Open content in the internet as link between learning, knowledge and development

Graham Attwell

Pontydysgu

Salzburg - April 2007

The Open Educational Resources movement - has it been successful?

Yes - in terms of raising consciousness

and in fighting back against the creeping privatisation and commodification of education

But there are problems

Open education resources are little used

and still less adapted and repurposed

Why?

Web sites offering OERs are poorly designed

log in requirements are a barrier

navigation is poor

information is sparse

file formats can be restrictive

quality is variable

from a teachers point of view there are two further issues

style

and context

We can do things about this

provide distributed metadata including context of use

and information (metadata) about creators (people)

but there are more fundamental issues

open educational resources should be open for learning

not just a repository of institutional teaching materials

this has design implications

and implies we have to provide tools for learners

regardless of whether they are enrolled as a student

OERs can play an important part of a paradigm shift in education

where education (and learning) are integrated in society

breaking down the walled garden of the school fence and the VLE

de-schooling (or re-schooling) society

where learning becomes part of living and working

where the internet becomes a context and source of learning

where learning takes place in (distributed)communities of practice

and informal learning is recognised for its true value - not just its certificated exchange value

Personal Learning Environments will be important

but we need imagination in designing opportunities for learning

including ideas drawn from social software (for learning is a social activity)

introducing Sarah Jones www.knownet.com/Members/SarahJones www.knownet.com/Members/SarahJones www.knownet.com/Members/SarahJones

Profile Oooh! How am I supposed to describe myself? Tall? Sexy? Italian Sophia Loren lookalike seeking fun, friendship and maybe more, GSOH, own teeth. Hmm.....this is not Dating Direct. How about shortish, reddish hair, glasses (contact lenses if I'm going out), half Welsh, half Italian (that bit was true) age 30 (ish). Live in Pontypridd in Wales. Adult Ed cookery teacher. Single (ish). No kids but 2 cats. Career? Education? Hmm again.... this is not job application Graham said just put down stuff like hobbies and interests. Aaagh. How about European politics, Times crossword, 14th century Etruscan pottery, reading Existentialist poetry? (usually make these up for job interviews - or rather i used to until someone asked me about my interest in local politics and I couldn't remember who my MEP was). OK.....let's try Rugby (Ponty supporter), cooking (helps if you are cookery teacher), cake decorating (or is that still cooking?), shopping, reading trashy novels.... Also drink too much (real ale only), smoke too much and try and overcome genetic predisposition to being couch potato by struggling to the gym once a week. WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO? WILL THAT DO?

Am depressed. Just got home after staff meeting at Adult Education Centre. Principal is not happy. He has just had the report on the inspection last term. Some OK stuff but mainly bad. ..... Apparently we got criticised for “inadequate and inappropriate evaluation practices” - whatever that means. Inspectors have got some daft idea that we “do not involve students sufficiently in the evaluation process”. This is unfair - I am really conscientious about handing out the end-of-year evaluation sheets AND I make sure that they fill them in (unlike some people who think this is a joke). Anyway, Mr High Principals has agreed that he is going to send some of us on a course about “Developing Self Evaluation Techniques for Adult Learners”...... Worse, he has asked me to go. Why me? This is really unfair..........

Bit of a silence, which didn’t seem to bother her, but then people started calling things out and she wrote it all on a flipchart. People were saying stuff like “really nervous” “apprehensive” “worried” “excited” “curious” “wondering where I fit in - will the others be better than me or worse than me?” “who are all these people? Will I like them? Will they like me? Are they going to be really boring or a bit of fun?” Which is more or less what I was feeling really. Then she said “Well, guess what, that’s exactly how your students will be feeling at the beginning of your course.” I suppose they would really.

Challenges

Linking (e) learning to practice

overcoming the divide between informal and formal learning

overcoming the divide between knowledge management and learning

all require a new understanding of openess

Thanks for Listening Sounds of the Bazaar - http://project.bazaar.org/category/podcast/ Sarah Jones’ Diary - www.knownet.com/Member s/SarahJones Wales Wide Web - www.knownet.com/writing/w eblogs/Graham_Attwell