Iterating Toward Openness

OCTOBER 9, 2018

Recently I’ve been doing both more thinking and more roll-up-your-sleeves working on continuous improvement of OER. Few have formal training in teaching or learning. Below I’m cross-posting two short pieces on this topic I recently published on Lumen’s site ( here and here ). We need each other.

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OER Outcomes Analysis Assessment 122

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

In describing her coining of the phrase “open source software” in 1998, Christine Peterson wrote : The introduction of the term “open source software” was a deliberate effort to make this field of endeavor more understandable to newcomers and to business, which was viewed as necessary to its spread to a broader community of users.

OER 110

OER Advocacy Software Company 110

Edsurge

OCTOBER 30, 2018

In response, open educational materials, or OER, have emerged as an alternative to expensive textbooks that disproportionately affect low-income students. But despite the excitement, there are obstacles to using OER. McGuire: The kinds of things that are being discussed [around using OER] are hard for many of institutions to access.

OER 137

OER Policies Accessibility Outcomes 137

EdTech4Beginners

APRIL 2, 2017

BLearning – Blended Learning (using a range of multimedia and strategies). BYOL – Bring Your Own Learning. FL – Flipped Learning ( click here for my guide to flipping lessons ). LMS – Learning Management System (software that runs and manages educational programs). MLD – Mobile Learning Devices.

EdTech 189

EdTech VLE CMS OER 189

Edsurge

AUGUST 4, 2022

In May, the homework-help site that relies on student-generated content, Course Hero, dipped its toes into freely available, openly licensed alternatives known as Open Educational Resources, or OER, course materials. This was the company’s “first foray” into OER, and it is still figuring out how the OER fits, Morris says. “I

OER 159

OER Resources Education Course 159

A Principal's Reflections

MAY 20, 2018

Personalized and blended learning pathways were proclaimed to be the future of education. 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. How are we preparing learners for this world?

OER 300

OER Personal Learning Network Outcomes Blended Learning 300

Hapara

AUGUST 8, 2022

Have you ever considered creating your own open educational resources (OER)? When you build your own, you can differentiate instruction and support every student with the specific learning content they need. Types of OER you can develop for K-12. Project outlines like this school wide project-based learning outline.

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OER Resources How To Education 130

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

Luminary Labs hosted summits, interviewed educators and reviewed more than 100 educational resources to inform its four reports, handouts and a video series about making adult learning opportunities more effective and appealing. This is very important as time goes on and vendors start coming up with solutions to reduce costs.

Report 162

Report EdTech Tools OER 162

Iterating Toward Openness

JUNE 9, 2016

The tl;dr: Supporting effective OER adoption at scale has its problems. If OER adoption were to become widespread among the majority of faculty, it became clear that someone would need to do something more than create OER, post it on a website, and give conference talks about it. Background and Some Problems.

OER 60

OER LMS Learning Sakai 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. For example, I spend a fair amount of time thinking about the future of learning materials writ large. Now, make no mistake – OER is a means, not an end.

OER 84

OER Course Company Smartphone 84

Doug Levin

JANUARY 15, 2016

Note: I read some ambiguity in the legislative text both of how this 15 percent will be calculated and also what equipment, tools, software, and content might count toward that 15 percent cap and what might not.

Policies 258

Policies Technology Education OER 258

EdTech4Beginners

MARCH 7, 2018

E-learning has seen a broad positive shift in the last couple of years. The new E-learning technologies keep on evolving, and a lot of companies are investing in it to yield efficient employees. Let’s take a look at the some of the innovation in E-learning industry in the last 10 years: The Usage of Smartphones.

MOOC 127

MOOC Gamification OER Smartphone 127

Iterating Toward Openness

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

How We Got Here In 1998, when I launched the OpenContent project and the first open license for educational materials and other creative works (that weren’t software), I encouraged anyone and everyone to openly license anything they were willing to openly license. And that’s essentially where innovation stopped.

Strategy 133

Strategy OER Education Policies 133

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

Doug Levin

MARCH 1, 2017

As compared to others, I am more likely to tag local/regional and state-specific news stories, in-depth policy analysis, open resources (OER, open source software tools, open data, open access, etc.), Today, I’m pleased to announce the return of the reading list feature to my site. Image credits.

Trends 150

Trends EdTech OER Software 150

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

The secret to its swift entry into publishing was OER (open education resources). Yet, professors can build their own OER textbook for free, and companies such as Lumen Learning sell courseware products based on OER (with homework-delivery features and other tools) for less (about $25 per student).

Knewton 135

Knewton Strategy OER Pearson 135

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?” How do we deliver better learning experiences to more students? How do we deliver better learning experiences to more students? ” The article poses three questions and answers them.

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OER Instructional Materials Pearson Resources 60

Edsurge

OCTOBER 22, 2021

“You can think about it as almost an Amazon-like self-publishing system plus Amazon Kindle store plus Amazon Kindle reader software for courseware,” said Feldstein. The system will also pull in some OER textbook material developed by OpenStax , a low-cost publisher at Rice University. going to be layering on a service.

Pearson 167

Pearson OER Software Course 167

Edsurge

OCTOBER 24, 2019

And some credit it for helping kick-start a trend—now known as open educational resources, or OER—that has sent shockwaves through the traditional publishing industry. Yet the nonprofit is also developing its own software designed to undercut the courseware industry, charging just $10 per student. colleges use at least one.

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Industry OER Course Company 116

Iterating Toward Openness

MARCH 24, 2025

Why, then, do we constantly act surprised when we select a random generative AI model, try to use it to support student learning, and find that it isnt particularly effective? In the case of digital technologies, this includes knowledge of operating systems and computer hardware, and the ability to use standard sets of software tools.

Training 88

Training OER Blackboard Strategy 88

Iterating Toward Openness

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

Last week I posted the middle section of the presentation, How Generative AI Affects Open Educational Resources , in which I described how we need to move beyond narrow thinking about how generative AI impacts our work with traditional OER and begin thinking more broadly about the power generative OER.

OER 68

OER Accessibility Education Broadband 68

Iterating Toward Openness

APRIL 4, 2017

These permissions are the distinguishing feature of open , whether you’re talking about open educational resources, open source software, open data, or a range of other open things. In a nutshell: We learn by the things we do. Consequently, copyright restricts the ways we are permitted to learn.

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OER Software Company Resources 135

EdNews Daily

JULY 8, 2019

To “ungate” in software is to allow a user to proceed to the next level or into a new section. In some software, gating is a way for teachers to lever up or hold back individual students so that they can surge forward if they are high achievers or remain with a group. By LeiLani Cauthen. Imagine that.

Learning 100

Learning Software E-rate Industry 100

21st Century Educational Technology and Learning

JANUARY 14, 2020

I look forward to learning from you! He attributes this theory to the role Asia now plays in the global economy with automation being software driven, and abundance of material in the market place. OER Commons – Take a look at these results from a search I did for STEAM based activities.

STEM 207

STEM Resources OER Conference 207

Edsurge

JULY 5, 2016

Open educational resources (OER) have saved students at the University of Georgia (UGA) nearly $2 million in textbook costs alone over the past three years. Rather than roll out a broad campaign to promote OER on campus, the center is focused on working with individual faculty members who teach large enrollment courses, Watson says.

OER 90

OER Software Course Study 90

The CoolCatTeacher

JULY 26, 2017

From giving kids problems with the right level of difficulty to solving problems with students, learn how to take any math student to the next level. You’ll also learn about the open source resource, Expii invented by Po-Shen Loh and how you can use it. READ: Learn about the USA Math Olympiad Team. What makes Expii unique?

Classroom 296

Classroom OER Software System 296

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

Tom Murray

JANUARY 12, 2016

These concerns are real and often become roadblocks for student learning. As school leaders work to implement digital learning practices, they must commit to navigating roadblocks, problem solving, and planning for sustainable, systemic transformation. Commit to Personalized Professional Learning.

EdTech 189

EdTech Future Ready Social Media Broadband 189

IT Bill

JUNE 27, 2017

The June issue of the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL) is dedicated to Open Educational Resources (OER). Several of the studies focus specifically on OER and student learning outcomes. Certainly one of the main advantages of adopting OER is lowering the costs to students.

OER 34

OER Outcomes Learning Software 34

Marketplace K-12

JULY 8, 2016

The Software and Information Industry Association, in a recent online post , said the campaign—which encourages states and districts to consider open options—wrongly suggests that open resources are invariably linked with districts’ shifts to adopting digital materials, whereas commercial materials are stuck in the print world.

Software 74

Software Groups OER Industry 74

Iterating Toward Openness

APRIL 14, 2017

“learning analytics” give you information about what needs improving in your course but doesn’t give you permission to make the changes. ? to do continuous improvement in education, you need OER (permission to change) plus analytics (info about what to change). The first is vtreat. The first is vtreat.

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Analysis Data Tools Learning 94

Iterating Toward Openness

MAY 27, 2016

Andrew Rickard has written a thoughtful essay on OER, open pedagogy, and commercial interests. In the interest of transparency let me remind the reader that I co-founded and currently work at Lumen Learning , a for-profit entity that works in the open education space. Think about our older sibling, the open source software movement.

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OER Knewton Software Company 74

Marketplace K-12

AUGUST 30, 2016

Future revenue in the $33 billion e-learning market is expected to fall precipitously in the United States and internationally, but sales of other types of digital learning products are predicted to rise, according to a market research report released recently. Unstable Economies Impact E-Learning Market.

Report 70

Report E-rate OER LMS 70

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 13, 2017

[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 OER advocacy?

Accessibility 90

Accessibility OER Pearson MOOC 90

Iterating Toward Openness

MARCH 1, 2021

It started out as a question about OER, but has moved on to a conversation about the purposes of open more generally. If you start with my github repo, you can build an LMS, a web site, an online teaching system, and even a camera ready textbook ready for printing using 100% free software. Really think about it.

Coursera 123

Coursera OER LMS Software 123

Iterating Toward Openness

OCTOBER 30, 2017

There was a lot of discussion at OpenEd17 about the relationship between OER and value-added services like platforms. Both the wider internet and the narrower education space are filled with companies and organizations that provide value-added services around openly licensed software and content. Pressbooks (Book Oven Inc.

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OER LMS Learning Moodle 60

ProfHacker

AUGUST 26, 2016

This post is co-authored with Suzan Koseoglu ( @suzankoseoglu ) who is an academic developer at the Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre at Goldsmiths, University of London. When we look at common definitions of Open Educational Resources or OERs (e.g., You can read it here !

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OER MOOC Conference Advocacy 40