Openness – The Meaning thereof in terms of my own practice:
I understand and know that openness and sharing is a complex issue with many aspects. I work at an institution where sharing is strictly administered and controlled, particularly when it comes to engineering inventions with potentially a large monetary value. However, when it comes to sharing course material there is a much room for sharing. To a degree, I believe in complete openness and sharing, that is, open access to learning and materials. The lecturer/teacher holds the knowledge, educators share curricula, students share work and this sharing creates learning, just like a flame shares light and warmth.
What digital tools are commonly used?
Before attending this ONL191 course, I have only used the digital tools which my institution has made available to us. These tools consist of the Microsoft Office suite where I have predominantly used MSWord for my notes and Powerpoint for presenting my lectures. Our institution also uses Blackboard but I personally have not used it at all due to it being too much of a hassle to teach myself in the little time I have available.
I have often used Skype for synchronous meetings with colleagues and students. My experiences vary from almost perfect visual and audio connectivity to complete failure. The non-reliability and varying quality of Skype connectivity has been a big let-down and seriously compromised the exchange of information between participants. In this ONL191 course I have learned to use Zoom for synchronous/collaborative meetings. The quality provided by synchronous meeting software is dependant on the rate of information transfer of my internet connection. With my 30Mbps ADSL link the quality is very good. Also I have learned to use Padlet and Prezi as presentation tools, albeit the free versions which do have limitations. Unfortunately the use of these tools costs money which, as an individual, then limits the choice of them.
Finally, I have used Twitter, mainly to follow tweets on subject matter that I want to see. Recently I have taken part in two tweet chats in this ONL course and enjoyed the usefulness in sharing very much.
These are the links to commonly used digital tools:
https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/tools/#communication
https://www.toptools4learning.com/
http://libguides.lnu.se/c.php?g=221350 (Collaborative tools)
Responsible sharing:
A very important question is: how do we share responsibly? There must be some sort of protection of intellectual property. Creative Commons have created a very useful pallet of licensing options ranging from completely open, to very controlled re-use conditions. I think that educators and for that matter, all people must be sincere and honest in their dealings on the web. Honor the CC licensing requirements of other people and use MOOC’s for large participation. Use one step at a time to introduce sharing, first draw the curtains of this “open house”, then open the windows, then the doors, and finally knock down the walls completely! No sharing, no education!
References:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M – Short TED-talk by David Wiley
- http://www.linkinglearning.com.au/ – Webinar: Open education by Kay Oddone and Alastair Creelmam
- https://wakelet.com/wake/880b1f4a-47a8-4d70-ac60-91dcb110dfc5 (http://wke.lt/w/s/BPyzq) – Tweet chat synchronous activity – 27 March 2019
- Weller, M., & Anderson, T. (2013). Digital resilience in higher education. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 16(1), 53. (http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2013&halfyear=1&article=559
- Dave Cormier – What is a MOOC – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc
