levels up, where there’s opportunity to host & bridge • Accept power law distribution of effort, sharing & use. • Reconceptualise OER not as harmonious sharing but as peer improvement and adaptation – sometimes with bittersweet results • Link research to practice; radicalise practice by using Simshare as a ZPD, a safe zone for experimentation