Piloting the ENCORE+ Quality Framework (Deliverable 5.3)

This report provides the results of the evaluation of the ENCORE+ Quality Transparency Framework (ENCORE QTF). The QTF enables repositories to make their quality practices visible and explicit, and is described in ENCORE+ deliverable D5.2. The QTF was developed through extensive consultation with the OER community as part of the activities of the ENCORE+ project. The report provides the results of the evaluation of the ENCORE+ Quality Transparency Framework (ENCORE QTF).  This instrument enables repositories to make their quality practices visible and explicit, and is described in ENCORE+ deliverable D5.2. The QTF was developed through extensive consultation with the OER community as part of the activities of the ENCORE+ project. The two main purposes of the QTF are to make the quality practice of an OER repository visible to users (e.g. learners and teachers), and to enable repositories to share and jointly develop their quality practices on the base of and through a shared metadata framework.

The evaluation reengages with the OER community to establish if the QTF that emerged from the consultation process meets their expectations and requirements. Six extended interviews were carried out with representatives of repositories. The interviews were carried out remotely by a representative of the ENCORE+ project. Each interviewee completed the QTF for their own repository, and responded to questions about the QTF. The results were documented by the interviewer summarising the interviewees' responses during the interview and entering them into the shared document.

The results show that completion of the QTF form did not present any substantial challenges to any of the interviewees. However, a number of improvements were identified and the QTF has been adapted in response to these findings. Respondents were positive about the opportunities presented by the QTF for increasing the transparency of repositories' QA practices. Transparency offers were seen as, firstly, a measure that could increase trust in repositories and their contents, and secondly as a means of sharing practice between repositories, and providing a resource for the development of individual repositories QA practices. Some respondents also saw the QTF as a possible route to an OER repository quality mark or badge. The results of the evaluation also provide a useful starting point for the design of an infrastructure to support the sharing of QA processes between repositories and for repository stakeholders. A potential constraint on the adoption of such an infrastructure is that the QTF is not, at present, equally appropriate for all types of repositories.