OER Commons Green was jointly developed by ISKME and Agro-Know, using a global team of e-learning metadata specialists.  The team iteratively co-designed a vocabulary for categorizing green learning resources and collaboratively developed all aspects of the site.

ISKME aimed to inform the project by examining how teachers and learners use, adapt, create, and evaluate SP resources and draw upon other network members in the process. Also assessed were the project’s impact on teaching and learning and its implications for scaling the SP Education Network model to other contexts, subjects and disciplines. The research goals were manifold. First, it sought to shed light on how the Signal Processing Education Network model is aligned to new teaching and learning practices for participating faculty and students. It also sought to inform the ways in which the SP Education Network model contributes to the engineering discipline, and conversely, what engineering as a discipline contributes to the model. Finally, the research attempted to provide insights into the ways that knowledge sharing occurs, types of knowledge shared, and the role of knowledge sharing in enhancing teaching and learning practices.

Data collection included interviews with project leaders, a baseline survey of faculty to assess extant teaching practices and perceptions, a baseline survey of existing SP content and its use, surveys of faculty and student participants to asses changes in teaching and learning perceptions and practices, analysis of artifacts on the SPEN and DSP community sites, and use analysis of activity on associated project sites. Data collection also included grades and enrollment and retention data for students to provide indications of the impact of the project on student learning, achievement and persistence.

As a project partner, ISKME contributed to the development of a "collaboratory" framework focused on bridging the project's goals of participatory learning, teacher collaboration, and OER content creation and use. The framework was then implemented in a series of workshops with SCOPE participants. In addition, ISKME aggregated new and existing Problem Spaces on its OER Commons site. These collaboratively created resources offered community-built access to current scientific data, strategies, and tools for both the teacher and their learners as they engaged in exploration of contemporary science problems.

 In an effort to help LCJE understand the requirements and implications of enhanced support for its partner districts, ISKME conducted a study that included in-depth interviews with 18 top-level district administrators from LCJE’s partner districts. The purpose of the interviews was to shed light on how the districts define leadership; how they understand and assess their existing leadership pathways and practices; and how they view the role of the university in supporting their leadership development needs. As such, the two key goals of the study were to identify collaborative support mechanisms and practices that could inform the development of services offered by LCJE to more effectively align itself with district leadership development needs; and to forward the conversations between LCJE and its districts in a way that would help identify the places where LCJE could make a positive impact on its partner districts’ leadership practices. 

The study roots its analysis in the instructors who teach developmental education online, specifically through the examination of their experiences, practices, and perceptions around online teaching and learning. In doing so, it seeks to inspire new avenues for research and knowledge on online instruction of developmental education courses, which can in turn serve as a catalyst for innovations in online developmental education in the face of growing demand.

Connexions log file data from April 2000 to July 2005 were analyzed. Examination – in the form of frequencies, correlations, probability and qualitative analyses – allowed for the quantification and qualification of OER use and reuse behaviors and provided insight into the factors that support these behaviors. Also, because Connexions allows author users to enter comments about why they augmented and published OER content, data allowed for the analysis of the reasons for creating content, and user perceptions of that process. Because the focus was to better understand aspects of author use and reuse that center around content creation, augmentation, and collaboration, the analysis was confined to CNX users who have created, augmented and contributed OER content to Connexions.

These users are referred to in this study as ‘author users.’ After the log file analysis was completed, eleven follow-up phone interviews were conducted in order to contextualize the findings from the log file analysis from the perspective of specific author users. The goal of the interviews was to understand obstacles to and incentives for content creation, use, and reuse. The interviewees were selected based upon the frequency and type of activities that they participated in – the objective being to have a diverse mix of participants with varying levels of use and types of activities. The questions posed to the eleven participants centered on why they chose to use Connexions, their typical activities, and their prior experiences with creating and using OER. Thus, while the quantitative data provided insight into use and reuse practices, as well as into some of their determinants, the interviews conducted with the selection of author users added depth to these findings by delving into the why and how behind use and reuse practices, as well as into the discontinuation of use and reuse by some users. 

Data collection consisted of pre-visit interviews, a two-day site visit to each of the ten selected sites and meetings with commuity and corporate partners, members of the planning committee, volunteers and team leaders for the community build day, as well as current parent, child, and teacher users. This also included a survey of playground impact on children, a partnership survey, observations and photo documentation of the playground itself, and a "windshield" survey of each community (which consisted of a 45-minute drive with one or more community members through the local neighborhood that the playground served).