This topic was a real eye opener. I thought I had already been involved in quite a bit of ”open learning”, but as it turns out there are several aspects of openness that I haven’t really been aware of. To me, open educational resources have been all about making stuff available free of charge. I have done so with some of my lectures which I have put on Vimeo (e.g. Tydlig referensteknik). I have also co-created a couple of blogs intended for educational purposes (i.e. Att se och möta individuella behov; Återhämtningsinriktat reflekterande arbetssätt i psykiatrisk vård och omsorg). In doing so I have taken a first step towards open learning, in that I have moved my teaching and learning beyond the confinement of the institutional learning management system (LMS) and connected it with my personal learning environment (PLE). As Oddone (2016) describes, a PLE can include many different tools, and in my case Vimeo and WordPress are two of those. My PLE is in turn intertwined with my personal learning network (PLN) in that I use twitter and facebook to promote and discuss blog content. I do, to some extent, share Oddones (2016) notion that there is a tension between LMSs and PLEs. In my experience, it is dangerous to allow yourself as a teacher to become to dependent on a particular LMS, as ultimately your institution will decide to switch to another, presumably better and more cost effective, LMS. For me, this experience has actually been an important driver in developing open content that I can then incorporate into the LMS du jour.
One aspect that I have not thought much about before is the question of accessibility and how online educational material can be made available for students facing challenges relating to perception and cognition. As emphasized by Case and Davidson (2011) there is a difference between accessibility and usability. While accessibility is the baseline, the real goal is that ”students with disabilities should be able to use materials with the same amount of effort as students without disabilities” (Case and Davidson 2011, p.50). To achieve this, there are a number of measures to consider that might make facilitate accessibility and usability. For example, some guidance on how to design visual learning resources for neurodiverse students can be found here. This video features tips for teaching an accessible online course:
Another aspect that I have not given much thought before is the importance of using open licences. I do have some experiences of using Creative Commons licenses, but I think I have mostly used them to give myself a feeling of control. I now realize that it also facilitates the use of open content.
References
Case, D. E., & Davidson, R. C. (2011). Accessible online learning. New Directions for Student Services, (134), 47-58.
Oddone, K. (2016). PLE or PLN or LMS or OLN? Blog post about the ONL course.
