I wanted to discuss the reading “Open Educational Resources:
Enabling universal education” by Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen,
and David Wiley.
This reading was very informative. I was not aware of online
open access collections full of educational materials that have been used in
courses at universities. I could not believe that this type of opportunity has
been available to learners for over ten years now. This allows learners from
different backgrounds to be given equal access to education. I think the
concept is stellar and definitely shapes our concept of distance education.
Distance education no longer is limited to the users in a class but rather is a
global effort that can leveraged in different educational, technological, and
economical environments.
I am unfamiliar with Creative Commons and its purpose. From
this reading, I understand the concept a little more. I have to admit that I
have trouble understanding licensing and I am always weary in using educational
materials because of that reason. However, after reading their mission
statement:
“Creative Commons develops, supports, and stewards legal and
technical infrastructure that maximizes digital creativity, sharing, and innovation.
“
I have a better idea of what they offer.
I also was able to find some guidelines in attribution that
was helpful for our Knowledge Sharing/Tracking assignment.
In addition to learning about what Creative Commons has to
offer, I also was interested in the process of creating and OpenCourseWare
pilot. Does FSU currently have anything similar to this? The reading mentioned
that there are other venues to share this content like iTunes radio and
Connexions. Does FSU participate in something similar?
Lastly, it was interesting how this reading discusses how
these OpenCourseWare Projects need to be sustained. Sometimes, I tend to forget
that once something is published and used by others on a consistent basis,
resources must be dedicated to its maintenance. This ‘issue’ opens up the floor
to the idea that this type of platform can one day substitute traditional
universities in the future. It demands time, effort and money and universities
might begin to cut out traditional classes and replace them with these types of
courses.
Personally, I enjoy face-to-face instruction and the idea of
everything going online is a little daunting. However, even I can identify this
trend and where it is headed.
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