Open Educational Resources and Practices in Estonia

Open Educational Resources and
Practices in Estonia
Hans Põldoja
Tallinn University

Hans Põldoja
Head of Studies, Associate Professor of Educational Technology
Tallinn University, School of Digital Technologies
Education:
Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture (2016)
Tallinn Pedagogical University (2003)
hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
http://www.hanspoldoja.net

Estonia
Population: 1,319,000
Area: 45,000 km2
Ofﬁcial language: Estonian
Students:
General education: 147,000
Vocational education: 24,000
Higher education: 46,000
516 schools, 14,000 teachers
38 vocational education institutions
20 higher education institutions (incl 6
universities in public law)

• Change in the approach to learning
• Competent and motivated teachers and school
leadership
• Concordance of lifelong learning opportunities
with the needs of labour market
• A digital turn in lifelong learning
• Equal opportunities and increased participation in
lifelong learning
The Estonian Lifelong Learning Strategy 2014–2020

• Incorporating a digital culture into the learning
process
• Supporting digital learning resources in schools
• Accessing a modern digital infrastructure for learning
• Creating and implementing assessment models for
digital competence
• Creating learning opportunities for adults to acquire
digital competences
https://www.hm.ee/en/activities/digital-focus
The Digital Turn programme

OER repositories in Estonia
• e-koolikott (2016–…), 18700 resources, 11700 OER
• Koolielu: (2001–…), 5700 resources, 3300 OER
• e-ope.ee repository: (2009–…), 4600 OER
• LeMill: (2006–2015), 3400 OER in Estonian under CC BY-SA

Digital learning resources for upper
secondary schools
• Four subject domains out of six: mathematics, science, social
studies and arts
• More than 10000 resources, all under CC BY license
• Developed by 120 teachers
• Authoring platform H5P + Drupal
• Piloted in 30 schools, launched in October 2018

http://www.e-ope.ee/repositoorium/

Creative Commons licenses
0,0%
25,0%
50,0%
75,0%
Koolielu (K12, 2001-2016) e-ope.ee (vocational education, 2009-2016) e-Koolikott (2016-…)
0,3%
46,1%
1,6%
28,4%
40,9%
48,7%
2,4%2,2%2,4%
0,0%
1,9%
0,2%
7,3%6,6%
42,4%
61,5%
2,2%
4,7%
Attribution Attribution-ShareAlike
Attribution-NoDerivs Attribution-NonCommercial
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

e-Koolikott
repository
H5P resource
Learning resource
Learning resource
Subchapter
Learning resource
Subchapter
Chapter
e-Koolikott collection
DigiÕppeVaramu
(Drupal + H5P)
Moodle
eKool
Stuudium
eDidaktikum
Authoring
LePlanner scenario
Learning resource
Learning resource
Activity
Teacher
Learner
Learning resource
Activity
Publishing Integrating Using
H5P resource
Simple web sites
Weebly WordPress
Blogger Google Sites
Web 2.0 tools
YouTube
SlideShare
Kahoot!
LearningApps
Google Drive
Open Web
HITSA repository
Koolielu repository
Legacy systems
EIS
EscCORE metadata

(Massive) Open Online Courses
• University of Tartu: high quality MOOCs in programming,
chemistry, etc.
• Tallinn University: EMMA project, blog-based open online
courses

https://www.ut.ee/et/oppimine/moocid

https://platform.europeanmoocs.eu

https://opikeskkonnad.wordpress.com

https://iﬁ7313.wordpress.com

Course blog
Learner blogs
Blog-based open online courses

Course format
• Course blog + learner blogs
• Additional Web 2.0 and social media tools (Twitter, SlideShare,
YouTube, …)
• Open enrollment
• Open educational resources
• Assignments through blog posts
• Feedback and discussion in comments

Väljataga, T., Põldoja, H., Laanpere, M. (2011).
Open Online Courses: Responding to Design
Challenges. In H. Ruokamo, M. Eriksson, L. Pekkala,
& H. Vuojärvi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th
International Network-Based Education 2011
Conference The Social Media in the Middle of
Nowhere (pp. 68-75). Rovaniemi: University of
Lapland.
Proceedings of the NBE 2011
68
Open Online Courses: Responding to Design Challenges
Terje Väljataga
terje.valjataga@tlu.ee
http://terjevaljataga.eu
Hans Põldoja
hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
Mart Laanpere
mart.laanpere@tlu.ee
Tallinn University
Centre for Educational Technology
Narva road 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia
Tel: +372 6409 355, Fax: +372 6409 355
Open education and open educational resources movement as a recent trend in higher education focuses on providing free access to a
wide range of educational resources and online courses. However, such a narrow approach fails to acknowledge the transformative and
innovative opportunities openness can offer in higher education. The authors of the paper take a wider perspective to the concept of
openness in formal higher education. In addition to open technology, content and knowledge sharing openness in course design is an
important dimension to consider. Although open online course design solves many educational problems and challenges, at the same
time it also creates new ones. This paper discusses about the re-occurring course design challenges that facilitators face while designing
and running open courses. Through a multiple case study a variety of design responses to the design challenges is analyzed and
demonstrated.
Keywords: open online course model, open educational resources, pedagogical design, multiple
case study
1 Introduction
The concept of openness has multiple interpretations and dimensions in the context of higher education. Among
others, it has been used by proponents of open classroom approach in 1970-ties and by distance education
enthusiasts while establishing open universities”. The purpose was to solve a number of educational problems
and challenges, for instance, to improve access to existing study programmes and attract more (or better)
students following Huijser, Bedford, and Bull’s (2008) claim that everyone has the right to education. In
general, openness in education is attributed to a barrier-free access to education in terms of time, affordability
and admission requirements being freely available through the Internet.
A recent trend is the open educational resources (OER) movement (Atkins, Brown & Hammond, 2007), which
provides free access to a wide range of educational resources and online courses. OER and its importance has
been widely documented and demonstrated (Downes, 2007). The key tenet of open education is that “education
can be improved by making educational assets visible and accessible and by harnessing the collective wisdom
of a community of practice and reflection” (p. 2) (Iiyoshi & Kumar, 2008).
The notion of openness in education is clearly triggered by the opportunities technological development offers.
In addition to growing access to Internet, the latest evolution of digital technology and Web has fostered a new
culture of creating and sharing open content in online communities. It has been possible due to the blurred line
between producers and consumers of content allowing shifted attention from access to information toward
access to other people (Iiyoshi & Kumar, 2008). In the light of ongoing technological development, there are
educators who are exploring ways to expand the notion of openness in education beyond public sharing of
educational content. Iiyoshi & Kumar (2008) point out that with the concept of openness we might tend to grow
our collections of educational tools and resources and miss the transformative and innovative opportunities
“openness” can offer. One of the emerging practices in this direction is the open online course model.

Challenges in blog-based courses
• Coordinating and following the course activities
• Creating and sustaining the learning community
• Designing content and activities
• Feedback and assessment

Põldoja, H., Duval, E., & Leinonen, T. (2016). Design
and evaluation of an online tool for open learning
with blogs. Australasian Journal of Educational
Technology, 32(2), 64–81. http://dx.doi.org/
10.14742/ajet.2450
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2016, 32(2).
64
ascilite
Design and evaluation of an online tool for open learning
with blogs
Hans Põldoja
Tallinn University, Estonia
Erik Duval
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Teemu Leinonen
Aalto University, Finland
Blogs are used in higher education to support face-to-face courses, to organise online
courses, and to open up courses for a wider group of participants. However the open and
distributed nature of blogs creates problems that are not common in other learning contexts.
Four key challenges related to the use of blogs in learning were identified from earlier
research: fragmented discussions, a lack of coordination structures, weak support for
awareness, and a danger of over-scripting. The EduFeedr system has been designed to
address these issues. In this paper, the authors present their evaluation of its design and
effectiveness in a total of 10 courses. The results indicate that learners find the EduFeedr
system useful in following discussions and in comparing their progress with other learners.
The coordination and awareness issues are seen as more important than the fragmentation
of discussions and a danger of over-scripting.
Introduction
Blogs are used in higher education to provide a space for reflection, a forum for discussions, a portfolio of
completed assignments, and for opening up courses for a wider group of participants. While some recent
research has focused on the pedagogical aspects of using blogs in higher education, Sim and Hew (2010)
suggest that one focus of future research should be the development of web technologies that will
enhance the conversational and interactive aspects of blogging. Our study focuses on designing and
evaluating an online tool that aims to address some of the issues that impede the use of blogs in online
and blended learning courses.
A blog is a website where the content is comprised of posts that are displayed in reverse chronological
order. A typical blog is a personal website that is written by a single person; however it is also possible to
have several authors. Readers can become engaged by writing comments on blog posts. Syndication
technologies such as really simple syndication (RSS) and Atom enable readers to receive new posts and
comments automatically. All blogs and their interconnections are often referred to as the blogosphere.
The blogosphere can be seen both as a social network and as an ecosystem.
The possibilities for using blogs in learning became evident soon after blogs emerged (Oravec, 2003;
Williams & Jacobs, 2004). Sim and Hew (2010) identified six major applications for blogs in education:
(a) maintaining a learning journal, (b) recording personal life, (c) expressing emotions, (d)
communicating with others, (e) assessment, and (f) managing tasks.
Kim (2008) suggests that the use of blogs may help to overcome various limitations of other computer-
mediated communication systems, such as difficulties in managing communication, passiveness of
students, lack of ownership, instructor-centeredness, and limited archives of communication. Previous
studies show that reading other blogs and receiving feedback on one’s own blog posts were the more
effective aspects of using blogs in learning (Churchill, 2009; Ellison & Wu, 2008). Blogs are useful in
disciplines that require students to discuss, write, reflect, and make comments about content or ideas
(Cakir, 2013). Blogging has been found particularly beneficial in teacher education because it can
motivate learners, foster collaboration and cooperation, promote different instructional practices, and
enrich the learning environment (Goktas & Demirel, 2012). Teachers who acquire these competences
during the blogging assignments can later apply these methods in their own teaching.

Personal introductions / About pages

Learning contract template
• Topic: What is the topic I wish to learn about?
• Purpose: What is the purpose of my task? Why do I wish to learn about or learn to do a
particular task?
• Resources: What kind of technological, material and human resources do I need? How can I
get access to these?
• Strategy: How do I intend to go about learning this particular topic/task? What action may be
involved and in what order will these be carried out?
• Outcome evaluation: How will I know when I have completed the task/topic successfully?
How shall I judge success?
• Reﬂection: How well did I do? What has worked? What has not worked? Why? What remains
to be learnt? What are my strengths and what are my weaknesses? What shall I do next?

Publishing course content
• WordPress pages for lecture notes
• SlideShare for presentations
• YouTube for videos and screencasts
• Mendeley for research publications
• Dropbox for resources that cannot be shared in public web
(scanned book chapters, etc.)

Designing assignments
• Assignments combine practical and theoretical learning goals
• Assignments encourage reﬂection
• Assignments allow each learner to come up with an original
solution

Põldoja, H., Jürgens, P., & Laanpere, M. (2016).
Design Patterns for Badge Systems in Higher
Education. In M. Spaniol, M. Temperini, D.K.W.
Chiu, I. Marenzi, & U. Nanni (eds.), Advances in
Web-Based Learning — ICWL 2016 (Vol. 10013, lk
40– 49). Cham: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1007/978-3-319-47440-3_5
Design Patterns for Badge Systems in Higher Education
Hans Põldoja
(✉)
, Pirje Jürgens, and Mart Laanpere
Tallinn University, Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia
{hans.poldoja,pirje.jurgens,mart.laanpere}@tlu.ee
Abstract. Open Badges as a method for assessment and recognition of learning
originates from the context of informal learning. Thus, it cannot be introduced
into formal higher education without reconsidering the existing assessment
processes.This paper presentsexperiencesfrom three years of using Open Badges
in a master level course. In each iteration, the badge system was revised based on
learners’ feedback. Special attention was given to supporting learners with
different learning styles. To summarize our findings, this paper proposes a set of
design patterns for developing badge systems in higher education. While the
learning styles proved to be useful as generic design guidelines for separating two
alternative learning pathways for the course, more research is needed on advanced
learning-style-based learning pathways.
Keywords: Open Badges · Assessment · Higher education
1 Introduction
Open Badges (OB’s) is a web technology for recognizing and verifying knowledge,
competencies or involvements gained in online or offline settings. In a basic sense,
badges are digital images that contain embedded information about the accomplish‐
ments. The development of the Open Badges technology started in 2010, when a group
of open education activists came up with the initial concept during the Mozilla Drumbeat
Festival. Inspired by the use of digital badges in gaming and various social apps, they
proposed that badges could be used for verifying learning. The technical specification
of the Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI) was developed together with the Mozilla
Foundation and released in 2012. While digital badges are typically used within a single
environment, OBI was developed as an open standard that allows people to collect
badges from different issuers. The initial scenarios about using open badges focused on
informal learning contexts [1]. However, in recent years there have been a number of
studies about using badges in schools [2, 3] and in higher education [4–6].
Introducing open badges to formal higher education courses provides an opportunity
to reconsider the existing assessment procedures. Recent research on open badges has
proposed a number of reasons for adopting badges. Ahn, Pellicone, and Butler [7] see
badges as motivators for behavior, pedagogical tools for promoting particular learning
activities, and credentials for recognizing learning achievements. While Jovanovic and
Devedzic [8] identify similar roles for open badges, they discuss additional benefits such
as supporting alternative forms of assessment (e.g. peer-assessment), providing learners
© Springer International Publishing AG 2016
D.K.W. Chiu et al. (Eds.): ICWL 2016, LNCS 10013, pp. 40–49, 2016.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-47440-3_5

Challenges for Open Education in Estonia
• Lack of speciﬁc OER policy in state and institutional level
• Lack of coordinated OER initiatives in higher education
• Lack of a functional open education community
• Sustainability of initiatives, repositories and practices
• Inconsistent approach to digital learning resources in different levels
of education
• Lack of research on the outcome and impact of OER

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Hans Põldoja
hans.poldoja@tlu.ee
Head of studies
School of Digital Technologies
Tallinn University
https://www.slideshare.net/hanspoldoja

Open Educational Resources and Practices in Estonia

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