In these past couple of weeks the work in our PBL group has been focused on the advantages and disadvantages of open learning. In trying to think what openness means for my own practice, as teacher and learner, I realize that a) although I have taken steps in the direction of openness, my experience so far is limited and b) even so, I have encountered some of the up-sides and down-sides of open education that we have discussed. I’ll illustrate this with a few examples.

I have just finished teaching a course in Climate and general circulation of the atmosphere and ocean. This course is given within the BSc program in meteorology, to students who have two years of university math and physics studies behind them. It is a regular course, not open, but I have given it largely online. Towards the end, it was of course all online, due to the Corona pandemic (see specific post), but throughout, lectures were recorded and we met for discussions and problem solving on each topic. Simply, a flipped-classroom model. Although a majority of the (small) group of students were pleased with this teaching format, there were individual comments in the evaluation saying that “regular” lectures, where you can ask the teacher questions along the way, would have been preferable. I interpret this as a manifestation of the problem of lack of human interaction, that is often mentioned as a con of open educational resources (e.g. UOP 2020). And that this is perceived as a problem even in a setting where there was not only technical paths for interaction, but also actual live interaction among peers and with teacher on a regular bases, really illustrates that this can for some be a serious issue. For the record I should re-emphasize that the majority of the group were very pleased and found the blend of online and live elements as very supportive of their learning.

From my perspective, as a teacher, I felt a bit anxious about flipping the classroom. Not because I am protective of my material and don’t want to share (as suggested by Wiley, 2010) but rather because it’s a bit scary to leave traces, and make your work open to ciritcism in a new way. As a teacher you are always evaluated by your students, and if you are in a teaching environment that supports it, you may also be subject to peer evaluation. Although peer observation and evaluation has many benefits for all involved parties (Martin and Double 1998), it may also cause some discomfort for the subject teacher, in fear of being judged (Cosh, 1998). In open education, the world is your peer observer, and in my field, physical climate science, there is an additional dimension to this, in the (sometimes surprisingly) large number of people who actively criticize science and scientists in a (sometimes surprisingly) unpleasant way. Open education does open up for more of that.

Another important point, a potential con, is that of sustainability (Atkins et al. 2007). In the case of my course, I will have incentive to update and refine my material – I am employed as a teacher and researcher at a university, and students enrolling in and passing my course contributes to funding of my institution (through an intricate system of helårsstudenteroch helårsprestationer, UKÄ 2018). But in the case of a free open course, it is not clear how the sustainment of the course is assured – despite all the benefits of accessibility and opportunity, someone’s work is behind the open course, and if there is no funding, the sustainability is at risk.

My most open experience so far is the current course, ONL. It continues to offer a mixture of online-resources and online-interaction with peers and facilitators. So far, I have not had problems with lack of human interactions in the context of this course – online meetings is the new normal in times of social distancing, and our PBL group has been meeting frequently online. It seems that issues of sustainability can be dealt with for the course, as the content is current, and facilitators are active. Technical problems, that were my concern at the beginning of the course, have not been so much of an issue after the initial account-creation confusion (see blogpost for Topic 1). I feel motivated to continue the course – not only because it is of interest to me, but also because I want the formal credits. And this is another issue we touched upon in our PBL group – the high drop-off rate in open courses (Jordan 2014). 

I have on my laptop a browser tab saying Free Online course – elements of AI, or something similar. To me, as to many others, learning more about AI is topical, and that there is a free online course easily accessible is of course amazing. In terms of quality assurance (Atkins et al. 2007), this one comes from a reliable source, and I have also had it recommended by a colleague whose opinion on the topic I trust. But in terms of drop-out rate, I’m really confirming the statistics – dropping out before properly getting started.

References

Atkins et al. (2007) A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities, Report to The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, https://www.issuelab.org/resources/7645/7645.pdf

Cosh, J. (1998) Peer Observation in Higher Education ‐‐A Reflective Approach, Innovations in Education and Training International, 35(2)

Jordan, Katy (2014). Initial trends in enrolment and completion of massive open online courses. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 15(1) pp. 133–160. http://oro.open.ac.uk/39592/1/1651-13695-1-IRRODL.pdf 

Martin, G. A. and Double, J. M. (1998) Developing Higher Education Teaching Skills Through Peer Observation and Collaborative Reflection, Innovations in Education and training International, 35 (29)

UKÄ (2018) https://www.uka.se/statistik–analys/statistikdatabas-hogskolan-i-siffror/beskrivningar-av-statistiken-i-databasen-hogskolan-i-siffror/ekonomi/ekonomi/2018-02-23-utfall-helarsstudenter-hst-och-helarsprestationer-hpr-per-utbildningsomrade.html

UOP (2020) University of the Pacific, https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/oer/pro-con-oer.html[accessed Mar 2020]

Wiley, D. TedX, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M