While undertaking papers to attain the GCTLT qualification, I have been aware that the different papers are all available on ‘Wikieducator’ but until now I had no understanding of what that actually meant. Having now listened to Blackall’s (2011) presentation about Open education practices my understanding about Open Educational Resources (OER) is growing rapidly! Wikipedia is the umbrella which Wikiversity, Wikinews and Wikieducator fall under. Information (OER) placed on Wikipedia is open for anyone to use, share, edit and add to. The idea is to make the content freely available for anyone to access. Information on Wikieducator (a free e-learning education site) is freely available, but should a person wish to gain a qualification (as I do with the GCTLT) the person will have to engage in the course activities and do the required paper assessments prior to gaining the qualification, which means enrolling in the course through a recognised institution and this process would generally have a fee attached.
OER is a sustainable practice as it saves the time and energy utilized in creating new resources when these have already been created by others. It also maximizes access to learning through the sharing of resources with people only having to pay to access the information if they need specific qualifications (Blackall, 2011) rather than having to pay for access to knowledge and learning.
In 2008 Otago Polytechnic signed the Capetown Declaration for OER (Open Resource Foundation, 2011). They also adopted a Creative commons attribution copyright license (CCACL) which means that anyone can use and alter work on the Wikieducator site. The aim of this is to create a world where each person can access and contribute to all human knowledge (Blackall, 2011). In the majority of tertiary institutions intellectual property of employees is still considered to belong to the institution rather than to the employee individually. OP has shown what a progressive tertiary provider it is as having the CCACL in place means that intellectual property at OP continues to belong to the individual staff member or student as long as the sources are acknowledged. This means that staff and students can choose whether to make their resources available on Wikieducator to contribute to OER worldwide. Use of OER materials which would not normally be easily available due to copyright issues are being integrated into open and distance education. I can see possibilities for the use of OER in my own field.
One possibility is for accessing video demonstrations of midwifery skills -some of which we do access currently off YouTube. The problem with some of these videos however is that they do not demonstrate the skill quite as we would wish it demonstrated by our students. We could make them more specific to our requirements by enhancing the ones currently available with best practice techniques. We could then share them worldwide -gulp! We have a Midwifery Junction website on the OP website run through the School of Midwifery. This site has several papers on different topics with MCQ that midwives can access for free in an effort to increase knowledge and ensure midwives remain current in using up to date evidence to inform their practices. These could be published on Wikieducator as reusable educational resources for midwives everywhere, as could well written articles about midwifery matters. Blackall (2011) alludes to how resources use time, support and good staff to develop. In order for resources to be used in the OER environment, staff need to be ready to ‘let go’ and be ok about others taking and using their resources.
I can understand this. When I first started working at OP and had to facilitate a discussion or workshop I was amazed at how freely the other lecturers shared the resources they already had on the topic e.g. previous PowerPoint slides shows (PPT) they had developed and used. What’s more, they were very encouraging of me editing/adding to the resources as I wished to suit my own situation with the students. I was very grateful for this support and continue to be as I became more familiar with the BM programme. Enabling content to be open to everyone to add to and edit is a big step in letting go. I know that the times I have developed resources such as a PPT to accompany a workshop or discussion with students, it has taken a while for me to feel really ok about putting my PPT on the specific course forum for the students to access independently of me. However the advantages of having current course content available to everyone are apparent.
Do we believe in principal that knowledge and education should be freely available to all on a global level or do we consider it should just be the prerogative of the advantaged? Of course there are practical issues to look at in terms of enabling all people access to OER for example basic reading and writing skills, translation, computers and internet sites, different institutions providing the same degree courses…but the intention is there, and that is a start.
References:
Blackall, L. (2011). Open education practices. Retrieved from http://elluminate.op.ac.nz/play_recording.html?recordingId=1260256890932_1304558340765
Open Resource Foundation. (2011). The OER poised to become an international leader in open education. Retrieved from http://wikieducator.ort/OERF:Home
Christine I am so glad you have discovered more information about open education. This is an interesting explanation about the IP policy at Otago Polytechnic. Wikieducator is just one vehicle we use for taking an open approach to learning. We also encourage staff to use a variety of social networking sites (Slideshare, Myplick, Youtube, blip.tv, Wikiversity, wikibooks, Flickr, Picasso, delicious.com, Facebook etc) to share and distribute their work as it is a good way to give back to the online community and to obtain professional feedback.
ReplyDeleteThe change to the IP policy has lubricated a change in attitude about sharing resources openly and in the wider professional community. This model of openness when used correctly is more sustainable as you say and can save lecturers and students time. For example, when a group of students collaborate together on a project they have access to a vast number of tools and resources on the Internet. If they use a wiki to develop their project, and share it, this becomes a valuable resource and source of learning for others, particularly if it occurs during the course.
It is useful to think how peer feedback can be used during the learning process to enrich the learning experience and to reduce the teachers' workload. This is more likely to occur if learning materials are in an open environment and produced collaboratively as the learning occurs, something you are planning with the development of video resources.
Can you see how a wiki could be used in conjunction with a video sharing site to develop a comprehensive learning resources - created by students for students?