International consortium Bielefeld University (leading organization): Prof. Dr. Michaela Vogt & Marlene Pieper, M.A. Dalarna University, Sweden: Prof. Anette Bagger, Ph.D. Ostrava University, Czech Republic: Prof. Zuzana Sikorová, Ph.D. University of Luxembourg: Prof. Dr. Katja Andersen

Project description

Overview Open Educational Resources (OER) are of particular importance in the context of education under the conditions of digitality. This refers to educational materials that are published under an open licence and are therefore freely accessible and usable, shareable and modifiable. They are thus recognised as having an inherent potential to promote inclusive education.

However, inclusion and inclusion sensitivity in teaching and learning settings is not limited to the approval and adaptability of materials. At the same time, there is a lack of quality criteria for inclusion-sensitive digital educational materials in general and OER in particular. There is also a lack of information on how teachers can modify and adapt digital materials in order to make both teaching and learning inclusion-sensitive. If OER are contextualised with inclusive education, this connection is characterised by a lack of clarity and research desiderata.

Objectives The aim of the DigiLLM project is to establish, expand and internationally anchor this discourse on inclusion sensitivity in the context of OER. This is done by establishing a comprehensive digital ecosystem:

A digital portal has been created to become the central point of contact on the topic of "inclusion and OER", offering teachers, student teachers, learners and researchers a space to critically engage with digital educational materials and OER.

Initial explorative analyses of various OER platforms from all project countries and an international literature review will be made available. Interviews and group discussions are used to capture the perspectives of teaching staff, instructors, lecturers and learners on OER and their sensitivity to inclusion.

Based on this initial research, a Framework for Reflection on Living Learning Materials (FRoLLM) was developed to reflect on inclusion-sensitive learning materials and open educational resources. It forms the basis for a training module for teachers and student teachers. These results are available in an open access format.

By setting up an openly accessible, interactive rating function on the digital portal, teachers, students, school pupils and parents will be able to evaluate existing OER according to the newly developed criteria. This invites a broad public to enter into a critical discourse on the topic of inclusion sensitivity in OER. Student teachers are also particularly encouraged to use these tools and digital spaces to reflect on the connection between inclusion sensitivity and learning materials. You are invited to join the discussions!

This participatory part in turn flows back into the academic discourse in that the assessments and reviews designed by teaching staff, instructors, lecturers and students become the basis for meta-reviews from a researcher's perspective. These meta-reviews will be published in the peer-reviewed journal DILeMa (https://www.biejournals.de/index.php/dilema/index), thereby stabilising the discourse on inclusion sensitivity in OER at an international level.

Bielefeld University is the leading organization of the project.