Category: Open Education

CCK09, EC&I831, Learning Community, Open Education

Is Your Education Open?

Laura Pasquini

The term “open education” means different things to different people. There are many interpretations as to what open education and content means for learning. Often the financial costs, learning environments, accreditation and the role of the faculty are a few key issues that arise when discussed amongst educators.

I thought it was suitable to explore this topic, since I am currently enrolled in 2 open education courses, EC & I 831 & CCK 09 as a non-credit student. My goal in joining these open content courses was to collaborate with other learners, share resources, & establish on-going connections beyond the scope of the course, i.e. stay connected to people in the #edtech field for information-sharing and learning support. My participation in #eci831 & #cck09 has greatly enhanced my knowledge and research for my doctorate work at UNT, and I value the introductions to various topics, presenters, and peers.

Last week, Jon Mott joined #eci831 to discuss his experiences in open education. Here are the slides:

A few key take-away points, resources & quotes include:

  • Great Talk: David Wiley’s recent keynote on Open Education
  • openness allows for connection, personalizing and creation: allowance to share resources, ideas & knowledge
  • ability to move from passive consumption to sharing & collaborating amongst our connections
  • Creative Commons is a valuable entity that allows content to be shared & accessed
  • “Literacy is moving from being knowledgeable to knowledge-able.” ~Jon Mott
  • MIT Open CourseWare project is a solid model that offers free content for approximately 2000 courses
  • Open Courseware Consortium is a great database for other open education content
  • Other examples where education is open = Education Channel of YouTube,  iTunes U, and OER Commons
  • academic institutions vary their stance on content sharing, open education, etc
  • help students and instructors to understand the difference between “open” and “closed” education
  • need to seek sustainable models for open courseware and education
  • debates and questions continue about openness in education, with regards to Learning Management Systems (LMS), credentialing, faculty role, archeticture of courses, etc.
  • open education is more of a social & cultural issue, now that the technology is becoming rapidly available and accessible for learners/educators

The final thoughts prompted questions on how open education will impact our learners & how education will change in the future. More discussion about open education will continue tomorrow evening when Alan Levine joins #cck09 to share some of his thoughts around Openness & Transparency. Join in & share your two cents.

Learning Technologies, Open Education

TEC VARIETY

Laura Pasquini

Online learning requires motivation and engagement for success. Learners need to feel connected and empowered to support their involvement for online education. Curt Bonk explores motivation and retention in various e-learning environments. His latest publication, The World is Open, explores how technology is revolutionizing technology itself.

bonk bobble

Here are a couple of other worthy finds from Curt that may be useful for your next your virtual learning environment planning:

  1. Empowering Online Learning
  2. Tech-Variety – guide for motivation and retention online
  • Tone – how do learners describe themselves? set expectations & set goals?
  • Encouragement – provide means to give feedback to learners
  • Curiosity – online field trips, activities, remote sites, local correspondence, etc

 

  • Variety – hands on, visual, reading integrated text, providing options
  • Autonomy – choice, empowerment over learning, options, scaffold learning skills
  • Relevance – meaningful activities that relate back to the content
  • Interactivity – problem solving, case studies, working with a group, discussion threads, blogs and more!
  • Engagement – drafts due for projects, check-ins, experience the process of learning
  • Tension – role-play, alternative perspectives, controversy, e.g. devils advocate for positions
  • Yielding products – post to the web, present a gallery of students’ best work, showcase, share with an audience beyond a teacher – experts, peers, etc.
Collaboration, Higher Education, K-12, Open Education

Get Creative (Commons)

Laura Pasquini

cclogolarge

is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.

[They] provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.

Creative Commons (CC) is quite relevant for all faculty & instructors who put together online course materials for students. It allows for content, such as images, videos, writing and music, to be shared freely and some access rights to the intellectual property. As classrooms expand and more material is shared openly, it is important for educators to be aware of how to use Creative Commons, and the implications for teaching & learning. Here are a few videos that best explain CC.

If you look at the Content Directories of CC is utilized by many companies, and even educational institutions. Some faculty started to challenge the traditional methods of research collection and how intellectual property is shared with others. One faculty shares how to encourage this open education movement in a publication called –  Open Doors and Open Minds.

The recent development and contribution from Creative Commons is the DiscoverEd search engine,  which provides accessible searches for open educational resources. This allows educators to access and share teaching and learning materials in an effective, easy way.

The question is… Wanna Work Together?

Higher Education, Learning Technologies, Open Education

LMS/LCMS Review

Laura Pasquini

There are many Learning Management Systems (LMS) software that are available to purchase or as open-source content to best support online learning environments. I am currently exploring a few different options for a piece I am researching/writing about. I welcome any contributions to this topic: experience, recommendations, research, reviews, etc.

One of the first few LMS systems I used as a student was Blackboard. Often higher education institutions prefer to purchase commercial software for a university-wide learning platform. Other platforms include: WebCT, Angel, PeopleSoft (now owned by Oracle), Confluence, etc. These domains assure assistance and ‘security’ for the university, however how do faculty, staff & students optimize these learning environments.

In my later years of work & education, I have been introduced to open-source LMS platforms like Moodle. There seems to be a bit more flexibility in sharing information, opening up the classroom broadly and engaging learning.

Other LMS/LCMS platforms to review:

Here are a few reviews & articles for various LMS:

I am interested in expanding this list for both commercial and open-source LMS/LCMS platforms. Please share any that you have liked (or disliked), and why.

Higher Education, Open Education

Where Is the Open Education Movement Going?

Laura Pasquini

This question was posed as the central topic of today’s EDUCAUSE web seminar (May 19, 2009) – Where Is the Open Education Movement Going? hosted by Brian Lamb & David Wiley.

Much of the session focused around:

  • Open Educational Resources
  • Open Content
  • Open Access
  • Openness

For those of you who missed the presentation, you are able to access the Educause web seminar archive for the slides or recording of the online event.  This session was also a good prelude for the Open Education Conference which will be held in Vancouver, BC  August 12-14, 2009.

lowres_chasmposter

Great comments from the online chat in the session today. Here are a few messages that resonated with me:

  • Can’t we set up private areas as well as shareable areas in our online learning environments? Both can be useful.
  • Many faculty are online and don’t realize the extent possibly
  • Old School Traditional Professors Unite–you have nothing to lose but your chains. 🙂
  • A lot depends on the way the activities are integrated, and whether the teacher walks the walk him- or herself.

More converstations to follow on Twitter – #opened09