Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources

Article by: Stephen Downes

Sustainability models of Open Educational Resources are funding, technical and content. Benefits are as stated to Authors (access to the widest possible audience), Reader (access to an entire body of literature), Publishers (widest dissemination of articles) and File Sharing (market increase). The primary argument is based on value. Benefits are to the well-being of the community as a whole and the increase value regarding individual resources. Why are open educational resources desirable in the first place?

Nine funding models financially support the sustainability of Open Educational Resources

Endowment (interest earned from charitable foundations)

Membership (coalition organizations making contributions or by subscription toward operating revenues or OER services)

Donations (supported by the wider community and applied to operating “content” expenses)

Conversion (subscribers receive services such as installation support and/or advance features)

Contributor-pay (sustain cost of maintaining the contribution fund)

Sponsorship - partnership with educational institutions (sustain open access to free radio, TV, commercial messages and public broadcasting)

Institutional (assumes responsibility itself for OER initiative)

Governmental (sustains direct funding for OER)

Partnerships and exchanged (sustains the development of OER networks)

What comprises sustainability eventually depends on the economies and the objectives of the provider. The technical model judges how the development and distribution of OER are achieved. The development of an OER network involves tools for access, including browsing, searching, data-mining and syndication.

Concerns of its quality are:

· trust of learning resources
· faculty training needs
· access to OER

In concluding, the content model has sustainability license associated with resource concerns.

· Does published material remain property of whom produced it?
· Can authors request material to be removed from the user site?
· Can material be updated or amended only upon author approval?
· Can content exclusively be used by non-profit educational org.?
· Can for-profit institutions have access?

Rita Fowler