I believe OpenCourseWare (OCW) has tremendous potential to democratize education across the globe. The movement was started by the University of Tübingen in 1999 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCourseWare). In 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) became involved in the educational initiative to make the core teaching materials from their classes available at no cost to Internet users around the world. MIT’s involvement led to the large OCW movement we have today. While most of us living in United States have the potential to access higher education, this is not necessarily the case in other parts of the world. Even in this country access is not afforded to everyone. There are prerequisites for entry into most programs, and all programs have costs associated with them. These costs are not limited to tuition, but also include costs associated with transportation and the time commitment required of students enrolled in universities. OpenCourseWare has the potential to overcome many of these barriers and allow access to a large segment of the world’s population access to higher education.
Distance education must be carefully planned and designed in order to be effective(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek, 2012). So what does effective distance education look like, and should OpenCourseWare be held to the same standards as other distance learning programs? Let me answer the second part of the question first by saying that in order to be more than a feel good initiative OCW courses should be designed with the same attributes as any other effective distance education course.
A complete list of what makes for effective distance learning courses is beyond the scope of a mere blog entry. However, there are several key characteristics that must be present. First and foremost, the instruction must be focused on the learner (Simonson, 2012). This can be challenging when OCW courses are offered to a global audience. Once the target audience has been identified, Piskurich and Chauser (n.d.) further careful planning is needed. Piskurich and Chauser (n.d.) also note that the instructional designer needs to develop clear objectives, which are then supported by the activities of the course. Delivery mechanisms and technology consideration must also be factored into the design early in the development phase of the course (Piskurich and Chauser, n.d.). It goes almost without saying that the instruction should be easy to navigate and that the learning objectives should be clear the learner.
To illustrate what a good OpenCourseWare course should look like, I would like to bring Evolution Biology created by Professor Jassiel Nyengani Zulu (2010) for the African Virtual University as an example. I can only imagine how much time Dr. Zulu (2010) must have spent planning out this course. The layout is extremely detailed and easy to follow. Time requirements, objectives, materials, and rationale are stated at the beginning of the module giving the learner a clear orientation to the course as recommended by Simonson, et al. (2012). Without investing the 160 hours recommended by Dr. Zulu (2010), it is impossible to say if only essential content made it into the course (Simonson, 2012). However, judging by the table of contents it seems pretty clear that this course (Zulu, 2010) is thorough without including distracting elements. There is no doubt that the course was thoughtfully planned out.
Dr. Zulu (2010) clearly states the learner pre-requisites in his introduction to the course. As I stated above, designing OpenCourseWare for specific audiences can present a challenge, because the courses are there for anyone to access. Dr. Zulu (2010) deals with this challenge by placing the responsibility of selection on the learner. Simonson et al. (2012) place emphasis on learner’s assuming responsibility for their learning. In OCW that responsibility is entirely on the learner. By placing the task of selection on the learner at the beginning of his course, Dr. Zulu (2010) gives the learners an early heads up about the control they have over their learning.
Each lesson within the larger module of this course has clearly stated learning objectives, and the learning within each lesson is clearly tied to the stated objectives. External links are provided for students to help them understand the objectives of each lesson. Learning is supported by such activities as comparing and contrasting the ideas of LaMarck and Darwin. Photos and illustrations in the learning material demonstrate key concepts of learning objectives. Several pre- and post-assessments are included in the instructional materials of this course.
By definition OCW requires internet access. With Smartphone usage expected to reach 1.4 billion this year (Pramis, 2013) the portion of the world’s population with internet access is becoming substantial. OCW course designers need to design with phones and tablets in mind. That means courses should be graphically compatible with smaller screens and be relatively small in size. As Piskurich and Chauser (n.d.) point out, long download times allow students time to become distracted by other tasks and can lead to frustration. Evolution Biology (Zulu, 2010) seems to have considered the potential technological limitations of the audience. The entire course is less than one megabyte in size. The largest file (18MB) associated with the course is an overview of the course by Dr. Zulu (2010) which does not need to be viewed to successfully complete the course. With a small download size and easy navigation, the course is extremely well suited for smartphones. It looks great on my iPhone.
There is no doubt in my mind that Evolution Biology (Zulu, 2010) is a great course that is easy to access by anyone with an internet portal. However, I did have a couple of questions as I dug deeper into the course. I found this course by searching the Open Courseware Consortium. Ostensibly, this should be a self-directed learning course. This course could definitely be used as such. However, it also contains teacher instructions. The course also calls for group discussions. None of these obstacles are insurmountable. The directions for visiting archaeological digs in Africa are beyond my means. There are likely to be internet resources that could be substituted on my part. Despite some minor concerns this is the best OpenCourseWare course that I have come across, and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about evolution. This course also serves a great example to anyone interested in designing distance learning courses. In fact, the course is so well designed that I am looking into enrolling in AVU to refresh my science skills in the near future.
Thanks,
Marc
References
African Virtual University. Leading eLearning Network in Africa. Retrieved February 7, 2013, from www.avu.org.
Open Sharing, Global Benefits. The OpenCourseWare Consortium. http://home.vef.gov/ download/2010%20Annual%20Conference/5.%20OCW%20-%20Mary%20Lou %20Forward,%20Executive%20Director,%20OpenCourseWare%20Consortium.pdf.
OpenCourseWare (2013). From Wikipedia. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCourseWare.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://www.mit.edu/.
Piskurich, G. and Chauser (n.d). Planning and Designing Online Courses. Presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved February 5, 2013 from https://class.waldenu.
Pramis, J. (2013). Worldwide Smartphone Usage Will Reach 1.4 billion This Year. Retrieved February 7, 2013 from http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/worldwide-
smartphone-usage-will-reach-1-4-billion-2013/.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
The University of Tübingen Today. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://www.uni- tuebingen.de/en/university.html.
Zulu, J. N. (2010). Evolution Biology. Open Educational Resources by the African Virtual University. Retrieved February 8, 2013, from http://oer.avu.org/handle/123456789/35.
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