I would argue that the kinds of material I have gotten access to as a result of the OER movement (and various other movements, like the open access movement) is much more rich and varied (I am watching sociology lectures from Virtual University of Pakistan about the impact of Islamic educators on sociology! never got that in school in Norway!) than I would get in a normal university. Rather than focusing on very expensively produced common materials for the whole country, I think we'll see an incredible range of materials by individuals, organizations and institutions... Of course, selecting and evaluating is going to be a challenge - a teacher can play a role here, as can training in critical thinking, media literacy, etc. (And of course various social tools, done carefully and thoughtfully).<br>
<br>Stian<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Simon Biggs <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:s.biggs@eca.ac.uk">s.biggs@eca.ac.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
There is an issue here. Reducing teaching costs by replicating standard<br>
course materials risks producing a narrow normalised curriculum. An<br>
important part of the of the educational process is the input of individual<br>
tutors and lecturers who contribute material, experience and knowledge that<br>
derives not only from textbooks but also their own research. Knowledge is<br>
not just (or even primarily) kept in books. It is a property of communities.<br>
Universities are, at their best, such communities.<br>
<br>
Best<br>
<br>
Simon<br>
<br>
<br>
Simon Biggs<br>
<a href="mailto:s.biggs@eca.ac.uk">s.biggs@eca.ac.uk</a> <a href="mailto:simon@littlepig.org.uk">simon@littlepig.org.uk</a><br>
Skype: simonbiggsuk<br>
<a href="http://www.littlepig.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.littlepig.org.uk/</a><br>
<br>
Research Professor edinburgh college of art<br>
<a href="http://www.eca.ac.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.eca.ac.uk/</a><br>
Creative Interdisciplinary Research into CoLlaborative Environments<br>
<a href="http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/" target="_blank">http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/</a><br>
Electronic Literature as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in Practice<br>
<a href="http://www.elmcip.net/" target="_blank">http://www.elmcip.net/</a><br>
Centre for Film, Performance and Media Arts<br>
<a href="http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/film-performance-media-arts" target="_blank">http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/film-performance-media-arts</a><br>
<br>
<br>
> From: George Siemens <<a href="mailto:gsiemens@gmail.com">gsiemens@gmail.com</a>><br>
> Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2010 10:15:47 -0600<br>
> To: Trebor Scholz <<a href="mailto:scholzt@newschool.edu">scholzt@newschool.edu</a>><br>
> Cc: <<a href="mailto:idc@mailman.thing.net">idc@mailman.thing.net</a>><br>
> Subject: Re: [iDC] iCollege<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5">><br>
> Hi Trebor:<br>
><br>
> "Quality online courses are in fact neither cheap nor easy to teach but<br>
> such nuance does not fit into the shtick of the Republican governor."<br>
><br>
> If online courses largely duplicate face-to-face courses, then yes, they are<br>
> neither cheap nor easy to teach. However, content duplication online has<br>
> very little of the expense of creating a second copy of a physical text. The<br>
> social dimensions of online learning are more difficult to scale, but a fair<br>
> bit of progress can be made if we let go of the assumptions that:<br>
><br>
> a) structure = learning (either in content organization or planned learning<br>
> activities/outcomes/evaluation)<br>
> b) The educator is the central node in the learning experience<br>
><br>
> In the CCK08/09 course that Stephen mentioned in his post, we devote<br>
> considerable time to discussing the changed power relationship between<br>
> educator and learner in an open online course compared with traditional<br>
> courses. It's important to mess around with what learners can now do (in<br>
> terms of social interaction and content exploration) that educators used to<br>
> do *for them.*..and how "technology" can do for learners what learners used<br>
> to have to do themselves (i.e. aggregation, patterning, content discovery).<br>
><br>
> George<br>
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