The second topic in the ONL course was very insightful and had me thinking what “OPENNESS” means in my practice of NURSING EDUCATION.
Openness,
to me means sharing my teaching materials, research findings, ideas and
thoughts with my peers, colleagues and students. Personally, I have no issues
sharing. The openness of education somewhere in the world, has allowed me to
access educational resources and teaching materials that are typically
available, free or at a low cost, over the Web. Why spend time, effort, energy
and money, to create and develop teaching and learning resources when there is
a repository available? In topic 2, I was introduced to Merlot (had no idea
this site existed) in the webinar by Kay Oddone and Alastair Creelman. I
immediately accessed the site and was surprised at the extent of resources
available. I cannot wait to share it with my peers and colleagues (did it
today). I have benefited tremendously, able use several open educational
resources (OER) in my courses, after ensuring that there is no copy-right
infringement.
Open
learning has advantages for my nursing students. Nursing educators cannot teach
nursing students everything, especially within the dynamic healthcare industry.
However, as students are able to access OER, supported by the more traditional
library resources such as PubMed, CINAHL, they will be able meet their specific
learning needs, out of the classroom, in their own time and space. In this way,
they assume responsibility to meet their learning needs, shifting the locus of
control of learning from teacher-centric to student-centric.
During
the last 2 weeks in our PBL group discussions, as we focused on the benefits,
excuses and barriers of open learning, it was so easy to see the tangible
benefits of open learning. When I listened to David Wiley’s Ted-talk on “Open
Education and the Future”, I was pleased to note that similar sentiments were
expressed. Openness is sharing, being generous and that BEST teachers share
completely!
But
if the best teachers should share completely, then why are there limitations to
OPENNESS in education? Is it
not every educator’s inspiration and aspiration to be a BEST teacher? The padlet
exercise and webinar by Kay Oddone and Alastair Creelman presented
possibilities on why OPENNESS in education is not
always possible. In this blog, I am sharing what applies in my own setting.
As
mentioned in the webinar, a challenge to Openness could be institution-based
practices and policies. In my institution, teaching and learning materials may
be posted on the intranet NOT internet, limiting
accessibility to only the teaching team who are involved in the course and
students registered to read the course. Perhaps the concern is on the notion of
quality. Being a high-ranking University, it is deemed important that any material
posted on the open platform must be of the highest possible quality, in
content, presentation, and the list goes on.
Another
limiting factor to openness in nursing education is that although resources may
be available, there is a need to take sociocultural factors into consideration.
In healthcare, students need to be trained to provide care for patients in
their respective countries. Therefore, as a nursing educator, the educational
resources that we use in our courses must be culturally appropriate and
relevant to meet the needs of learners in a multicultural Singaporean context.
That means, the educator needs to be equipped with another attribute: DISCERNMENT.
Lastly, I believe we become skeptical when there is an abundance of OER that one can access, especially when the resources are free. We begin to question its authenticity, validity and reliability! Spoken like a true researcher. Sometimes, I think we are our worst critics! We question and question and question when there may not be reasons to do so. Nevertheless, I believe over time, the situation may change. Once we start seeing the benefits (even though it is obvious), perspectives may change. Change is never easy but it is NOT impossible.
References
Oddone,
K. & Creelman, A. (2019, October 18) Openness in Education [Webinar]
accessed on 25 October 2019 https://play.lnu.se/media/t/0_oshgd4j8/
Wiley,
D. (2010, March 6). Open education and the future [Webinar] accessed on 25
October 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M
