iBuilding for Success? iBooks as Open Educational Resources in Built Environment Education

Recent years have seen a shift in the teaching and learning sphere towards online, open reusable resources that can be accessed and exploited by teachers and learners alike to enhance the e-learning experience. At the University of Ulster, a Higher Education Academy funded project to create and rollout a series of Apple iPad iBooks was undertaken to support students on an Architectural Technology and Management undergraduate degree programme. The goal of the iBooks project was to create a media-rich, reusable Open Educational Resource (OER) which the students could use in-class and off-campus to study the fundamentals of the topic. This paper reports upon the experience of a range of academics, mostly within built environment disciplines, in the rollout and use of the iBooks to date. Initially, the project was solely aimed at supporting students on an Architectural Technology and Management programme. However, interest from academics working in institutions in the UK, Europe and further afield has led to an expansion of the project, with academics within these institutions now being able to download and engage with the resource. This paper will report on the 'work in progress' findings of a study to determine whether the iBook can become an effective, truly open educational resource which can be utilised in a range of countries. It will present the benefits, pitfalls and guidelines noted by participants in the experience and list possible areas for further expansion of the study.