IPT692R: Some considerations on the sustainability of the OCW movement

While more organizations to join the OCW movement, with the current approach, I do not see clearly the sustainability of this movement.

- Teachers, voluntarily and without monetary reward, are those who argue much of the project.They are, too, who choose the type of course? They do it by its own knowledge or by needs of potential students?. Can I apply the same standards of quality requirement that when work is rewarded? The recognition of the work, will be a transient or continuous motivation for them?

- If the contents of a free course are similar to credit is likely to suffer the income level of the university and it are decided to cut or eliminate those courses. How we to compensate the situation?

IPT 692R: The governments should contribute to the sustainability of the movements that generate knowledge

The access to information to acquire knowledge and skills is necessary to function adequately in society.

Unfortunately, we do not have all the same opportunities. The arrival of internet democratizes access to this information that in theory can reach everyone, but in practice only comes to those who can have a computer, electricity, broadband connection, ..., which is not the case in large parts of the world.

Sectors sensitive to the issue have tried to improve the situation and working for a different reality. Thanks to the selfless dedication of some people, and donations from others, has introduced a major change in concept and movements have emerged that encourage collaborative work that allow the creation of free software, production of OER's and the adoption new types of licenses.

The dependence on grants, personal efforts and donations can not guarantee continuity of work and project sustainability. The fact that projects as MITOCW, strong economically, are forced to cut spending is a clear example of what can happen, especially in times of economic recession.

Logically, in a free market society, government, businesses and individuals have the ability to finance their own projects and initiatives as they wish, but given that the creation of knowledge and tools necessary we concerns us all: rich and poor, with more or less intellectual ability, regardless of where they reside, ..., should be the administration, especially in rich countries, which allocate a fixed percentage of their budgets for development and promotion of such activities, providing the controls necessary to ensure the quality, the sustainability and the reversal of the achievements of humanity. This would have the advantage of not being incompatible with other forms of financing, of course, equally respectable.

Un estudio analizará la calidad de la formación virtual según la norma UNE 66181

En el marco de las acciones complementarias y de acompañamiento a la formación cofinanciadas por el Fondo Social Europeo, la Consejería de Empleo de la Junta de Andalucía ha encargado un estudio al Grupo Neteman para adecuar la formación virtual andaluza a los parámetros de calidad establecidos por la norma UNE 66181. Su objetivo es determinar la calidad de la formación virtual en torno a tres parámetros fundamentales: accesibilidad, empleabilidad y usabilidad

Con ello se pretende aumentar la satisfacción de proveedores y usuarios respecto a la formación virtual, así como incrementar la transparencia y la confianza de éstos últimos en el mercado actual.

En el estudio también colaborará el grupo IDEA de la Facultad de Pedagogía de Sevilla y, previsiblemente, será presentado en septiembre próximo.

__________

Fuente: Grupo Neteman

La UOC ofrece cursos OpenCourseWare

La Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) ofrece cursos OpenCourseWare (OCW), modelo iniciado por el mIT y al qe ya se han añadido centenares de instituciones, entre las cuales hay varias universidades españolas.

Los cursos de la UOC están agrupados, de momento, en cinco áreas de conocimiento:

• Derecho y Ciencias políticas
• Economía y Empresa
• Informática, Tecnología y multimedia
• Lenguas y culturas
• Turismo

IPT692R: Sustainability of open education projects

The international community is moving towards an understanding of the Open Education and OER's. This is demonstrated by some indicators:

• The Creative Commons (CC) Licensing scheme has already started to have significant impact on eliminating some of the barriers around ownership, attribution and re-use.
• The rise of social networking tools, such as flickr, Facebook and blogs has caused a revolution in approach for both individuals and institutions as they have begun to embrace a more open approach to sharing information, practice and resources.
• There is increasing recognition that the context in which content is developed for teaching and learning is crucial.
• The growing development of MUVE's like Second Life where the philosophy of most users is to share resources.
• The concept of the Semantic Web will facilitate the localization of OER's.

Although not all the parts involved are aware of the movement and the benefits of utilización of OER's, these benefits are clear:

• Global community
• National community
• Educational institutions
• Those supporting/facilitating learning
• sharing for learners

And applicable to various levels:

• Open sharing
• Sharing through a Community of Practice (CoP subject-based sharing
• Institutional sharing
• National sharing
• Informal sharing

However, Wiley says a significant fact: When the re-usability goes up, the contextualisation goes down, and vice-versa. This is a sensitive issue because the sustainability of the movement depends largely on the reutilization, although also beginning to be encouraged by the competitiveness generated by the implementation of OCW.

Depending on the context of replication, there are three big models of development:

• Financial model
• Service model
• Supplier/customer model

But, in any of the three models, it requires the active participation of government and large companies that opt for the project.

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Resources:

• Advancing Sustainability of Open Educational Resources (Koohang and Harman)
• On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education) (Wiley, )
• Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources (Downes)
• JISC Good Intentions Final Report (JISC)
• JISC Good Intentions Business Cases (JISC)

IPT692R: The sustainability of the open education movement

In the fifth week of the course Introduction to Open Education, which offers David Wiley, we have to consider the sustainability of the Open Education movement.

Like any other project, you must obtain revenues to balance the costs.

There are several ways of financing (public, sponsorship, donations, ...). But, in this case, moreover, it is necessary to outsource and give visibility to the work done so that the model is sustainable.

Some believe that if it is free, does not offer quality. Others do not want to give your work or do not have the strength to lead change in their immediate surroundings ...

However, it is undeniable that open education is progressing because it moves in line with the conceptual change driven by globalization.

To accelerate this change is necessary that governments and institutions accept the need to spread its benefits especially in areas poorly financially and raise awareness of solidarity and cooperation.

__________

Resources:

• Common Wisdom: Peer Production of Educational Materials
  
• Advancing Sustainability of Open Educational Resources
  
• On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education
  
• Models for Sustainable Open Educational Resources

IPT692R: Creative Commons Licenses

This week, the activity of the course Introduction to Open Education, which offers David Wiley, has focused on the study of the Creative Commons licenses.

Such licenses are intended to encourage creativity and reuse of intellectual works while allowing the author retains the rights that we deem appropriate.

These licenses are based on four basic criteria:

• Attribution: The creator allows you to copy, distribute and perform the work while recognizing and properly cite the original author.
• Noncommercial: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and perform the work until it is used for commercial purposes.
• No Derivative Works: The creator allows you to copy, distribute and publicly communicate unaltered copies of the work, but not make derivative works of them.
• Share Alike: It allows to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to that which governs the original work.

Such licenses are tailored to the laws of each country, so there are a large variety. In slidshare, we can see some of them.

IPT692R: Creative Commons Licenses

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Flat World Knowledge: Libros de texto abiertos y gratuitos

David Wiley, uno de los principales promotores de la editorial de libros abiertos y gratuitos, Flat World Knowledge (FTK), anuncia en su blog que ya están disponibles los primeros títulos, bajo licencia de Creative Commons (permite la reutilización y modificación de sus contenidos siempre que se compartan del mismo modo y no se haga con fines comerciales).

Estos libros también podrán ser comprados en otros formatos (PDF, libro impreso, audiolibro …). Los ingresos obtenidos por este concepto y otras ayudas adicionales servirán de base de financiación del proyecto.

Mi enhorabuena por la iniciativa.