OPEN CONTENT

Audrey Anglin

Amy London

and

John Slaughter

What Is Open Content?

Any type of creative work

Open Content License

Allows free access and/or modifying by anyone

(Wikipedia, Open Content, para. 1).

Purpose Open Content makes learning more

efficient by getting children from A to B faster because the materials are less expensive, accessible, and modified to meet teachers’ needs.

A (Ignoramus) = B (Knowledge) = C (Use)

Philosophy

The world’s knowledge is a public good.

Internet Archive (Open Content Alliance / Yahoo!)

Google Book Search

Million Book Project

(Morgan & Carey, 2009; St. Clair, 2008)

Theoretical Framework Vygotsky (1978)

cognitive socialization theory wherein you learn best from your community

social development theory with intrinsic and extrinsic rewards○ Intrinsic relates to personal interest and

motivation○ Extrinsic refers to the delight in receiving

external recognition

History

Open Content began in the software industry in with Richard Stallman.

Xerox refused to give Stallman the source code to fix a printer problem.

Inspired Stallman to offering his own software for free.

(Wileya & Gurrell, 2009).

Movement toward Education

Wileya wanted to make his educational materials available for everybody to use for free.

Wileya networked with a software expert (Raymond) and a publisher (O’Reilly) and created an open content license for educators.

Organizations created platforms for educators to publish their work (Connexions & Flat World Knowledge).

(Wileya & Gurrell, 2009)

OPEN CONTENT IN

THE CURRICULAR COMMUNITY

Curricular Community

Problem: High Textbook Costs

Problem: Lack of educational resources in remote areas

(Horizon Report, 2010)

Liberty Education Costs

$ 1,350.57 (Books)

$ 16,042.93 (Liberty)

$ 17,393.50 (Total Cost)

About 7.76 percent (Books)

Community College Study

The rights of a statistics textbook were purchased by a foundation.

The book was given an open content license.

The book was made available online for free through Connexions ($31.98 for a hard copy).

(Baker et al. 2009, p. 4)

Results Fall 2008 : 15 instructors & 5 colleges

Winter/Spring 2009: 43 course sections & 10 colleges

The book was also remixed by the community.Reorganized the modulesAdded lesson plans, videotaped lessons, practice exercises,

examples, quizzes, tests, and homework problems were added.

The instructors (8 out of 21) reported that the students were satisfied with the open textbook

Small sample / students not surveyed / satisfied not defined(Baker et al. 2009, p. 4)

Students Using Open Textbooks

Flat World Knowledge

Spring 2009 / 1,000 students Fall 2009 / 40,000 students

(Horizon Report, 2010)

=====

Open High School of Utah (9th and 10th grade) 2009-2010 / 125 students 2010-2011 / 250 students in 9th and 10th grade Expanding to 11th and 12th grade in 2011

(Open High School of Utah)

Applications

Open High School in Utah Open Courses (e.g., MIT) Public Schools Home Schools Remote Areas Christian Organizations (e.g., Answers

in Genesis, Focus on the Family)

OPEN CONTENTIN

THE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY

What the Literature Provides….

A sense of achievability A sense of ownership A sense of support

Windle, R. J., Wharrad, H., McCormick, D., Laverty, H., & Taylor, M. (2010)

Achievability

Many professional development practices focus on delivering content rather than enhancing learning (Webster-Wright, 2009).

“Online approach to professional development focuses directly on the learner and aims to provide strong interactions with rich resources and prolific discussions among members of the learning community,” (Holmes, Signer, & MacLeod, 2010, p. 76).

Ownership

Educators are encouraged to manipulate, change, enhance, and improve information (Trotter, 2008).

Although the exact reasons are unknown, the use of peers as facilitators results in better learning outcomes than the use of faculty (Walker & Leary, 2009).

Support

“These tools facilitate self-organization among educators and learners, providing a bottom-up [enhanced and improved the more it is accessed and used] option for collaborative learning to complement existing centrally organized and designed learning networks,” (Martinez, 2010, p. 75).

Application Teachers Domain www.teachersdomain.org

evaluates and accurately measures the relevance of the open content against standards and benchmarks 

Creative Commons (copyright) Professional Development

MoodleIcohere www.login.icohere.com BioQUEST Curriculum ConsortiumYouTube/TeacherTube

Recognizing the Gaps

Most of our conversations are about dealing with or learning about technology, when they should be about the future of teaching because technology has changed the ways in which we communicate (Martinez, 2010).

No studies prove how open content is effective for professional development purposes.

No control of quality for the “sharing of work in progress, ongoing research, highly collaborative projects, and a broad view of what constitutes scholarly publication” (Horizons Report, 2010).

Next Steps

Conduct studies on the effectiveness of using open content for professional development

Conduct studies that attempt to examine correlations between the frequency of use and teacher effectiveness

Conduct studies that quantify the benefits of using open content for professional development

OPEN CONTENT IN

THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY

Current Literature Higher Education – open course ware is

delivered through modules

Universities from around the world have pledged $350,000 to the OpenCourseWare Consortium to ensure that these course materials remain free.

Current Literature High School – Open High School in Utah is a

full-service virtual charter high school that uses open content. The school opened in 2009 with an enrollment of 125. The enrollment in 2010-2011 doubled.

National Repository of Online Courses – supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Current Literature

Middle and Elementary Schools – studies related to middle and elementary schools revolve around effectiveness of using web tools such as Moodle and Wikis.

Resources

OER Commons – Open Educational Resources Commons

HippoCampus – open courseware for math, science, and history

cK12 – open courseware (textbooks) available for grades 6-12.

Currikki – open courseware for K-12

Application Higher Education – distance learning,

continuing education, personal goals

High School – homeschooling, virtual high schools, tutoring

Middle School – homeschooling, virtual schools, tutoring

Elementary School – homeschooling, tutoring

Application

FreeReading is an early literacy initiative to help educators teach reading by providing free high quality materials.

“We’re hoping lots of people will rip it off and do what they want with it – it’s one of the most basic needed resources,” (Fasimpauer, 2009, p. 64).

Recognizing the gaps … Higher Education – several studies

conducted in other countries; little research in the US

High School There is little research

Middle School concerning the Elementary School effectiveness of open

content in these areas.

Next Steps Higher Education – replicate the studies

already conducted in other countries

High School – Middle School – Elementary – studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of the courseware with these age groups.

Advantages

Openness increases the quality of software

Less expensive for companies to have somebody else fix their errors.

Equal access provided that the infrastructure is available

Less cumbersome

Advantages

Advances lifelong learning Increases the range and types of

learning opportunities for non-traditional studentsThose who travel extensivelyEmployedUnderrepresented groups

Advantages

Underrepresented groups continued:Those with disabilitiesHouse boundThose with family dependentsLow SES or no incomeRefugeesElderlyPrison inmates

Disadvantages Districts have firewalls that prohibit

teachers’ access to open content (Martinez, 2010).

Impromptu marketplace has been created due to the open access nature (i.e., teachers want to sell their lesson plans online)

Funding (i.e., printing companies losing business)

Maintaining and recognizing quality

How We Contribute

Instructional Videoshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EDoUYxV4w

Shared lesson plans WebQuests

www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=108543 Websites Class Wiki

http://tech730.wikispaces.com

How We Contribute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCUdKAwPt-Y

How We Contribute

A Final Thought…..

We should approach experiences with the attitude of a “beginner's mind - a state where possibilities spring eternal - a place where there is actually pleasure and excitement in not knowing everything.” -- unknown

ReferencesBaker, J., Thierstein, J., Fletcher, K., Kaur, M., & Emmons, J. (2009). Open

textbook proof-of-concept via Connexions. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(5), 1-13.

Holmes, A., Signer, B. & MacLeod, A. (2011). Professional development at a distance: A mixed-method study exploring inservice teachers' views on presence online. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education 27(2), 76-85.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Stone, S. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Martinez, M. (2010). How a new generation of teachers will change schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(7), 74-75.

ReferencesMorgan, T. & Carey, S (2009). From open content to open course models:

Increasing access and enabling global participation in higher education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(5), 1-16.

Open High School of Utah (2010). Annual Report 2010. Retrieved from http://www.openhighschool.org

St. Clair, G. (2008). The million book project in relation to Google. Journal of Library Administration, 47(1-2), 151-163.

Trotter, Andrew. "The Open-Content Movement." Digital Directions 2.02 (2008): 27. General OneFile. Retrieved from:http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu

ReferencesWalker, A., & Leary, H. (2009). A problem based learning meta

analysis: Differences across problem types, implementation types, disciplines, and assessment levels. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem Based Learning, 3(1), 12-43.

Webster-Wright, A. (2009). Reframing professional development through understanding authentic professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 702-739. doi: 10.3102/0034654308330970

Wileya, D. & Gurrell, S. (2009). Context and catalyst: A decade of development. Open Learning, 24(1), 11-21. doi: 10.1080/02680510802627746

Windle, R. J., Wharrad, H., McCormick, D., Laverty, H., & Taylor, M. (2010). Sharing and reuse in OER: Experiences gained from open reusable learning objects in health. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1-18. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

HTTP://TECH730.WIKISPACES.COM

Remember to post your group’s presentation to the class

Wiki page.