15 – 28 October

In Topic 2 we will explore the benefits and challenges of openness in education and learning, focusing especially on open educational resources (OERs), open and closed technologies and open participation in courses.  

Activities for all learners   

Introduction lecture

Before you do anything else go to our Topic 2 Padlet page and watch an introduction to openness in education by Kay Oddone (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and Alastair Creelman (Linnaeus University, Sweden), explaining concepts like open educational resources (OER), Creative Commons, sharing, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) etc.

After you have watched the film please add your comments, reflections and questions on the Padlet page (see instructions on the page). All your comments will form the basis of a discussion webinar on 18 October.

Webinar

In the Webinar – open education on Thursday 18 October, 12.00 – 13.00 (CEST) we will discuss many of the issues raised in the introduction lecture and get inspiration and practical tips from Kay Oddone (Queensland University of Technology, Australia). You can also, during the entire week, share your thoughts in the ONL Google+ community about your own professional experience of open resources, tools and open courses.

Tweetchat

We will also have a chat session on Twitter on the topic of openness, Tuesday 23 October, 12.00 – 13.00 CET.

A Tweetchat or Twitter chat is a synchronous discussion run through Twitter – good fun and worth trying. Alastair Creelman and Kay Oddone will lead the discussion – for tips on how you participate, watch the video How to take part in a Twitter chat and see the event page.

Learning blog – reflection  

Suggested themes for reflection in your learning blog:

  • what openness means for your own practice
  • how to find and use openly licensed resources
  • advantages and disadvantages of open and closed technologies
  • implications of different open course and MOOC formats in relation to your learning experience on this course.

A reminder: If you are aiming for a certificate you need to both write reflective posts within a blog and comment on others (see how to participate).  

Activities in PBL groups

For guidance on PBL group work including the FISh design please see Learning activities. Choose one of the scenarios below:  

SCENARIO

I’m interested in opening up some of my courses and sharing the resources in a responsible way, but I don’t really know where to start. What options are there for offering courses that are open? How do I get support from my colleagues and how do I introduce the idea to my students? What are the opportunities and dangers of “going open”?

Optional activities

Get that experience!
ONL is a type of MOOC, though not so massive as most of them. If you have no experience of a MOOC you may want to enrol in one, just to have a look. Class Central is a good place to search for MOOCs from all the main platforms in the world. Browse the different courses and see what you can find (you may have to register in order to see the activity).  

Twitter
During this second topic you are encouraged to continue to use your Twitter account. Are there, for example, any open resources (OER) that you have found useful that you can share? Remember to use the hashtag #ONL181 when tweeting.  


AIMS


By the end of this topic, you will have had the opportunity to

  • discuss open resources, open/closed tools and open participation courses
  • reflect on different aspects of openness in your own context
  • review in groups open features of the chosen activity/resource
  • inquire into open educational practices related to a specific scenario

SYNCHRONOUS ACTIVITIES



webinar
Webinar:
 Open education with Kay Oddone and Alastair Creelman, 18 October,
12.00-13.00 CEST
See event

Tweetchat: Tuesday 23 October 12.00 – 13.00 CEST
See event


CHECKLIST


During this topic I have:

  • Attended at least two of the PBL group online meetings
  • Contributed actively to the group work on the scenario
  • Contributed actively to the group discussion in Google+
  • Commented on some colleagues’ blog posts
  • Written my reflective blog post on topic 2
  • Studied the recommended resources for this topic.

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Readings and other resources

Recommended

Films

Creative Commons guide. Nice short overview to CC-licensing by Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand.

Open education and the future, Short TED-talk by David Wiley

What is a MOOC? Short explanation by Dave Cormier, one of the people behind the first ever MOOC.

Articles

Weller, M., & Anderson, T. (2013). Digital resilience in higher education. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 16(1), 53.

Oddone, K. (2016). PLE or PLN or LMS or OLN? Blog post about the ONL course.


Further viewing

Watson, K. (2014) Learning management system or the open web?, Learning to teach online UNSW.

Further readings

Weller, M. (2014). Battle for Open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory. London: Ubiquity Press.
(If you can, try to read all of this excellent overview of the whole question of openness but if you can’t, focus on Chapter 4, Open Educational Resources, and Chapter 5, MOOCs.)

Bates, T. (2015). Teaching in a Digital Age: Guidelines for Teaching and Learning.
(This is probably the best guide there is today to teaching in a digital context. Worth reading the whole book but for this unit you can focus on Chapter 10, Trends in open education.)

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