Michael Feldstein examines how MOOCs explode the assumption that the goal of a course “is to be able to certify that students in the class have learned a well-defined set of knowledge and skills.” He states that one of the most transformative aspects of MOOCs is they “challenge us to look for pedagogically effective alternatives to the control that faculty can assert in a face-to-face class and that they can’t assert online. But in order to really learn from this forcing function, we need to go beyond designing solely for course goals and explicitly design for student goals.”
All posts by Will Engle
Open Educational Resources: Definition, Facts, Opportunity, Examples
As part of their “Key Concepts of Online Learning” series, Contact North explores Open Educational Resources (OER) which are “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property licence that permits their free use or re-purposing by others.” OER may include “full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials or techniques used to support access to knowledge.”
Learning and Performance Support Systems
Stephen Downes provides an in-depth overview of the Learning and Performance Support Systems (LPSS) program, a new $19 million 5-year initiative at the National Research Council that he will be leading. The objective of the LPSS is “to build a system where individuals can access, and get credit for, learning from any education provider at all, whether from home, the workplace, or at a school.”
Link: http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/2013/12/learning-and-performance-support-systems.html
Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2013: MOOCs and Anti-MOOCs
As part of her Top 10 Ed-Tech Trends of 2013 Series, Audrey Watters provides an abbreviated history and on-going summary of MOOC-related news and trends: “MOOCs expanded greatly in 2013 – expanded their partner institutions, expanded their course offerings, expanded their investment dollars, grew the number of students enrolled, and so on. But there were lots of questions along the way: who’s succeeding in MOOCs; how will MOOCs make money; how will MOOCs affect higher education; and how will MOOCs affect open education?”
Link: http://hackeducation.com/2013/11/29/top-ed-tech-trends-2013-moocs/
Creative Commons’ Next Generation Licenses – What’s New in Version 4.0.
Creative Commons (CC) recently launched a new version of their copyright license suite which allows creators “to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients.” The 4.0 CC licenses have a global jurisdiction as CC worked closely with an “international network of affiliates and countless other experts and stakeholders to make 4.0 the most internationally enforceable set of CC licenses to date.” Additionally, the 4.0 version updates the attribution requirement to be more “common-sense” and contains a 30-day window to correct license violations.
White Paper on Open Educational Resources
The Hewlett Foundation has released a white paper on Open Educational Resources (OER). The paper explores the potential of OER to enable “anyone to tap into, translate and tailor educational materials previously reserved only for students at elite universities.” The paper explores infrastructure investments that will move OER adpotion to the mainstream and “deliver high quality content, promote supportive policies, and develop practical standards for OER materials.” See also the related report on OER ecosystems (PDF).
Link: http://www.hewlett.org/library/hewlett-foundation-publication/white-paper-open-educational-resources
U.S. Senators Offer Bill Promoting Open-Access Textbooks
Two U.S. Senators have introduced the Affordable College Textbook Act, a bill that would “encourage the creation of free online textbooks by offering grants for pilot projects that produce high-quality open-access textbooks, especially for courses with large enrolments.” Grant money would be available to help faculty find and review open textbooks, as well as to conduct research on how well open-access textbooks meet students’ and faculty members’ needs.
New Wiki Education Foundation Directs Program in U.S., Canada
The Wikipedia Education Program (WEP) is creating its own non-profit, the Wiki Education Foundation, which will support the goal to have the WEP directed by volunteers. Educators in the WEP ask their students to contribute to Wikipedia as part of their coursework and educational projects are underway in more than 60 countries worldwide. The board chair of the new non-profit is is Diana Strassmann, a professor in the Practice of Humanities at Rice University, and the founding editor of the journal Feminist Economics.
Link: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/11/07/wiki-education-foundation/
MOOC Rival OERu Puts Accreditation on the Menu
Students who complete an Open Educational Resources University (OERu) course will be able to pay a fee to have their work assessed for academic credit, which would then be recognized by the 31 universities participating in the OERu. In theory, students could approach any of the partner institutions with evidence of the OERu credits they have amassed and apply for degrees. OERu was officially launched on November 1, 2013 at Thompson Rivers University.
George Mason University Announces Free Online Curriculum Hub
George Mason University’s Institute for Humane Studies has launched EDvantage, a free online curriculum hub for educators. The curriculum hub provides educators with a portal that curates educational videos, articles, and other resources for classroom instruction. Additionally, teachers also have the option to contribute their own content to the site and grow its collection.