Session 1: Defining Open Education

Carl Blyth Director, COERLLAugust 9, 2012

Symposium (n.)

1. A meeting for the discussion of a single topic, usually including many speakers and an audience (virtual and F2F).

2. (in Ancient Greece) A convivial gathering that included eating, drinking and intellectual conversation.

Agenda

1. Introduction to COERLL2. Presentation: “The Impact of Open

Education on Foreign Language Learning”

3. Activity: “Envisioning Open Education”

4. Lunch (in the Atrium)

Coral

Coral by flightsaber http://www.flickr.com/photos/flightsaber/2204190345

CC BY-NC 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

Curl

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19melissa68/4479055267/

Corelle

Corelle_Snowflake Garland Cream &; Sugar with Salt & Paper (1974) by catface3http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfholloway/1456419986/in/photostreamCC BY-NC-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Working on the cattle in the corrals.jpg by Alister.flinthttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Working_on_the_cattle_in_the_corrals.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Corral

OER in COERLL

Newest of the 15 National Foreign Language Resource Centers (2010 – 2014), grant from US Department of EducationLocated at The University of Texas at AustinFormerly the Texas Language Technology Center (TLTC) Focused on Open Educational Resources (OER) for Language Learning

About COERLL

LRC Mission: to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by producing resources (materials and best practices) that can be profitably employed in K-12 and higher education settings.

COERLL's Mission: to produce and disseminate Open Educational Resources (OERs) (e.g., online language courses, reference grammars, assessment tools, corpora, etc.).

Mission

Agenda

1. Introduction to COERLL2. Presentation: “The Impact of Open

Education on Foreign Language Learning”

3. Activity: “Envisioning Open Education”

4. Lunch (in the Atrium)

What we mean by Open Education

US Dept. of Education, Creative Commons& The Open Society Foundations sponsored

“Why Open Education Matters Video Competition”http://whyopenedmatters.org/videos/

…first place winner from Blinktower Creative Agency, Cape Town, South Africa

Defining Open Education

“A collective term that refers to forms of education in which knowledge, ideas or important aspects of teaching methodology or infrastructure are shared freely over the Internet.” (Wikipedia)

Open Education Movement

“The open education (OE) movement is based on a set of intuitions shared by a remarkably wide range of academics: that knowledge should be free and open to use and re-use; that collaboration should be easier, not harder; that people should receive credit and kudos for contributing to education and research; and that concepts and ideas are linked in unusual and surprising ways and not the simple linear forms that today’s textbook present.”(Baraniuk 2007: 229)

The term OER refers to any educational material offered freely for anyone to use, typically involving some permission to re-mix, improve, and redistribute.

What we mean by OER

What we mean by OPEN

1. Free Access (online, no passwords, no fees)

2. Enable the “4 R’s”Reuse - copy verbatimRedistribute - share with othersRevise - adapt and editRemix - combine with others

“Gratis” vs. “Libre”

Photo source: free (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonx/2698947622/) / tonx (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonx/) / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

Degrees of Open: Materials

Traditional MaterialAll rights reserved

CLOSED OPEN

OERsReuse / Redistribute / Revise / Remix

Degrees of Open: Classrooms

Online

• Virtual classroom• Formal (enrolled) student• Informal learner

CLOSED OPEN

Traditional• Physical classroom• Enrolled student

Degrees of Open: Research

Open research• Known to group• Online journals• LL&T• Internet public

CLOSED OPEN

Traditional research• Methods/data known to few• Traditional print journals• Foreign Language Annals• Subscribed readers

Big vs. Little OERBig OER Little OER Typically generated by institutions. Typically generated and shared by

individuals.

Advantages = high reputation, good teaching quality, little reversioning required, easily located.

Advantages = cheap, web-native, easily remixed and reused.

Disadvantages = expensive, often not web native, reuse limited

Disadvantages = lower production quality, reputation can be more difficult to ascertain, more difficult to locate

Examples: MIT Courseware, UK’s OpenLearn

Examples: Blog posts, podcasts, etc.

Source: Martin Weller http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2009/12/the-politics-of-oer.html

share-computer-key-260 : taken from - http://www.flickr.com/photos/eq/4990131757/Author: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

OER Enablers

Open StandardsHow to design OERs for sharing

Open LicensesPermission to share OERs

TechnologyTools for creating & sharing OER

Communities of practiceSharing ideas & OERs w/ others

Mosaic Cow in St. Joseph, Michigan : taken from - http://www.flickr.com/photos/vxla/6183285404/in/photostream/Author: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Attribution(Derivatives)(Commercial)(Share Alike)

Open Licenses

Creative Commons“some rights reserved”

Mosaic Cow in St. Joseph, Michigan : taken from - http://www.flickr.com/photos/vxla/6183285404/in/photostream/Author: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Degrees of Open: Licenses

CLOSED OPEN

Standards

LARC Standards-Based Lesson Plan Generator (California)https://lpg.sdsu.edu

State Standards

National Standards

Technology

Social sharing sitesReuse :: RedistributeRevise :: Remix

COERLL’s Technology Strategies

Modular content Embeddable Media (YouTube)Editable formats (Google Docs)Multiple formats (print-on-demand and mobile)

Communities

Collaboration among communities of:

EducatorsLearnersAdministratorsDevelopers.edu + .org + .com

Hybrid Spanish (U of Utah)Fernando Rubio

Open Learning Initiative (CMU)Chris Jones

Acceso (U of Kansas)Amy Rossomondo & Jonathan Perkins

Français interactif (UT-Austin)Georges Détiveaux & Amanda Dalola

Open LCTL Textbooks

Yoruba Yemihttp://coerll.utexas.edu/yemi

Open Spanish Corpus & Materials

Spanish in Texas Websitehttp://sites.la.utexas.edu/spanishtx

Projects: Open Source Tools

eComma collaborative annotation toolhttp://coerll.utexas.edu/ecomma

Other COERLL projects:OERs for LCTLs

Gateway to Chinese http://www.laits.utexas.edu/ppp

Suite of tools for students to practice with online interactive exercises. Portal site will launch in July, 2012.

Conversa Brasilierahttp://www.coerll.utexas.edu/brazilpod/cob

Set of 35 high-quality conversation videos with annotations and commentary

Aswaat Arabiyyahttp://www.laits.utexas.edu/aswaat

Authentic Arabic videos for listening practice. New exercise sets for 20 videos will be released this summer.

Benefits to Learners

Lowering costs.Materials can be adapted to meet local and personal needs.Community involvement = quality control and a better overall product, “inreach”Learners can be part of the creation process and feel a sense of ownership

Benefits to Educators

Greater impact; reach more learners and gain recognitionMore control over materialsProgram fees from print-on-demand help with sustainability for updating materialsHigh quality materials for less commonly taught languagesBecome a member of a community of practice

Challenges of OER

Work involved in selecting and assembling all the pieces needed for a complete language program.Educators need training and support. Skepticism about quality controlLack of awareness about OERSustainability

Visualizing Cognitive Surplus

Slides and Links

Check website for details:http://sites.la.utexas.edu/power-of-openness

Q&A Period

What questions do you (still) have about Open Education and Language Learning?

Agenda

1. Introduction to COERLL2. Presentation: “The Impact of Open

Education on Foreign Language Learning”

3. Activity: “Envisioning Open Education”

4. Lunch (in the Atrium)

“Envisioning Open Education”

1. React to what you just heard about Open Education. What are your reactions to this presentation? [10 min discussion]

2. Imagine your ideal OER. What do you want future pedagogical materials to look like? [10 min]

3. Brainstorm solutions to one or two of the challenges to Open Education. What can we do to overcome the obstacles? [10 min]

Lunch Period!School lunches from around the world