Tag: openeducation

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.

EC&I831, Learning Community

Open, Connected & Social With EC&I 831

Laura Pasquini

The next online, open education course I am involved with this semester is EC&I 831: Social Media & Open Education from the University of Regina with Dr. Alec Couros that meets only every Tuesday evening (8-10pm CST). I first learned about this course through a few online networks in the ed tech arena, and I thought it may be an interesting lens to review curriculum and content development for learning. Here’s the 5 minute elevator pitch for the course:

The Tuesday evening elluminate session provided the basic introduction to the course schedule and outline. I am looking forward to connecting to other students to further explore the role of the educator/learner in terms of media literacy, knowledge and social networks.

It was great to hear the parallels between my personal philosophy of education, and how it ties into the learning objectives of this course.  Dr. Couros’ believes that there are great strengths in learning relationships and connectiveness amongst students, rather than just the specific content or knowledge.  It will be interesting to see how this sentiment is interpretted by the various weekly session speakers and participants throughout the course of the semester.

Although this course is similar to CCK09, I think that EC&I 831 will challenge me to:

  • get perspectives of social media education – history, ideas & development
  • expand my social learning theories & applications
  • experiment & play with NEW social learning & open educational tools/resources
  • provide a critical lens for curriculum development with social media & open education
  • build up my learning network – connect & enage with new online peers
Learning Community, MOOC, Professional Development, Social Media

Open Learning Courses: EC&I 831 and CCK09

Laura Pasquini

Summer always leads to much needed time outdoors and away from the computer. It’s nice to be off the grid, but also good to plug in and reconnect with friends and learning ideas online.

To kick off the new academic year, online education, and career development I have signed up for a couple of online, open education courses to compliment the grad program I start this fall.

open

Here are the two courses that I am connecting with mid-September:

1. Connectivism & Connective Knowledge 2009 (CCK09)

This course is led by Stephen Downes and George Siemens. The CCK08 Syllabus and supporting content can be found on the CCK09 Wiki.

You can register to receive course information here. Learners can also get formal credit as part of the Certificate in Emerging Technologies for Learning can enroll through University of Manitoba’s Extended Education Faculty. The course will begin on September 14, 2009.

2. EC & I 831: Social Media & Open Education

This is an open access graduate course from the Faculty of Education, University of Regina by Dr. Alec Couros. Although this courses is for credit, there is also an opportunity for participation from non-credit students. All lectures in this course, from September 15/09 to December 8/09 will be publicly available. To access the lectures, look for the appropriate date under “Synchronous Sessions“, then look for the weekly Elluminate link. I will also offer the appropriate Elluminate link via tweet via @courosa.

If you’re looking to learn from interesting and experienced educators, while connecting to peers and resources online, than one or both of these courses may be of interest to you. Sign up & join in the fun. Although I’ll be busy with work & school, I’ll be sure to continue to share my thoughts, ideas and resources that I learn here.

If you are currently interacting and learning from another open course… please share. Happy open learning!

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, 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