Open content in the internet as link between learning, knowledge and development

Open content in the internet as link between learning, knowledge and

development

Graham AttwellPontydysgu

Salzburg - April 2007

The Open Educational Resources

movement - has it been successful?

Yes - in terms of raising

consciousness

and in fighting back against the creeping

privatisation and commodification of

education

But there are problems

Open education resources are little

used

and still less adapted and repurposed

Why?

Web sites offering OERs are poorly

designed

log in requirements are a barrier

navigation is poor

information is sparse

file formats can be restrictive

quality is variable

from a teachers point of view there

are two further issues

style

and context

We can do things about this

provide distributed metadata including

context of use

and information (metadata) about creators (people)

but there are more fundamental issues

open educational resources should

be open for learning

not just a repository of institutional

teaching materials

this has design implications

and implies we have to provide

tools for learners

regardless of whether they are

enrolled as a student

OERs can play an important part of a paradigm shift in

education

where education (and learning) are

integrated in society

breaking down the walled garden of the school fence

and the VLE

de-schooling (or re-schooling) society

where learning becomes part of

living and working

where the internet becomes a context

and source of learning

where learning takes place in

(distributed)communities of practice

and informal learning is

recognised for its true value - not just

its certificated exchange value

Personal Learning Environments will

be important

but we need imagination in

designing opportunities for

learning

including ideas drawn from social

software (for learning is a social

activity)

introducing Sarah Jones

www.knownet.com/Members/SarahJones

Profile Oooh! How am I supposed to describe myself? Tall? Sexy? Italian Sophia Loren lookalike seeking fun, friendship and maybe more,

GSOH, own teeth. Hmm.....this is not Dating Direct.

How about shortish, reddish hair, glasses (contact lenses if I'm going out), half Welsh, half Italian (that bit was true) age 30 (ish). Live in Pontypridd in Wales. Adult Ed cookery teacher. Single (ish).

No kids but 2 cats.

Career? Education? Hmm again.... this is not job application

Graham said just put down stuff like hobbies and interests. Aaagh. How about European politics, Times crossword, 14th century Etruscan pottery, reading Existentialist poetry? (usually make these up for job interviews - or rather i used to until someone

asked me about my interest in local politics and I couldn't remember who my MEP was).

OK.....let's try Rugby (Ponty supporter), cooking (helps if you are cookery teacher), cake decorating (or is that still cooking?),

shopping, reading trashy novels....

Also drink too much (real ale only), smoke too much and try and overcome genetic predisposition to being couch potato by

struggling to the gym once a week.

WILL THAT DO?

Am depressed. Just got home after staff meeting at Adult Education Centre. Principal is not happy. He has just had the report on the inspection last term. Some OK stuff but

mainly bad. ..... Apparently we got criticised for “inadequate and inappropriate evaluation

practices” - whatever that means. Inspectors have got some daft idea that we “do not involve students sufficiently in the evaluation process”. This is unfair - I am

really conscientious about handing out the end-of-year evaluation sheets AND I make

sure that they fill them in (unlike some people who think this is a joke).

Anyway, Mr High Principals has agreed that he is going to send some of us on a course

about “Developing Self Evaluation Techniques for Adult Learners”...... Worse, he has asked me to go. Why me? This is really

unfair..........

Bit of a silence, which didn’t seem to bother her, but then people started calling things out and she wrote it all on a flipchart.People were saying stuff like“really nervous”“apprehensive”“worried”“excited”“curious”“wondering where I fit in - will the others be better than me or worse than me?”“who are all these people? Will I like them? Will they like me? Are they going to be really boring or a bit of fun?”Which is more or less what I was feeling really.Then she said “Well, guess what, that’s exactly how your students will be feeling at the beginning of your course.” I suppose they would really.

Challenges

Linking (e) learning to practice

overcoming the divide between

informal and formal learning

overcoming the divide between

knowledge management and

learning

all require a new understanding of

openess

Thanks for

Listening

Sounds of the Bazaar - http://project.bazaar.org/category/podcast/

Sarah Jones’ Diary - www.knownet.com/Members/SarahJones

Wales Wide Web - www.knownet.com/writing/weblogs/

Graham_Attwell