Iterating Toward Openness

APRIL 11, 2022

I’ve been interested in sustainability models for OER for decades. And for just as long, I’ve believed that there are useful lessons for us to learn on this topic from open source software – OER’s far more popular and influential sibling. What does “bug” mean in the context of OER?

OER 147

OER Analysis Software Outcomes 147

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Student: I’ll study whether students learn better with OER than with traditional course materials! ” In other words, when you read OER research that shows a difference in student learning, look harder – there’s likely more going on than just a change in materials. Me: Let’s hear it!

OER 143

OER Comparison Study Course 143

Edsurge

JANUARY 15, 2019

But fans of OER are increasingly facing a problem. While OER started off as free online textbooks, it still costs money to produce these materials, and professors often need guidance finding which ones are high quality. So OER advocates are realizing they need to change their pitch.

OER 156

OER Course Resources Libraries 156

Digital Promise

APRIL 25, 2019

In traditional science classrooms, students are often presented with facts and definitions to memorize, or they are asked to follow a predetermined set of instructions to complete a lab activity. However, this model of instruction does not align with our emerging understanding of how students learn science best.

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OER Learning Report Resources 334

Iterating Toward Openness

JANUARY 24, 2019

Among other things, the post discusses her role in my decision to abandon the phrase “open pedagogy” and adopt the phrase “OER-enabled pedagogy.” Evolving ‘Open Pedagogy’ (2014) extends the definition discussion by briefly meditating on the ubiquitous, smothering role of copyright in our lives.

OER 113

OER Technology Exercises Online Learning 113

Iterating Toward Openness

MAY 2, 2017

At the Hewlett OER Meeting last week over a dozen people spent another hour talking about the issue during the unconference time. Some definitions are centered on OER. There have even been arguments made that a clear definition would somehow be antithetical to the ideal of open. There have been dozens of blog posts.

OER 96

OER Exercises Google Meeting 96

Edsurge

JUNE 16, 2020

Lumen Learning, a company that sells low-cost OER textbooks and courseware, plans to start offering professional development services for faculty that can be bundled with its titles. In other words, some of its textbooks are now sold with coaching on how to teach with OER more effectively.

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OER Company Learning Course 127

Doug Levin

MAY 16, 2016

What I do want to comment on (in greater than 140 characters) is the practice of ‘openwashing:’ what it is, why I believe not being able to go beyond a pro-OER elephant test for organizations and service providers is untenable in practice, and some thoughts on what we can do about it. The Pro-OER Elephant Test.

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OER Software Company Twitter 170

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 13, 2018

These OER – open educational resources – may be good, bad or indifferent. There’s more bad OER out there than good; that’s a fact,” said Rebecca Kockler, assistant superintendent of academic instruction for the state of Louisiana, at the annual SXSWedu conference last week in Austin, Texas. Using OER wasn’t our goal,” Kockler said.

OER 102

OER How To Common Core Instructional Materials 102

A Principal's Reflections

MAY 20, 2018

Emerging technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, open education resources (OER), coding, and adaptive learning tools are moving more into the mainstream in some schools. Definitions of digital leadership vary and have pretty much become a semantic issue. Leadership is leadership ladies and gentlemen.

OER 305

OER Personal Learning Network Outcomes Blended Learning 305

Iterating Toward Openness

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

Next week I hope to post the first section of the presentation, which outlines the reasons why people who care deeply about affordability, access, and improving outcomes should consider shifting their focus away from OER (as we have understood it for the last 25+ years) and toward generative AI.

OER 137

OER Resources Education Examples 137

Iterating Toward Openness

JULY 23, 2018

By definition, open educational resources (OER) are licensed in a manner that gives you permission to change, update, and improve them. Learning analytics, on the other hand, can provide great insight into where course materials – including OER – are not effectively supporting student learning.

OER 94

OER Learning Analytics Analysis Course 94

Iterating Toward Openness

JANUARY 16, 2020

Despite my best efforts, I spent much of the recent holiday break thinking about the eviscerated definition of OER in the final version of the UNESCO OER Recommendation. As I fretted about the holes in the final language and the size of the various trucks you could drive through them, I also reflected on the 5Rs.

OER 142

OER 142

Iterating Toward Openness

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

the internet, knowledge, OER) is a commons. The problems the open education community faces with regard to OER are not the problems of common pool resources – problems of overuse and depletion that we solve through shared governance and accountability. The world needs much more OER. That’s just not a thing.

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OER Resources Accessibility Education 130

Iterating Toward Openness

MARCH 11, 2020

In the first installment on Monday, I explained how a fundamental failure to understand copyright makes the definition of OER in the new UNESCO recommendation nonsensical. In the second installment yesterday, I described how it appears that many in the OER community have taken their eye off the ball of student learning.

OER 78

OER Case Study System Strategy 78

Edsurge

MARCH 1, 2018

His work has shown him that “it will definitely be a more sustainable initiative if it is collaborative—-whether it's OER, open access journals, etc.if OERs are often undervalued compared to their paid counterparts, posited Blake Gore of Vanderbilt University and Tanya Spilovy thinks librarians can help.

Libraries 165

Libraries Digital Learning OER Learning 165

Iterating Toward Openness

AUGUST 8, 2018

Yesterday, Phil Hill wrote about OpenStax’s new method for calculating the savings students see when their faculty adopt OER. This research is now eight years old and definitely needs to be refreshed. Welcome Change: OpenStax using more accurate data on student textbook expenditures. Or whatever the number is?

OER 74

OER Data Course Study 74

Iterating Toward Openness

MAY 27, 2020

OER and the Revisability Paradox. That bit of history prepares us to discuss open educational resources (OER) and the revisability paradox. I don’t believe readers of this blog need much additional context about OER. The revisability paradox describes a difficulty at the heart of the OER idea.

OER 144

OER Examples Resources Course 144

Iterating Toward Openness

JULY 5, 2017

Last week I shared a little of my thinking about the problems inherent in the way people in the field talk about OER. These permissions are a critical part of the definition of what it means for a learning resource to be open. The OER produced by OpenStax are free – that’s why they’re OER.

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OER Examples Survey System 107

Edsurge

OCTOBER 30, 2017

Using OER is hard. Over sandwiches and iced tea, we talked about the challenges of OER. The goal is to not give readers a list of words and definitions to memorize, but rather to get them familiar with words and their place in language and knowledge. Finding good lessons, videos, articles and activities is hard. Source: BHP.

OER 144

OER Common Core Video Assessment 144

Edsurge

JANUARY 9, 2018

One crucial part of the decision is out of the students’ hands, of course, since it is the professor who decides what textbook or material to assign—or whether to skip commercial textbooks altogether and assign a free or low-cost open educational resource, or OER. I thought it was just as helpful as any other textbook.”

Company 163

Company OER Course Libraries 163

Iterating Toward Openness

OCTOBER 12, 2015

He writes, “While to an OER advocate faculty are mere pawns to their agenda, to publishers, faculty are critical partners in academic success.” ” The overwhelming majority of OER advocates are faculty, and they have become OER advocates for two reasons.

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OER Course Examples Outcomes 60

Iterating Toward Openness

APRIL 25, 2019

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.

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OER Course Company Smartphone 84

Iterating Toward Openness

JULY 5, 2023

By definition, our lack of imagination is the only limit on our ability to use these tools in novel ways. And for those of you who expect every post on this blog to be related to OER in some way (you did notice I changed the name of the blog, right?), After I have answered all the questions, give me feedback on my answers again.’

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OER Exercises Case Study Instructional Materials 183

Edsurge

OCTOBER 17, 2017

In fact, you definitely will find spotty quality. I hear more often these days about teaching with free online materials instead of traditional textbooks (known as OER). The OER conversation is very energized right now, and it's a complex conversation. I tend to focus on aspects of OER depending on the audience.

OER 139

OER Education E-rate Social Media 139

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

which acts like a search engine that finds definitions related to that concept or idea. will then use that information to refine the definition of that original term. BBookX uses artificial intelligence to create OER texts for professors to use in their courses instead of traditional textbooks.

Robotics 160

Robotics OER Industry Education 160

Iterating Toward Openness

APRIL 29, 2016

Earlier this week I read an op-ed – sponsored by Pearson – titled “If OER is the answer, what is the question?” OER often shine in their variety and ability to deepen resources for niche topics. ” The article poses three questions and answers them. Below I share some thoughts prompted by the article.

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OER Instructional Materials Pearson Resources 60

Iterating Toward Openness

OCTOBER 14, 2015

For some reason, Pearson have found it necessary to create new definitions of the terms efficacy and effectiveness. This is extraordinarily unfortunate because there are already perfectly good definitions established in the broader research community. That’s a fight I know OER can win. Efficacy vs Effectiveness.

Pearson 60

Pearson OER Comparison Case Study 60

Iterating Toward Openness

JUNE 30, 2017

In a recent webinar about OER, organized by one of the major textbook publishers, there was a lot of conversation about whether OER are “free” or “affordable.” Before I begin though, just to be clear, allow me to reaffirm that OER are free, plain and simple, full stop, period. OER = free + permissions.

OER 102

OER LMS Analysis Outcomes 102

Iterating Toward Openness

DECEMBER 13, 2024

It will definitely evolve in the future. Large OER publishers like OpenStax, Lumen, and CMU OLI spend a significant amount of time and money creating open content. An OELM includes a curated collection of OER that the model uses for retrieval augmented generation (RAG). Can I trust its responses to be accurate?

Meeting 148

Meeting OER Education Pearson 148

Edsurge

JUNE 27, 2016

Back in February, an EdWeek Market brief reported that Amazon Education was starting to beta-test a new platform with educators, helping teachers navigate the jungles of open educational resources (or OERs, for short). Tory Patterson, co-founder of Owl Ventures As far as calling itself an OER platform, that is somewhat correct.

OER 113

OER Resources Education Software 113

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

Those in the puppy camp argued, with good reason, that free curricula and OER content were hardly free once the related costs and risks were factored in. So the discovery, vetting, and alignment costs inflicted upon the teachers and districts that would try to embrace free and OER content would remain high.

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OER EdTech Company Common Core 60

Edsurge

JUNE 13, 2019

And teacher mobility definitely encourages students to pay more attention to the learning and instruction that’s going on. teacher mobility definitely encourages students to pay more attention to the learning and instruction that’s going on. Is the technology easy to use?

Tools 154

Tools How To Classroom OER 154

Iterating Toward Openness

AUGUST 3, 2015

I now have no doubt that the overwhelming majority of general education courses and some specific degree programs will transition entirely to OER in US higher ed. I spent most of my thinking time last week wondering about obstacles in the way of the ubiquitous adoption of OER in US higher education and how we might overcome them.

OER 60

OER Education Course Instructional Materials 60

K12 Open Ed

MAY 3, 2016

Photos and definitions are not only very granular but they are relatively generic and can be used in a wide variety of contexts without a lot of rework. So is the quest to allow customization through OERs for naught? Or does it make more sense to look at customizing OERs in terms of larger “full course” materials?

OER 100

OER Instructional Materials Assessment Course 100

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Where Michael sees three groups with different goals, I see four groups who are trying to use OER to solve closely related – but ultimately very different – problems: The negative impact on access to education caused by the high price of traditional learning materials. a community? a discipline?)

Strategy 105

Strategy OER Analysis Groups 105

ProfHacker

AUGUST 26, 2016

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., However, we go beyond these definitions of open scholarship – beyond open access and public scholarship. – Dave Cormier and George Siemens.

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OER MOOC Conference Advocacy 40