Designing OERu Credentials
When: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 14:00 PST (see your time zone)
Where: Blackboard Collaborate
This Designing OERu Credentials live web conference session provides everyone with an opportunity to contribute ideas and suggestions for OERu credentials. We'll summarize discussion so far and hear from Wayne Mackintosh on the latest thinking and plans for the OERu. Conducted in Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate) and hosted by Paul Stacey, participants are invited to submit questions, suggestions, or requests in advance by simply replying to this post.
The session will be recorded.
How to participate:
To join the web conference enter the Blackboard Collaborate room up to 30 minutes before the start of the session. Type your full name when prompted; no password is required.
If you have not previously attended an Blackboard Collaborate Live web conference, visit the Blackboard Collaborate On-demand Learning: Web Conferencing site and review the For Participants resources. It's 5 minutes well spent!
Hope to see you there!
Paul Stacey
Discussions started by Paul Stacey
In my own presentations and conversations with others on the OERu many participants have expressed discomfort over OERu discussions focusing exclusively on working within existing traditional education models.
Some participants in the Jumping Right In discussion thread have made similar comments. A sampling includes:
Mary Pringle suggesting the OERu "articulate processes and standards for becoming part of a professional or scholarly community for online and distance learners--I imagine the guild-like online groups that have sprouted up around various DIY activities, for example."
Asif Devji asking, "Does focusing on credentials not reinforce the logic (dare I say hegemony) of traditional educational institutions?" and goes on to say, "I guess I was hedging towards a model in which OERs, or an OERu, could be used to help people without access to a university education build portfolios of work in their chosen fields and prepare for job-skills testing -- thereby developing a workaround to university credentialing while nonetheless gaining 'credible' experience/knowledge of the field."
Wayne Mackintosh thinks, "the trick is not to innovate beyond the capacity of institutions or society to integrate those innovations", and that there are, "a number of projects which are better equipped and experienced to respond to the needs of "informal", "non-formal" and "Edupunk-like" learning -- for example, P2PU, initiatives like the Saylor Foundation and many dimensions of the MOOC model."
So I thought I'd try and separate the two conversations. The Jumping Right In discussion is seeking to use OER within the traditional education model where institutions are key partners and enablers.
This Non-traditional OERu Models thread is devoted to non-traditional model ideas for the OERu.
Use this thread to share your more radical ideas and aspirations for the OERu. How would it work? What are OER making possible that wasn't possible before and how would an OERu help make that happen?
Paul
Some participants in the Jumping Right In discussion thread have made similar comments. A sampling includes:
Mary Pringle suggesting the OERu "articulate processes and standards for becoming part of a professional or scholarly community for online and distance learners--I imagine the guild-like online groups that have sprouted up around various DIY activities, for example."
Asif Devji asking, "Does focusing on credentials not reinforce the logic (dare I say hegemony) of traditional educational institutions?" and goes on to say, "I guess I was hedging towards a model in which OERs, or an OERu, could be used to help people without access to a university education build portfolios of work in their chosen fields and prepare for job-skills testing -- thereby developing a workaround to university credentialing while nonetheless gaining 'credible' experience/knowledge of the field."
Wayne Mackintosh thinks, "the trick is not to innovate beyond the capacity of institutions or society to integrate those innovations", and that there are, "a number of projects which are better equipped and experienced to respond to the needs of "informal", "non-formal" and "Edupunk-like" learning -- for example, P2PU, initiatives like the Saylor Foundation and many dimensions of the MOOC model."
So I thought I'd try and separate the two conversations. The Jumping Right In discussion is seeking to use OER within the traditional education model where institutions are key partners and enablers.
This Non-traditional OERu Models thread is devoted to non-traditional model ideas for the OERu.
Use this thread to share your more radical ideas and aspirations for the OERu. How would it work? What are OER making possible that wasn't possible before and how would an OERu help make that happen?
Paul
The possibility of defining a credential using OER is intriguing. There are a variety of post secondary credentials that could be developed including certificates, diplomas, bachelor's degrees and graduate degrees.
Most jurisdictions around the world have established a framework for post secondary credentials. See the Ontario Qualification Framework for example. For each credential the framework defines a range of attributes including admission requirements, duration of study (expressed as number of instructional hours), and depth and breadth of knowledge.
OERu accrediting institutions, such as the existing anchor partners, will likely be working within a similar framework. One approach to defining OER credentials is to structure them in such a way that they align with these frameworks.
Do you think OERu should focus on using these frameworks or design credentials in a different way?
A great deal of the OER currently available have not been developed as complete credentials. Instead OER are largely courses or more typically course components. A challenge in designing an OERu credential is assembling these smaller units into a coherent credential framework.
So lets say I want to use the Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative OER in creating a credential. If you access the For Students section of their site they explicitly state what is being made available. Course Materials, Simulations, Computer Based Tutors, Virtual Laboratories, Self-Assessments, and Formative Feedback are all freely available to students as OER. But look at what isn't part of the OER - Access to an Instructor, Graded Exams, Tracks Student-Learning as Feedback for Instructors, Credit/Verification of Course Completion. So a significant challenge around using these OER resources in creating a credential is fulfilling all the elements not part of the OER. OERu anchor partners have the opportunity to take on any or all of these elements as part of their role.
I've jumped right in to the deep end of this Designing OERu Credentials so let me stop there and ask all of you some questions:
Most jurisdictions around the world have established a framework for post secondary credentials. See the Ontario Qualification Framework for example. For each credential the framework defines a range of attributes including admission requirements, duration of study (expressed as number of instructional hours), and depth and breadth of knowledge.
OERu accrediting institutions, such as the existing anchor partners, will likely be working within a similar framework. One approach to defining OER credentials is to structure them in such a way that they align with these frameworks.
Do you think OERu should focus on using these frameworks or design credentials in a different way?
A great deal of the OER currently available have not been developed as complete credentials. Instead OER are largely courses or more typically course components. A challenge in designing an OERu credential is assembling these smaller units into a coherent credential framework.
So lets say I want to use the Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative OER in creating a credential. If you access the For Students section of their site they explicitly state what is being made available. Course Materials, Simulations, Computer Based Tutors, Virtual Laboratories, Self-Assessments, and Formative Feedback are all freely available to students as OER. But look at what isn't part of the OER - Access to an Instructor, Graded Exams, Tracks Student-Learning as Feedback for Instructors, Credit/Verification of Course Completion. So a significant challenge around using these OER resources in creating a credential is fulfilling all the elements not part of the OER. OERu anchor partners have the opportunity to take on any or all of these elements as part of their role.
I've jumped right in to the deep end of this Designing OERu Credentials so let me stop there and ask all of you some questions:
- What are your ideas for designing an OERu credential?
- What do you think the first OERu credential should be?
- What existing OER do you see being used for that credential?
- How would your institution or the OERu anchor institutions support students pursuing that credential?
I've been involved in organizing and hosting a range of online conferences, especially what Terry and Lynn call in their book, dual mode conferences. The upcoming Canada Moodle Moot conference in Edmonton is a great example. Primarily designed for face-to-face delegates the conference also offers a virtual attendee option.
I thought I'd share a few observations about organizing dual mode conferences and introduce some of what I find fascinating about them.
Most conferences have a call for proposals or presentations and assemble a program based on what comes in. A large conference usually lasts around 3 days often with an intensive pre-conference workshop on the first day followed by shorter presentation style sessions the following days.
Pre-conference workshops are often intensive hands-on sessions that allow participants to explore and try for themselves a technology or method. These sessions are difficult to deliver to virtual participants as the presenters role is often to simply frame the activity and then provide one-on-one support and assistance as people explore hands-on.
Presentation style sessions are relatively easily handled by webcasting the presentation being given to the f2f delegates out to the virtual attendees too. In the dual mode conferences I've been part of this has usually been done via Elluminate which provides an easy way to feed the presenters audio out over the web along with the slides and visuals the presenter is using.
The presenter tends to design their session and focus their delivery solely on those attending f2f. This can make the virtual participants feel like second-class citizens. To counteract this the virtual session is facilitated by a moderator in Elluminate who is at the f2f venue and speaks with the virtual attendees via VOIP and text chat letting them know what is happening and acting as their bridge to the presenter often relaying their questions and comments so that they feel included.
One phenomenon I'm fascinated by that I feel is relatively unexplored in the literature and the whole process of creating conferences like this is the ability for presenters and f2f delegates to participate directly with the virtual participants. I think of this as "dual mode presence". Here's a few of the things I've been thinking about:
I thought I'd share a few observations about organizing dual mode conferences and introduce some of what I find fascinating about them.
Most conferences have a call for proposals or presentations and assemble a program based on what comes in. A large conference usually lasts around 3 days often with an intensive pre-conference workshop on the first day followed by shorter presentation style sessions the following days.
Pre-conference workshops are often intensive hands-on sessions that allow participants to explore and try for themselves a technology or method. These sessions are difficult to deliver to virtual participants as the presenters role is often to simply frame the activity and then provide one-on-one support and assistance as people explore hands-on.
Presentation style sessions are relatively easily handled by webcasting the presentation being given to the f2f delegates out to the virtual attendees too. In the dual mode conferences I've been part of this has usually been done via Elluminate which provides an easy way to feed the presenters audio out over the web along with the slides and visuals the presenter is using.
The presenter tends to design their session and focus their delivery solely on those attending f2f. This can make the virtual participants feel like second-class citizens. To counteract this the virtual session is facilitated by a moderator in Elluminate who is at the f2f venue and speaks with the virtual attendees via VOIP and text chat letting them know what is happening and acting as their bridge to the presenter often relaying their questions and comments so that they feel included.
One phenomenon I'm fascinated by that I feel is relatively unexplored in the literature and the whole process of creating conferences like this is the ability for presenters and f2f delegates to participate directly with the virtual participants. I think of this as "dual mode presence". Here's a few of the things I've been thinking about:
- What might presenters do differently to design a dual mode presentation to better engage with virtual participants?
- How can we more fully bring the virtual participants into the event and generate interaction between them and the presenter and f2f attendees?
- One thing I've noticed that is intriguing is that f2f delegates often log in to the Elluminate room even while sitting in the venue. In this case they and the Elluminate facilitator are engaged in dual mode presence with virtual participants. How might we deliberately use this as part of the experience?
- A big aspect of f2f conferences as Terry and Lynn note in their book is the social networking of delegates. How can we use dual mode presence to create a social networking event that brings f2f and virtual delegates together?
Hi everyone:
Great to review the video highlights and summary of the OERU meeting. I've also enjoyed the follow-on discussion, especially the way a number of you have been exploring the similarities between apples and OER.
I've had some communication with Wayne about how we might help keep the OERU momentum going.
A number of you have been expressing willingness to volunteer 1 hour a day to work on the OERU initiative. What a fantastic idea!
If you'd like to continue to be involved there are lots of things that need doing. If you have a particular role you'd like to volunteer for please let us know. If you have an activity that you're interested in doing that you think will really help let us know. All suggestions welcome.
If you'd like to offer help with things that Wayne is planning on doing here's a short list of possible activities:
1. Expanding on and elaborating the vision.
Wayne provided me with a link to a video from the Saylor Foundation
2. Writing a coherent summary document explaining the overall concept and OERU logic model.
Part of this will involve taking the SCoPE summary document, which served as an input to the OERU meeting in New Zealand, and categorizing/distributing our inputs into the relevant part of the logic model. There are are other inputs too including discussions in New Zealand, presentations, and other materials. Wayne is thinking this could be enabled through a wiki on the wikieducator site.
3. The OERU initiative needs a project plan.
The OERU project plan will take each element of the logic model and define activities (sub-projects) required to move that part of the initiative forward. Activities will need short term objectives, some key performance indicators, and a set of milestones on a timeline. If any of you have a particular interest in the project plan overall or are interested in working on a particular aspect of the logic model Wayne is looking for people/institutions to lead or collaborate on these activities.
4. Follow-on seminars/events.
The OERU is off to a great start. What follow-on seminars or events should be scheduled and planned for to keep the momentum going? What other organizations need to be involved? Who are the key people that need to be at the table contributing to making the OERU a reality? What can we set as the next date/event for the OERU?
Paul
Great to review the video highlights and summary of the OERU meeting. I've also enjoyed the follow-on discussion, especially the way a number of you have been exploring the similarities between apples and OER.
I've had some communication with Wayne about how we might help keep the OERU momentum going.
A number of you have been expressing willingness to volunteer 1 hour a day to work on the OERU initiative. What a fantastic idea!
If you'd like to continue to be involved there are lots of things that need doing. If you have a particular role you'd like to volunteer for please let us know. If you have an activity that you're interested in doing that you think will really help let us know. All suggestions welcome.
If you'd like to offer help with things that Wayne is planning on doing here's a short list of possible activities:
1. Expanding on and elaborating the vision.
Wayne provided me with a link to a video from the Saylor Foundation
. This is a thoughtful exploration of how the ideas we've been exploring for an OERU might actually work in practice. I encourage you to have a look and respond with your thoughts and answers to the questions raised.
2. Writing a coherent summary document explaining the overall concept and OERU logic model.
Part of this will involve taking the SCoPE summary document, which served as an input to the OERU meeting in New Zealand, and categorizing/distributing our inputs into the relevant part of the logic model. There are are other inputs too including discussions in New Zealand, presentations, and other materials. Wayne is thinking this could be enabled through a wiki on the wikieducator site.
3. The OERU initiative needs a project plan.
The OERU project plan will take each element of the logic model and define activities (sub-projects) required to move that part of the initiative forward. Activities will need short term objectives, some key performance indicators, and a set of milestones on a timeline. If any of you have a particular interest in the project plan overall or are interested in working on a particular aspect of the logic model Wayne is looking for people/institutions to lead or collaborate on these activities.
4. Follow-on seminars/events.
The OERU is off to a great start. What follow-on seminars or events should be scheduled and planned for to keep the momentum going? What other organizations need to be involved? Who are the key people that need to be at the table contributing to making the OERU a reality? What can we set as the next date/event for the OERU?
Paul