Open Learning and Global Education ISTB01, Nov. 20/2007 Stian Haklev

Higher education Past to present – and beyond

Going way back

What is a university?

Why is it organized as it is?

4 year degree 5 courses per term GPA Big lectures Small tutorials Papers Textbooks Academic journals Citation standards

Is that the only way?

What is the purpose of university?

Current problems

The enrollment explosion

Is Canadian education in crisis?

Jeff Rybak – ex-UTSC student

Professors from U Western

A Vision of Students Today

If this is Canada, how about the developing world?

Why are universities important in poor countries?

Education for all campaign Millenium development goals Universal primary education Girl-child education

BUT…

To teach elementary or secondary school effectively in a developing country, you need teachers and teacher trainers. Researchers on the country’s history, culture, language, economics. Curriculum makers. You cannot postpone universities until everyone has primary education. (Paraphrased from Birgit-Brock Utne)‏

Colonial heritage University of Pretoria

Language of instruction Curriculum contents Text books Very restricted entry Appropriate?

Challenges Massive growth in enrolment Teaching of local content Accessibility and affordability Flexibility Indigenous knowledge production/exchange Access to Western knowledge South-to-South knowledge exchange

Not possible with today’s Western model

So?

Two trends:

Very scalable Mixed modes of delivery Flexible/Affordable Massive universities

What does distance learning “look like” (isn’t it boring looking at a tiny window with a professor talking on the screen, don’t the students feel disconnected, aren’t the educational outcomes sub-optimal?)‏

Introduction to Open Education course David Wiley, Utah State University

Accessability? Tele/learning-centers Video/CD/DVD Satellite/TV/Radio Paper-based

Affordable computers?

Examples UK Open University Indira Gandhi Open University

But where is the content coming from?

… It all started with Learning Objects … generic pieces of “learning” / “knowledge”, that could be transferred from one online learning system to another, dramatically decreasing time and cost to develop courses… … sounds good, right?

But… Can learning objects exist without context? How does copyright work? How do we pay the creator? Write-once, use-often?

I said it started with Learning Objects, … but did Plato use Copyright?

Education going back to it’s roots, inspired by open source, but also realizing – it’s just more feasible.

Examples UK Open University Indira Gandhi Open University

That’s research, what about teaching?

Free as in beer/free as in speech ( 自由 and 免费 , libre and gratuito)‏ Why is that important?

Open Educational Resources Free/open license Generic format (website/movie/sound/illustration) – not caught in learning management system Supposed to be adapted

African Virtual University

Discussion topics (if we have time)‏ Accreditation (splitting teaching monopoly, Indian NGO)‏ Role of University of Toronto Your role as students/scholars

Thank you!