Open Educational Resources
Were you in school during the COVID-19 lockdown?
I was completing my undergraduate degree at Florida International University, but I knew several friends and family members looking for something new to learn or do during this time.
Enter: free. college. courses.
Excuse me?
yup. you heard me.
Several well-known universities advertised courses (many relating to mental health and wellbeing) for anyone to take from the comfort of their own home - at no cost.
Granted, you weren't getting a degree or diploma out of it, but still, what a great opportunity to try something new!
Apparently, this concept of open access educational materials didn't emerge in the year 2020. Since MIT's OpenCourseWare (OCW) launched in 2001, an initiative to provide communities outside of their university with educational materials, there has been an influx in OCW projects (Caswell et al., 2008). I love the idea of the free and open education movement and being able to learn what you need to at the moment you need it; a concept I have now learned is called microlearning (Word & Dennen, 2021).
Through my basic understanding of intellectual property and creative commons, the distribution of these open educational resources (OER) is where is gets tricky (Word & Dennen, 2021).
I once created a Wakelet for a lesson on the moon cycle, used it once, and forgot all about it. A few months later I checked my email and found hundreds of people had used or shared my forgotten Wakelet. Do you think I should get credit or some sort of monetary compensation for my contribution? Personally, I don't think so or really care. If I did, I probably wouldn't have used Wakelet, or I could have added my own intellectual property rights to my content. But I suppose it may be important for some people in some other situation.
What's your take on OER?
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Great post, Kaley! Like you, I was faintly aware of the open education movement back before 2020, but I did not become super familiar with it until around the same time as you.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaley, Before I started the master's program, I completed a few OER courses. One of the components that I enjoyed in these courses was the lack of grades. I could focus on the content that interested me and disregard that which didn't, as it would not appear on a test or future assignment. However, one of the drawbacks was that, at times, the professors in the courses referred to sections of textbooks to which I had no access.
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