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This article started out with my being bothered by the fact that ‘OER adoption reliably saves students money but does not reliably improve their outcomes.’ ’ For many years OER advocates have told faculty, “When you adopt OER your students save money and get the same or better outcomes!”
At some point over the last decade, open educational resources (OER) advocacy in US higher education became zero textbook costs (ZTC) advocacy. This is why I refer to this line of advocacy as “free no matter the cost.” Is there a role for OER in this emerging learning materials landscape? We can hope.
K-12 education system by open educational resources (OER) since 2009, although my first exposure to the ideas and leaders of the movement stretch back to the launch of the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative. This is where context matters most for the OER movement. Even within the U.S.
Effective Advocacy. This has been the core of the open source software advocacy strategy – not appeals to altruism, and certainly not moralizing grandstanding – but a rational, self-interested explanation of why a business would benefit from adopting the open source model.
There’s great news out of the recent UNESCO meeting in Paris, where member states unanimously adopted the draft Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER). This dramatically simplifies understanding what is and isn’t OER. Resources in the public domain or released under an open license are OER.
They were relatively easy to tell apart from one another and advocacy was rather straight forward. As the movement grew and more people began advocating for the adoption of OER in place of traditionally copyrighted materials in classes, some advocates chose to make cost the primary focus of their advocacy. grey below).
These are purchasing programs in which “institutions are signing up whole classes of students to automatically receive digital course materials at a discounted rate, rather than purchasing individually.” And obviously, both inclusive access and OER are about solving the cost problem. Can you see it? A distraction.
However, inclusive access and equitable access aren’t the only models that automatically charge students a fee for their course materials. Many institutions charge students a fee associated with their OERcourses as a way of funding the institutions’ OER efforts.
OERadvocacy, like most work, is filled alternately with advances and setbacks. But other responses called the discussion of practice unimaginative and accused me of underestimating the pedagogical change that OER is capable of catalyzing. And why aren’t they using OER in their classes? A world of tears.
I spend most of my time doing fairly tactical thinking and working focused on moving OER adoption forward in the US higher education space. In this vision of the world, OER replace traditionally copyrighted, expensive textbooks for all primary, secondary, and post-secondary courses. My end goal isn’t to increase OER adoption.
An open-access advocacy group on Wednesday sent a formal filing to the U.S. But they argue that their new business models—subscription options and inclusive access plans—benefit students and colleges and reduce the cost of course materials thanks to economies of scale.
In the early 2000s, MIT OpenCourseWare put forth a more coherent strategy of openly licensing the entire collection of materials faculty had developed for a specific course. Of course innovation with OER didn’t actually stop with openly licensed traditional textbooks. And that’s essentially where innovation stopped.
The most recent issue of IRRODL included an article titled Effectiveness of OER Use in First-Year Higher Education Students’ Mathematical Course Performance: A Case Study , by Juan I. This was justified by the fact that there is a lack of empirical evidence to support expanding the use of OER. When Grimaldi et al.
The sense I got is that reducing textbook costs isn’t enough anymore, the advocacy has moved on to eliminating them. For many years now what people call OERadvocacy has actually been “zero textbook cost” advocacy. OER advocates may see their national policy work backfire much sooner.
My colleagues in the Open Education Group and I like to say that when you’re considering the outcomes of research on OER adoption, there are “two ways to win.” ” First, think about three possible outcomes of OER adoption in terms of change in cost and change in learning: Students save money and learn less.
And of course there are other vendors, like Elsevier and Wiley (like Jones Soda and RC) and openly-licensed resources known as OER, or open education resources (which are something like a Sodastream homebrew). Of course, there are big differences between textbooks and fizzy drinks.
Remind is a good example of this because professors can easily and privately share with a whole class, or groups within a class, relevant course materials. These mobile messages keep students connected to course material and let students know we care about them, but the system is still too one-size-fits-all.
I posted the first installment yesterday, explaining how a fundamental failure to understand copyright makes the definition of OER in the new UNESCO recommendation nonsensical. In this second installment, I want to describe how it appears that many in the OER community have taken their eye off the ball.
They’ve made 12 modules, four syllabi for upper-level bachelor’s or master’s courses, and several handbooks for guiding faculty and creating internship programs. One of the initial steps was developing course materials for professors to use and adapt without having to start from scratch. They’re not stopping at resources, though.
[Back in 2012 – 2013] I was impressed (like many others I’m sure) with how Wiley was able to frame the cost-savings argument around open textbooks to build broader interest for OERs. I fear it is OER wanting it both ways. The question we must each ask ourselves is – what is the real goal of our OERadvocacy?
I thought quite a bit about how important this virtual presence was to me over the course of 25 years. You will, of course, have some very different needs or ideas and I know you will want to redecorate. Some tips: Of course, you’ll want your own avatar. It is also tangible evidence of our practice in unstable times.
Suzan has recently defended her doctoral dissertation on open participants’ experiences in a massive open online course. When we look at common definitions of Open Educational Resources or OERs (e.g., When we look at common definitions of Open Educational Resources or OERs (e.g., You can read it here ! Slideshare available here.
Though I deeply enjoy my infrequent, often protracted conversations with Stephen – and find them deeply useful for clarifying and advancing my own thinking – I believe this one has just about run its course. Stephen has posted Four Conclusions on OERs he has drawn from our conversation. ” Our advocacy.
I realize I only have a biased slice of the conference based mainly around tweeters I know who (I realize now) mostly have similar stances as mine on openness (Phil Hill and Mike Feldstein in their keynote made a good point about how utterly useless this kind of social circle is for advocacy). Do you use open textbooks?
As the title of the document makes explicit, the framework aims to contribute to the conversation about the sustainability of OER: “Toward a Sustainable OER Ecosystem: The Case for OER Stewardship” It’s a valuable contribution to that conversation. I struggle to see how this will be possible.
There was a lot of discussion at OpenEd17 about the relationship between OER and value-added services like platforms. And of course, Instructure (Canvas), Moodle Pty Ltd (Moodle), Longsight (Sakai), and other companies provide for-fee, value-added services around Learning Management Systems hosting and support.
In my recent post I asked us each to consider what “what is the real goal of our OERadvocacy?” Ismael tweeted: My own take: these are two complementary approaches to #OER that should enrich each other, not exclude (or even blame) each other. As an educator, I like #OER as a tool for transforming learning.
Jahliel Thurman (Vice President of Uplift Entertainment) and Shalon Bell (Director of Strategic Alliances at the Atlanta Voice)—will discuss how despite limited monetary capital, these institutions continue to boost students’ potential in graduate education, entrepreneurship and advocacy through human capital. Higher Ed 9:30 a.m.
Smith, Director of Programs Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for STEM - Revolutionary or Evolutionary? Playful Learning: Games and the Future of STEM - Danny Fain, Teacher in Residence Redefining STEM Rubrics for the 21’st Century: It’s all about mastery! Derek Barkalow, Ph.D.
And, because you’ve got to play the hits, let’s look at what their impact will be on OER as well. Of course the drafts of these informational resources will need to be reviewed and improvements will need to be made – just as is the case with all first drafts – to insure accuracy and timeliness.
We currently have 10 keynotes and 130 regular sessions scheduled over the course of three days. Associate Professor, Millersville University Dr. Ann Gaudino is as an Associate Professor at Millersville University, Pennsylvania where she teaches graduate and doctoral courses in education and education leadership. Kristin Hundt, Teacher.
You may remember Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) for its groundbreaking and utterly depressing report, Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Online Civic Reasoning. In the November 2016 Executive Summary , the researchers shared: When thousands of students respond to dozens of tasks there are endless variations.
It’s not really “free Internet,” of course – it’s Facebook as Internet. Pearson has issued a report on students’ attitudes toward digital course materials. iNACOL has released a report on advocacy for competency-based education. ” Definitely no one I trust more on this topic, no siree.
“ Can a For-Profit, Venture-Backed Company Keep OER Free – and Be Financially Sustainable? “ Do Online Courses Really Save Money? Edsurge’s coverage of Top Hat’s OER news is also in the Betteridge’s Law section above. But Do Schools Need – or Want – Them? ” asks Edsurge.
Via Inside Higher Ed : “Appeals court ruling continues decade-long legal battle between Georgia State University and three publishers over what constitutes ” fair use “ of course materials.” Via The Chronicle of Higher Education : “Economic Boom Isn’t Helping Some Student-Loan Debtors , Advocacy Group Says.”
There are, of course, vast inequalities in access to technology — in school and at home and otherwise — and in how these technologies get used. At the time, David Wiley expressed his concern that the lawsuit could jeopardize the larger OER movement, if nothing else, by associating open educational materials with piracy. Um, they do.)
Humphrey testified that he hired Hubbard on a $7,500-per-month consulting contract to connect him to legislative leaders in other states, as Edgenuity tried to sell digital courses.” Here’s The Chronicle headline from then : “Professor Leaves a MOOC in Mid-Course in Dispute Over Teaching.”) public schools.”
” Via the Education Law Center : “Several New Jersey civil rights and parent advocacy organizations have filed a legal challenge to new high school graduation regulations recently adopted by the State Board of Education. Via eCampus News : “ Barnes & Noble Education announces advanced OER courseware.”
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