Teacher professionalisation tools for developing and arranging OER: Studying the WikiWijs portal

Background: Wikiwijs (2009-2016) ran as national initiative by the Dutch Ministry of Education to stimulate usage of free and open digital learning material. It aimed to develop an e-learning platform where teachers (in all sectors, going from primary to tertiary education) can both search, find and assess existing as well as develop, arrange and place new digital learning materials. Our paper presents the results of studies that examined the needs and tools required by teachers that want to develop and arrange such new digital materials. It thus provides valuable input when deciding on the policy and strategy for OER (Open Educational Resources). Method: The core of the paper is an empirical study we carried out to further determine the needs and tools for more didactical professionalisation. This type of support and existing OER will have to be provided through the ‘Wikiwise professionalisation portal’. In order to better functionally design the ‘professionalisation portal’ for Wikiwijs we have carried out both desk research and an additional survey study. We carried out desk research into most relevant, existing studies that (partially) dealt with this issue, and carried out another - more recent and more tailored - survey study that also questioned the needs and preferences for using digital OER in the future. A total of 347 teachers from various sectors filled in a structured questionnaire. Results: We found that there is still a long way to go for schools to effectively facilitate their teachers in learning to effectively use and apply digital OER in their daily practice. In this respect, primary education schools are already making good efforts integrating professionalisation in school innovation. Besides technical support, special attention seems to be needed for ‘pedagogical modelling’ when teachers want to combine OER into meaningful education (e.g. continuous learning lines or curricula), an approach followed instigated by the LO (Learning Objects) movement in the past. Older and more experienced teachers seem to fall a bit behind using ICT and OER.