Hi
there my readers.
This
is my second blog post and it’s on Open Learning – Sharing and Openness.
I
should have posted it early April but due to a tight schedule I could not.
Time
management skills are very important in online learning. Anyway, better late
than never.
Introduction
Before
I delve further into matters openness, let me state that I concur with David
Wiley in as far as the definition of openness is concerned.
David
Wiley defines openness (in education) as an adjective to describe teaching
materials that are freely shared and that come with permissions to engage in
the 4Rs activities: Reuse, Redistribute, Revise and Remix.
What
openness means for my practice?
Openness is education has seen the birth of online
and blended courses which have had a huge impact in my professional life.
Through online courses platforms, I managed to attain my MSc in Pharmacy
Administration and Policy Regulation. This further led to my engagement as a
tutor at the Faculty of Capacity Development. I am attending ONL191 to further
my skills in design and delivery of online courses.
How
to find and use openly licensed resources?
From the webinar and other Topic 2 content the
following are examples of Open Educational Resources: MIT OpenCourse Ware, Open
Learn, BC Open Ed, Merlot, OER Commons and Wikimedia Commons.
edX (www.edx.org)
is also a MOOC provider which hosts online university-level courses in a wide
range of disciplines to a worldwide student body.
Advantages
of open technologies?
In my opinion and considering my settings, the
advantages of openness in education greatly outweigh the disadvantages.
The following advantages of online learning and
blended courses have really impacted my professional life in a positive way:
- Reduction in international students’
costs for travelling to university in another country
- Allows interaction with students from
around the world: diverse in age, educational background and professional
background
- Allows one not to lose focus on other
aspects of life because of studies example family engagements
Conclusion
Access to education is one of the basic human rights. Openness in education promotes access to education and needs to be further entrenched in education systems.
References
Open
Education and the Future, short TED-talk by David Wiley
Available
at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M
edX.
MOOC provider founded by Harvard University and MIT
Available
at: www.edx.org
