Open Educational Resources: January 19 - February 8, 2009

Re: We have prizes!

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:29:10 GMT

by Nalin Abeysekera.

WOW!! Thanks Sylvia. Thanks for you the prize. This is inspiring me to put more constructive comments as possible. Sorry for the late reply since I was offline.

And I like to tell that in Sri Lanka in my online courses I always using scope as a success story in the era of online learning.

I learned more from the forums in scope and I incorporated that in my teaching and learning as well.

Thanks again for the prize.

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:14:24 GMT

by Sylvia Currie.

Thanks so much Scott for taking the time to facilitate this important discussion. We really appreciate the way you organized the discussion topics each week and at the same time left it wide open to encourage new directions and tangents.

And thanks so much to everybody who participated! As Scott says, we had participants from several countries and many who chose to read along. We don't always know about the peripheral group but sometimes we find out about your presence other ways, like blog posts, or this time a few smiling faces popped up in the poll.

Over the 3 weeks we generated quite a list of resources! If you're bookmarking them for yourself in Delicious be sure to add the tag 'scope1222'. Also, the seminar wiki could prove to be a valuable summary of our time together. It's useful for the archives to have an overview of our seminars, even if they're not too elaborate. I've added a few headings (and promises ) to build the wiki and I encourage you to join me.

Our next scheduled seminar is Developing a National Framework of Teaching Expectations March 2 - 22, 2009 with Gary Hunt and Vivian Neal. Hope to see you all there!

Sylvia Currie
SCoPE Coordinator

Re: Week 3 prize + summary of all prizes

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:13:09 GMT

by Sylvia Currie.

The suspense is over! The lucky winner of the week 3 prize is Julia Leong from the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Julia works with practicing teachers in British Columbia, Canada so for sure the book will be put to good use.

I'll summarize our weekly prizes because much the communication was via email.

Week 1 prize went to Nicola Avery from England who decided to offer it to someone else. Terry McAloney from Canada took her up on the offer but then turned the book over to Prince from Ghana/US who is donating it to Pentecost Leadership Training Institute in Massachusetts.

During week 2 Bronwyn Hegarty from New Zealand suggested selection processs so of course she is offered a book for that! Nalin Abeysekera from Sri Lanka is the lucky winner.

For our week 3 poll, which you're still welcome to respond to, we had 8 participants from Belgium, Canada, and the U.S.

I'd say we could call this an international contest of people who are very willing to share openly. :-)

Lucky winners, just send me a note with your mailing address (scurrie@bccampus.ca) and your book choices and I'll mail them out.

1. Open Educational Resources Handbook for Educators
2. Opening Up Education

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:15:35 GMT

by Alice Macpherson.

Colleagues, near and distant,

I am always so impressed and humbled by the quality of thought from everyone. I have said little, but I have learned a lot from this. You have an impact and my vocabulary on the topic has changed in the last three weeks. Special thanks to Scott and Sylvia for all of their work.

Each year I put together a list of Holidays and Celebrations that folks tell me are important to them. It is not a religious calendar, nor is it all encompassing. Still, you might find it of interest as a small OER. Feel free to share and build on it!
http://kwantlen.ca/academicgrowth/resources/2009CelebrationCalendar.pdf

Gung Hay Fat Choy - Lantern Festival on February 9
All the best for the Year of the Ox

Alice Macpherson
PD & PLA Coordinator
The Centre for Academic Growth
Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:52:58 GMT

by Gerry Paille.

Yes, thanks for all your efforts Scott and Sylvie - well done and a very interesting learning experience for me. I have been pointing others to the discussions as well.

Cheers

Gerry

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:52:57 GMT

by Jo Ann Hammond-Meiers.

Dear Scott,
This was a very informative e-conference. All the posts contributed to the helpful discussion about OER's and their importance, legalities, and future.
I learned a lot and although I could not contribute much to this topic, I have appreciated the breadth and depth of this "course" -- which was inspirational.

Thanks everyone, and especially you Scott for providing attentive care and super posts. Jo Ann

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:24:14 GMT

by Sylvia Riessner.

Thanks Scott for a thought-provoking and educational discussion around OERs! I learned lots and I'm walking away with some new ideas. Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful responses.

Cheers
Sylvia

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:22:57 GMT

by Nicola Avery.

Yes, a massive thanks to Scott, Sylvia and everyone, this has been so helpful, so much to continue thinking about and investigating,

Nicola

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:28:09 GMT

by Barbara Dieu.

I echo Gina's words. Thank you all. I have learnt a lot and the different topics + perspectives in the discussion have given me a lot of ideas.
Warm regards from Brazil,
Bee

Re: Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:20:29 GMT

by Gina Bennett.

Great participation, great moderation -- great discussion!

Thanks Scott & thank you EVERYBODY.

Gina

Final Summary and Thanks!

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:29:23 GMT

by Scott Leslie.

So we've reached the end of the scheduled 3 weeks - I hope all of you have enjoyed it and found it as helpful as I know I have.

The Introductory post helped us get to know at least 25 others who participated (I know there were many more who participated by reading, just as important) - an amazing group of professionals from at least 4 continents that I could count.

Week 1 found us exploring ways to find OERs, introduing the use of social networks, specific search tools like the OCW meta-search and flickrCC search, as well as a number of special OER collections. I know part of my own practice is to always expand the methods and sources I have for combing and filtering the mass of resources out there, and hopefully you also found some useful techniques in this thread.

Week 1 also found spirited discussions on the nature of "Openness" and who is taking leadership in OER. In the former, what emerged for me was a multi-facted understanding of openness, that it needs to be understood on many levels (all of which are important). The leadership discussion interestingly morphed into a discussion of "Open Textbooks" which I think could easily turn into an entire seminar in itself!

The main focus of week 2, 'creating OERs' found what was for me a valueable discussion on the value propositions of OER; this for me is very important, as too often the value propositions are described solely in turns of who wil use OER, but as the discussion showed, there are many reasons why OER can be valuable to instructors and institutions themselves.

Finally, in week 3 we dug in a bit to ways in which OER could be made less content-centric. I personally think this is a rich vein for Open Education to explore, as I think it not only can improve the experience for those accessing the OER, but for those initially learning with them as well.

I hope you got something useful from the three weeks - either a new insight into the importance of openness; more energy to help bring to fruition one of the many fantastic imagined futures for OER, or just a new tool or site you hadn't seen before. In any case, it's been great, and I look forward to speaking and working with you in the ongoing conversations and projects that are happening ALL the time online, in blogs and wikis and other forums everywhere.

Cheers, Scott Leslie

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:16:42 GMT

by Prince Obiri-Mainoo.

I'm happy to learn so much about OERs during these three weeks. I have read almost every posting and checked several of the links referred to by others. I'm encouraged and optimistic about OERs tremendous impact on education and global economies generally in the years ahead. I see Thomas Friedman's prediction of the world becoming flat happening in our generation.

The contributions of practitioners and other stakeholders who believe in the concept of OERs are the collective force behind the leveling of the playing field for students and people everywhere to benefit from this ongoing global initiative. Thank you all at SCOPE for making this happen sooner than later!

Prince

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:12:50 GMT

by Therese Weel.

The part of this discussion that I've been thinking about most is when Gina said.

So I suppose I would subscribe to the ‘virtuous cycle’ idea that Colby Stuart refers to above.I think information is sort of like electricity: it’s only useful if it circulates. The more it circulates, the more power it generates. Of course you have to know how to use it, how to evaluate it. But you certainly can’t collect electricity in a jar.

To which Colby replied -

Electricity in a jar is a - lightbulb

Which in turn ignited a vision in in my head of a massive pinball machine with us inside bouncing ideas off each other - lighting each other up!

I'm thinking - yeah that's what I want - and that's what I've got. To be in a open space where we can bounce ideas - perfectly imperfect ideas, where it is up to the individual to develop the skills to separate fact from fiction.

I wandered off - as I tend to do - to explore media literacy and the skills an individual needs to navigate the ocean of publicly available information.

Couple of links I enjoyed

Michael Wesch's presentation a portal to media literacy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4yApagnr0s

Stephen Downes course on Logical Fallacies - which I understand he is turning into a serialized rss feed to explore RSS as a course delivery mechanism

http://www.onegoodmove.org/fallacy/toc.htm

I've created courseware at my all time favorite job at BCIT some years ago and worked for a private company creating interactive training and kiosk software. I wonder how my work could have been built upon and what it would be now if the environment had been more open.

In 2006 I set about creating my "Virtual Toolshed" a monthly series of pdfs that explored using publicly available tools and information to empower the individual. I learned a lot and made new friends who read and commented on my work. I learned how quickly information changes and the limitations of the written word when your objective is to help someone become more skilled. I didn't get a dime or a pretty certificate- but it provided a basis for the skills I have now which are invaluable.

I appreciate Paul's explanation of the open source license for public institutions and the efforts to mitigate between the old world and the new. I appreciate having venues such as scope and people working to move our governments and public institutions ahead bit by bit.

To me, the value of the populace as a whole asking their own questions, getting the knowledge they need and applying it daily is paramount to squabbling over who owns what.

I aspire to be... a pinball wizard!

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:27:04 GMT

by D'Arcy Norman.

My ideal OER future is simple. Ideally, 10 years from now, we'll be reminiscing and shaking our heads. "Remember back when people still talked about 'OER' as though any other approach made any sense?"

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:10:10 GMT

by Paul Stacey.

Scott's a bit sick this week so hasn't been able to lead us in this discussion as much as he wanted.

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's vision of the future for OER and what they are doing to help make that future happen.

I think OER have had some early adoption but by no means have become mainstream. I think there are significant cultural, financial, and legal barriers to be overcome for OER to become pervasive. However, I'm really encouraged by the acts of "copy kindness" occurring at the individual level outside of formal institutional parameters.

Thought I'd gaze into my crystal ball too and came up with the following as potential OER futures:

I imagine OER that are not the solo works of one faculty member but group works of teams of faculty members all sharing a common interest in a particular subject area or academic domain. The very vision of OER is based on collective creation process.

I imagine OER that are not just the works of teams of faculty but all the students who have taken the course previously. This in my view is the biggest absent component from OER at this point – students, not just faculty, are knowledge creators. Future students can benefit from seeing the work of previous students. Students will be more motivated and highly vested if we saw them as not mere recipients of knowledge but equal co-creators. I'd love to see students producing OER's as part of their academic work.

I imagine OER that are not just content based but include the complete course including discussion, learning activities, assignments and assessment rubrics

I imagine OER that include an opportunity to interact with the instructor and other students interested in the OER.

I imagine OER that represent complete academic programs not just courses or learning objects.

I imagine OER that include an option for getting a credential for achieving the learning outcomes associated with the OER. I’ve begun to imagine a possible time where the credential comes not from the institution but from the faculty themselves. Especially for “famous” or esteemed faculty such as those featured in http://www.thegreatcourses.com

I imagine OER with varying degrees of “openness”. Open at an institutional level, open at a community level, open at a state or provincial level, open at a national level, open with “education free trade” partners, open globally.
I imagine OER that provide financial (or other) rewards to anyone who creates derivatives that substantially improve the original.

Paul

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:06:36 GMT

by Scott Leslie.

My 'ideal future' looks something like this:

Both because of pressures from many different avenues, as well as the increased awareness of how they can use the network to increase their value and usefulness, institutions and instructors start to 'open up' both their content and educational processes. It starts slowly at first, but by 2020 it becomes commonplace to find Massively Open Online Courses online, the communities and networks which they tap into, spawn and help nurture often far outlasting the short duration of the course. Instructors still get paid, institutions still credential, but many many more people benefit from the actual learning content and processes. Indeed, while institutions still exist, they are much clearer in their focus and mandate, and within society there are many new ways that become generally recognized as ways to become learned. "Open Source" learning communities abound. The term 'personal learning environments' now sounds quaint, as increasingly ubiquitous access to the network and to learning and collaborating with others in it, across many existing boundaries, is now the norm.

Over the 10 year period, translation technologies leap forward, spawning the ' Translating Telephone
' - a phone-based device that can translate either text or speech on the fly. This innovation, which even 10 years earlier had seemed like science fiction, suddenly enables learners in all nations to access scores of content and learners that had previously been inaccessible to them. Both the developed and developing world come to understand network access as both a fundamental right and a key enabler of innovation; while it works out differently in different jurisdictions, the basic tenets of net neutrality survive the first two decades of the 21st Century and create a renaissance as never witnessed before. (Hey, I did say 'ideal'!)

More locally - in BC, by 2020 there are 4 more post-secondary schools running OCW-like projects on a large scale, and many other smaller scale initiatives under way; the province and BCcampus supports this and gradually abandons the 'BC Commons license' in favour of fully open content licenses (like CC-Attribution). BC leads the way in Canada in preserving net neutrality, and these efforts at promoting open content, open education and access help it weather the global economic collapse much better than many jurisdictions. BC becomes a leader in sustainable green technologies, especially around forestry, wind and aquaculture, and helps pioneer co-opetition partnerships with many developing nations through opening up access to the underlying technologies and knowledge.

And what am *I* doing to try and bring this about? Everything I can ;-) I know the above picture likely sounds naive to many people, but I'll trade that over its alternative any day.

I am a pretty slow learner - I intuitively gravitate to many different issues and projects without explicitly understanding how they fit together. But after 7 years working on OER, and 16 on the web, I have started to see that my interests and work on PLEs, on mashups, on the educational browser, on blogs and wikis, on Open Content and OER, on Network Learning, on Net Neutrality and copyright... were all about the same thing - helping people take control of their learning in an easy and sustainable way that leads to an increase in the collective consciousness. Which I now realize isn't that surprising, because the first person I ever worked for explained to me that this is exactly what we were doing. It just took me this long to figure it out for myself.

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:24:45 GMT

by Nicola Avery.

Also, I guess this isn't 10 years but - the artifical intelligence in our software reaches a point that it starts telling you if you are creating something "Hey, this isn't open...this isn't free - you have exactly (specified timeframe) to sort it out" and then if it continues being created along a closed / proprietary route, the 'resource' will automatically delete itself from your local device and send itself out onto the web where it can be modified by someone else (or another piece of software) into an open format :-)

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:12:23 GMT

by Nicola Avery.

Hi all, apologies for joining so late in the week again.

Hmmm great questions and responses.

"What is your ideal future for OER?"

A particular area of interest to me is device flexibility, open standards, openness of mobile devices, operator networks, copyright issues around formats e.g. transcoding are sorted and banished. That using devices in loads of different ways for learning, are not viewed as a way of making money for developers or manufacturers or service providers but a significant step in helping anyone access and share anything.

I don't know really know a huge amount about the commercialisation of opensource but if it continues I hope that 'free' will be coming back into our vocabulary again and not just 'open'.

"your institution with OER in 5/10 years?"

Whatever the personal and strategic motives my institution may have - I hope that we will be much more collaborative both amongst staff and Surrey into the wider community, that maybe anything anyone creates for either teaching / learning / research will be available as one gigantic openly accessible repository, where anyone trying to access or share something doesn't have to think about formats, licensing, assuming we are all still using keyboards or keypads, each one will be equipped with an 'open' or 'free' button (or as a voice command) that you just press and off it goes onto whatever form of web (2D / 3D / mobile).

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:46:21 GMT

by Barbara Dieu.

Some of you may be interested in discussing it further with others and presenting on your work at the OCWC 2009 : Content, Infrastructure and Creativity which will take place at the Campus Monterrey of the Tecnológico Monterrey, México between April 21-24, 2009. Deadline for papers in 10 days.

Although I am an independent educator in that I do not belong to or have the financial backing of any institution (public or private), I have presently joined the Brazilian OER list led by Carolina Rossini and will try to contribute with what I can in spreading the OER idea as I favour openess, flow of ideas, creativity and sustainable development in all areas.

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:50:00 GMT

by Gina Bennett.

We've had 2 days of quietness on this topic & of course that's to be expected as a scheduled discussion draws to a close. Part of it too, I suspect, is because we are sort of preaching to the choir. SCoPE is a very open community & none of us would be here if we were hyper-concerned about copyrighting every word we write. But we also know that not everybody feels the same way; progress towards openness seems glacial at times. What can we personally do to speed things up?

What, specifically, can *I* do? I can rant, of course, but I already do that & I have to be careful with that compulsion. I can be concientious about using CC licencing or copylefting what I produce. But for change to occur, to push us over the tipping point with OERs & openness in general, we'll need more & wider strategies. There's a range of strategies already out there, from the guerilla-like tactics of gpirate all the way to the friendly reminder from BCcampus to use at least a BC Commons licence on provincially-funded online development.

I suspect the next Big Step will take place at the institutional and regional/provincial levels. Institutions can declare their commitment to openness, as Capilano University did when it became the first institution in BC to join the OpenCourseWare initiative. In BC, we have the requirement for provincially-funded educational resources to be published semi-openly in our repository (SOL*R). In terms of providing incentive for publishing OERs, this cover the 'stick' approach. But maybe we would benefit from some additional 'carrot' approaches: some showy publicity for the institution which publishes the most OERs in the most open format, maybe a special funding envelope for curriculum developed with existing OERs, perhaps a targetted innovation award for the team that has done something really exciting with openness.

Somehow I think we have to increase the porosity of our institutions, of The Academy overall. Educational openness in general & OERs specifically have to be tied in with our strategic plans and vision statements & talked about as contributing to the positive future we're all hoping for.

Re: Unsubscribing to Scope???

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:52:52 GMT

by Sylvia Currie.

Micke, to the rescue! I just removed you from the SCoPE seminar discussions area. I'm glad you asked the question because others may be wondering the same thing.

There are a few ways to manage your participation in SCoPE.

1) Managing participation in each seminar discussion

The SCoPE Seminar Discussions are set up with the "subscribe initially" option. This means that you will receive forum posts by email if you have your email account enabled on the site (see #3). To unsubscribe, or to subscribe via RSS, go to the forum list. You can also manage this by opening a forum and clicking "unsubscribe me from this forum" and/or clicking the RSS button. #1 is a common choice for members because they like to be reminded that a new seminar is starting up, then decide at that point if they want to participate.

2) Managing participation in the scheduled seminar discussions group

You can chose to leave the SCoPE seminar discussions group altogether. Click the "unenrol me from SCoPE seminars" link either on the main group page, or from your profile. (Access your profile by clicking on your name anywhere it appears on the site.)

3) Turning off email subscriptions altogether

In your profile click the "edit profile" button. There is a pull down menu beside "email activated". You can select "This email address is disabled. You will not receive email from the SCoPE site." You'll also see other options in your profile, like digest. All forums are set up with RSS, including the MicroSCoPE newsletter.

I hope this helps! BTW, we never use the "subscribe forever" feature here in SCoPE.

Sylvia (scurrie@bccampus.ca)

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:51:32 GMT

by Gina Bennett.

"random acts of copy kindness"... I love it!

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:46:51 GMT

by Alice Macpherson.

</lurk>
Gina

I love your vision of what could be. I don't think this is just crazy-talk, either! This speaks to me more than worrying about what we can't do. Let us be creators and share our creations is the ways that we can imagine, feel good about, and survive with.

The item that Nellie posted is good as far as it goes, but does not speak to Canadian Law which is about Fair Dealing rather than Fair Use. I believe that it would be better to get away from the nationalistic viewpoint and open it up to a world wide(r) view. I continue to use the Creative Common concept and hope that it has some use for others as well until something better comes along.
Here's to random acts of copy kindness.
<lurk>

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:22:21 GMT

by Gina Bennett.

What is my ideal future for OER? If I am looking around in 5 years' time, this is what I hope to see:

There has been a philosophical shift in academia, a paradigm shift that has rotated our attitudes 180 degrees regarding 'ownership' of educational resources. Publishing educational resources openly is the default & open-facing institutions such as Otago are the norm rather than the exception. If you have been paid with public monies to develop an educational resource, you will need a damn good reason to hoard copyright. Educational resources (especially those contributing to basic education, the kind of education you need to earn a living & contribute back to your society) will be seen as a common good & you & your institution will be rewarded in a variety of other ways for contributing them. I don't think this is just crazy-talk. How many of us can remember when it was perfectly acceptable to smoke wherever we wanted? Back then you needed a damn good reason to deny somebody the right to smoke. We really are able to make significant cultural changes when we all recognize that it's for the common good.
What opportunities do I see for learners & instructors? Maybe in 5 years or maybe in 10? Educationally, at least, there is no sharp distinction between the 'developing' & 'developed' world. Aren't we all developing in some ways? But I think the biggest change will be in what educators will be doing with their time. We will not be hoarding educational resources & if we are caught doing so, it will be shameful. We will be doing less teaching in secret; there will be less 'gnostic' instructional practice. As Mary & Roger have suggested, some classes will be conducted with more privacy than others, for a variety of reasons. But exercising the right to deny access to educational resources, through copyright, will not be one of them.
With so many more educational resources available to them, learners will have different needs & educators will have different roles. Inexperienced or dependent learners will be looking for educators to help them navigate the sea of resources and to assist with the soft skills of educational planning, motivation, time management, & just plain studying. We will do less writing, less classroom management & more of the actual teaching that we love to do. There will be many more independent, experienced learners who have achieved complex learning goals outside of traditional academia & will need educators to help them assess what they've learned & receive credit & credentialling for what they now know & are able to do.

What am I willing to do to make this happen? Whatever!

Unsubscribing to Scope???

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:51:00 GMT

by mikael hellberg.

Hi folks. This is an interesting site. However I made the mistake of subscribing to to the forum and I cannot manage to unsubscribe completely despite having tried those methods suggested on the site. Every time a new topic comes up I am automatically subscribed to it and receive tons of mail from Scope. There is no webmaster information or help dealing with this on the site and I have searched extensively. That is why I must place a post in this unappropriate place. Can someone help me or refer me to someone who has the power to remove me this please and I would be grateful. I have however read the following from http://scope.bccampus.ca/help.php?module=forum&file=subscription2.html :

"If you choose the option "Yes, initially" then all current and future course users will be subscribed initially but they can unsubscribe themselves at any time. If you choose "Yes, forever" then they will not be able to unsubscribe themselves. "

This is scary and can force people to abandon email addresses.

BR,

Micke

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:57:58 GMT

by Peter Rawsthorne.

Your previous sessions got me thinking about this, so I wrote a blog post about it. And I agree it is an ongoing conversation; http://criticaltechnology.blogspot.com/2009/02/oer-roadmap.html

Re: Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:46:10 GMT

by Dr. Nellie Deutsch.

Join a live online presentation by Bob Diotalevi on Saturday at 2PM GMT (your time zone). Bob would like the participants to review the powerpoint presentation at the bottom of the page before the session.

About the session:
The age of information has given rise to greater concerns about copyright law. Although it would appear we are headed to a Star Trek-like world, we need to address fundamental areas so vital to educators, business people, computer professionals and the like before beaming too far into our future. This seminar will endeavor to explain the present laws and theories regarding copyright law. It will prove to be a resource as well as a guide to all those interested in traversing these navigable waters. GOALS : A. At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to appreciate the basics of copyright law pertaining to cyberspace, B. At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to understand current legislation involving copyright, and C. At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to apply knowledge of copyright fundamentals.

Presenter for this session : BOB DIOTALEVI
Bob Diotalevi is Program Coordinator and Associate Professor of Legal Studies in the College of Professional Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) in Fort Myers, he is a facilitator for Indiana Wesleyan University's Online MBA, MS and BS programs. He also has taught for South University and California University of Pennsylvania via online. Over the past twenty-one (21) years I have taught over two hundred (200) courses and dozens of seminars in the areas of accounting, legal studies, taxation, business/management, ethics, liberal arts, real estate and communication. Previously he was Chair of Accounting for four and a half (4 1/2) years at Andover College in Maine. He has as an editor for peer and non-peer-reviewed journals. He has been internationally published with over sixty (60) manuscripts in print, and He has co-authored a book. He is writing a new textbook entitled “The Florida Paralegal” with Attorney William Statsky to be published by Cengage Learning in early 2009. Bob Diotalevi is a member of the Florida and Massachusetts bars. He has been an educator since 1985. He possesses an LL.M. in Taxation, a JD in Law, a BA in Communication and an AS in Business Science (Accounting). He has legal practice experience as well as eight (8) years in professional broadcasting as he's held managerial positions with much success.

Uploaded by Nellie-Deutsch on WiZiQ Tutorials

Week 3 - Imagining the Future of OER

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:55:54 GMT

by Scott Leslie.

So ostensibly the seminar is scheduled to go until Sunday, but over the next few posts I am going to try and do some wrap-up and summaries. (I find it funny, the idea of this discussion 'starting' and 'ending' because for me it's an ongoing one, out in the open blogosphere, to which you're all always invited, but that's another post I guess...)

What I'd really like to hear, from all of you, is "What is your ideal future for OER?" To get more specific, what would you like to see happening at your institution with OER in 5 years? In 10 years?

What opportunities would you like to see for independant learners in the developing world, in 5 years? in 10 years? For instructors at institutions in the developing world?

And what are YOU going to do to help make it happen? ;-)

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:26:24 GMT

by Mary Burgess.

Hi everyone - I'm pretty bummed that I'm just now getting into the discussion - we did a major Moodle upgrade at Royal Roads (I'm from the Centre for Teaching and Ed Techs there) in mid January that went pretty awry and took up most of my time and energy - trying now to get back on track while the bit marks fade.

Re the issue of making courses completely open, I agree with you Roger that learners would have concerns - but/and I think so would faculty. A few months back I was at a BC Campus session Scott facilitated in which a faculty member said she was hesitant to make her course materials open because of the scrutiny she would face from her peers. Having not just course materials but also a course facilitator's interactions with learners open to anyone could be pretty scary. I'm about to try to convince faculty at Royal Roads that sharing is a good thing, but I think I'll come across others with that same fear. One of the ways we're hoping to share more than just content is to provide the pedagogy behind the course's development when we share a course. It's not the same as seeing course activity, but at least it would give other course developers an idea of what was behind the decisions to use particular activities or ed techs.

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:13:37 GMT

by Roger Powley.

Hi Paul, it has been a long time. I understand your argument for fully open and transparent education, but personal experience with adult learners from around the world tells me that it would not be welcomed. I say that because it is difficult to get most online learners to communicate their ideas and experiences to their cohort even when no one else is watching or listening. I also note that different cultures have difficulty communicating in public and a truly open forum would certainly inhibit them from responding in an honest manner.

In an open system I would suspect that most learners would not express their true feelings if they knew anyone could read them. Even in cohort learning, where individuals move through together, it takes a lot of time to build the trust necessary to communicate ones ideas or to openly challenge someone else's postings.

I can enviage a boss looking in on one of his employee's to see how he/she is responding in the course. Forgive me for the "big brother" fear, but I believe learners will be less inclined to exchange ideas, challenge others. It will stifle learning, not enhance learning.

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:17:52 GMT

by Paul Stacey.

Scott:

Most OER that are publicly viewable are in fact not "freshly baked" but rather a snapshot of resource as it existed in the past. MIT's OCW for example are not what faculty are actually using in their current courses, merely content published earlier. This definitely creates a content centric model.

I'm hoping we'll eventually get to a freshly baked model of OER where we can see these resources live and in use. This will add an essential ingredient for us all - a chance to see how the OER performs.

At the risk of mixing metaphors Content-Centric OER are like buying cars from a lot without seeing them in use or taking them for a test drive. If we could see how teachers and students engage with OER, like Gina's example where everything is in the open, we get a much better sense of whether the OER is to our liking or not. Not seeing it in use is like not starting the engine. Who knew that that clunky looking OER was a wonder when students and faculty revved it up and took it out for spin? Who knew that the slick looking OER beside it looked good but didn't perform well? And isn't it amazing how a really good driver (and interesting passengers) can get the most out of an old vehicle and make that journey a joy?

I know from my own online teaching and learning experiences that its not the package of content that counts its what teachers and students do with it. Its the discussion, the assignments, the activities, the comments, the exploration, the eye-opener surprises, ... Those are what make the whole experience work.

Perhaps at some future time when we register for courses we'll be given options:
1. closed education with all learning happening privately with classmates behind password protected environments (or campus based classrooms)
2. open education with all learning happening publicly in open online systems viewable by all

Which would you choose?
Would they be priced differently?

Paul

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:06:53 GMT

by Roger Powley.

Gerry, you are correct. The OERs that are useful to a developing university are those that allow re-mix, re-purpose and tweak. For example we are in the process of using some of the OERs from the OUUK, but we need to remove the British examples, case studies, pictures and in some cases the language. Cultural and social relevance is very important to our Caribbean learners.

Re: Using Other People's Work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:00:19 GMT

by Roger Powley.

Barbara: Take a look at this link http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/. It provides a legal interpretation of the different licence conditions.

If you used a photo in a PowerPoint presentation, the first question is where did it come from. All OER materials have either a Creative Commons licence or a unique copyright restrictions based on the institution you downloaded it from. The safest way to intrepret copyright is to assume (which is legally correct) that everything that is published, be it text, video, audio, photos or graphics automatically is protected by copyright. The copyright owner must grant you permission to use those materials and may restrict how they are used. Thus the need for a CC licence since it eliminates the need to always go to the copyright owner before publishing, reusing or re-mixing.

Re: Using Other People's Work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:54:02 GMT

by Roger Powley.

One of the issues that causes traditional univesities grief is that once you include an OER into a course than the course must conform to the Creative Commons licence of the original OER. Therefore if TRU even re-purposes the content they must make it available (without restrictions) for others to download. Otherwise the institution violates the licencing agreement.

Now that being said, I am not sure who enforces this policy. It would be a very difficult task to follow the different re-use/re-mix variations that are based on single OER.

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:23:14 GMT

by Gerry Paille.

I did some work with a group of teachers from Trinidad and Tobago a few years back and one of the things I worked on was an IT course for the instructors of pre-service teachers in TT. We adapted an existing course for this purpose, and while working with Dr. Sam Lochan from the U of TT, he made me aware that not only did we have to adjust the content, but we also needed to be aware of cultural relevance and adjust for that. I can see this as a big issue for your West Indies project Roger being that the great majority of the OERs that we have at this time come from North American, the UK and Europe.

Re: Using Other People's Work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:22:03 GMT

by Gerry Paille.

Barbara, I like that you mention context — I think when creating OERs including the context that they were developed for is import. When the remix occurs, then the new context should be describes as well. Including activities, assignments, and assessment criteria and rubrics is also a real bonus and can help with setting the context.

Re: Using Other People's Work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:57:24 GMT

by Gerry Paille.

Yes, I understand the types of licenses, I am just conveying the path that TRU used to (and may still do) take. Getting the rights cleared from the creator for a specific use was done to ensure that TRU resources could be published with all rights reserved.

Re: Using Other People's Work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:57:07 GMT

by Barbara Dieu.

No Derivative Work

Would this mean that we are not allowed to use a photo in a ppt presentation with a different title?

What do the words "remix"and "tweak" entail exactly? Any concrete examples?

Where do we draw the line?

Re: Using Other People's Work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:00:57 GMT

by Roger Powley.

Gerry, it depends on the type of licence you are referring to. If it is a a Creative Commons Licence than it should be quite clear on how you can use the materials based on the type of licence assigned to the materials. If it is the Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike licence than you do not need to request permission from the author. Permission is automatically granted to remix, tweak and build upon the materials in the OER when the author assigns this type of licence to his or her products. If the licence say No Derivative Works than the must use the materials as they were written. No remixing or tweaking is allowed.

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:15:32 GMT

by Scott Leslie.

Roger, thanks for the reminder of a key constituency for OER - universities in the developing world for whom access to OER content may provide a less expensive means to educate their students. This worthwhile goal can easily get lost amidst some of the other concerns expressed here, valid as those may be.

"The OER movement is strangely similar to the Learning Objects movement" - that made me laugh. Partly because it resonates, but partly because it only resonates when people are trying to force new models to fit old patterns. That to me is when OER start to resembles LO - for instance when you start from a posture of 'closed' and then figure out incrementally how to open select parts of it. Then all sorts of really dumb interoperability issues and questions of 'granularity' etc arise.

I say 'dumb' because as many many many many people are trying to show (I should say, "Have showed already"), if instead of starting from the position of everything being closed and then meting out access, bit by bit, we instead acknowledge the benefits of openness right from the get-go and provide network learning opportunities, many of these issues quickly fade away (as indeed they seem to do on the wider net, where remix and reuse just, well, happen.)

I wish you luck on the research project; feedback from intended reusers of OERs has got to be a positive thing, I would think. But I guess my comments above would be to urge you NOT to simply accept the terms of the problem as set out by the existing 'OER Publishers' but to challenge them to rethink these from the perspectives of what really would make this work, BOTH for your institutions and for themselves, as well as challenge them to think outside of the frame of straight 'publishing.' I know there are lots of folks who would be receptive to these ideas, and indeed it's my take at least that the way to "do OER" is not at ALL a 'done deal' but one that's still emerging.

Re: Using Other People's Work

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:52:44 GMT

by Scott Leslie.

This has not totally restored my faith that given access, people *will* remix content, but thought I must point out http://cterfile.ed.uiuc.edu/mahara/view/view.php?id=327, an example of a large number of 'student' remixes (I put that in quotes because it appears as though the students were all themselves instructors as well) that surfaced on Jared Stein's highly recommended blog.

Re: We have prizes!

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:59:11 GMT

by Prince Obiri-Mainoo.

Hi Nicola,

Thanks for your response! Kind of Terrie McAloney to willing to pass them on afterwards. Terrie, please, let me know how to contact you.

Prince

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:06:46 GMT

by Roger Powley.

Gerry and Others: Sorry for jumping into this forum so late in the discussion, but I thought I would contribute some of the experiences of universities in developing nations. I am currently working as the Head of Special Projects for the University of the West Indies. One of my duties is to lead the OER effort. UWI is engaged in a European Union ACP applied research project to investigate the use of OERs in third world universities who rely heavily on DE. The participating universities include UWI, U of South Pacific, U of Mauritius, OUUK and the University of the Hebrides.

The developing universities throughout Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean are in need of high quality course content that they can use to educate their population. In most cases the developing universities do not have the manpower, expertise or money to build online courseware from scratch. Yet higher education is a key building block for economic development, social development and good governance throughout the developing world. If used properly OERs can contribute to the growth of these developing nations.

The lead researcher for the project is Dr. Robin Mason at OUUK. The research project is in its first year and will last for three years. The aim is to examine the impact of OERs on the ability of third world universities to create and deliver high quality learning experiences to its learners. Some of the questions being examined include:

1. How much time and effort does it take to create a course using OERs? Is it more or less than creating a course from scratch?

2. What is the quality of the OER supported course?

3. What is the impact on and reaction of the faculty and other staff involved in the design and delivery of OER supported courseware?

4. What resources exist to support large scale OER development and sharing?

5. What is the impact on the pedagogy of a course and on the learners when a institution creates a course using multiple OERs from different sources?

6. What is the impact of the Creative Commons licence and other copyright laws on the use of OERs in the developing world?

UWI is responsible for creating and supporting an OER Research Forum that will engage researchers and academics from a variety of different universities and agencies. It is hoped this site will be up and running by April of this year. What we have learned so far is:

1. There is no common definition of an OER? It is anything from a single file to a whole course module/unit.

2. Does an external link to another web page constitute an OER or must the OER be embedded in the re-purposed course? This is a debate that is being debated by the project researchers.

3. The quality of OERs varies widely.

4. No agreed upon standards exist for OER development or publication.

5. Not many full online courses are available in the OER repositories. Most are face to face course outlines or individual resources/files such as a video clip, audio clip or flash file.

6. Not all OERs conform to the Creative Commons licence. Many institutions have very restrictive copyright rules that limit the use of the OER.

7. Time spent in searching for OERs is often extensive, especially in domains where not many have been published.

8. Using multiple OERs in a single course requires considerable effort to ensure the language and course flow is consistent throughout the courseware.

9. The OER movement is strangely similar to the Learning Objects movement.

Hopefully this gives the members of this forum some ideas and questions to consider as you hopefully engage in the OER movement. I will share with this community the link to the OER Research Forum once UWI has set it up.

My closing plea is that we should encourage our Canadian institutions to embrace the OER movement and share their content for the betterment of the world as a whole. If each unversity published at least five courses into a common OER repository, we would have an instant library of courses larger then the OUUK LearningSpace repository.

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:06:08 GMT

by Prince Obiri-Mainoo.

What is more, Gerry, it saves time and goes a long way to authenticate their work. And anyway, why reinvent the wheel when same materials are already available for use? Except for a good reason to develop new content on the same topic, I don't see the need!

Prince

Re: We have prizes!

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:02:54 GMT

by Nicola Avery.

Hi Prince, thanks for this - Terrie McAloney has replied earlier, but she mentioned that she was happy to pass them on afterwards, so please feel free to contact her?

Very best wishes with your venture,
Nicola

Re: We have prizes!

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:10:48 GMT

by Prince Obiri-Mainoo.

Hello,

I have recently been asked to nurture a training institute that my church, Church of Pentecost International in the U.S., has recently purchased into a university college. I am glad that the ongoing prominence of OERs will be helpful in this regard. With the support of a board and some educationists, we have been asked to deliberate and make recommendations and lay the necessary structures and links with educational and other international organizations worldwide that will help translate this vision into reality within the next few years.

Located in Leominster in Massachusetts, the Pentecost Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) currently serves only the clergy and the laity within the church, but from the beginning of the year PLTI has started opening its doors to the general public as the first step towards our goal.

Nicola, I believe your books may be useful addition in the library towards our cause. Please, let me know what to do next if nobody else has gone ahead to request them. Thank you.

Prince

Re: Open Source Assessment

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:46:26 GMT

by Nicola Avery.

Hi, not as such, we were looking into peer review options last year, there is one called WebPA in the UK which I think is opensource but I've only briefly tested it.

I asked around and a few people suggested using wikis for peer review.

I can't think of any opensource mobile ones off top of my head, Gavin Cooney of Learnosity mentioned something recently but I don't know if their mobile platform is fully open source or not.

Nicola

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:44:54 GMT

by Gerry Paille.

I like this quote from Li's CETIS blog:

"The value of OER will not be best achieved through static resources, but rather through their potential to engage a wide range of educators and learners to share ideas and expertise, and collaborative knowledge building. Therefore, institutions should not only require staff to develop content for the use of others, but also encourage them to use content created and modified by others in order to improve our collective knowledge and improve the quality of teaching and learning at universities as a whole."

Re: Week 3 - Making OER Less Content-Centric

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:09:43 GMT

by Scott Leslie.

Sylvia, I do actually think it's unfair for the OER movement to carry too much of the load for "content-centric education" as that is not at all exclusive to it; bad pedagogy is bad pedagogy, period, and we find it everywhere.

I think the examples you point to (I hadn't seen the UNESCO Open Training one, though - thanks!) are good examples of efforts to break away from a solely content-focused view of OER. And their are others too. I believe there is a growing awareness of the issue but it does seem like a valid concern, one that should hopefully inform all of our practice.

Week 3 prize

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:01:26 GMT

by Sylvia Currie.

To be eligible to win a book this week you only need to respond to this very simple question. (The hidden agenda is pretty obvious! ) We'll do a random draw at the end of the week.