The Impact of Open Source

In understanding how the Internet has impacted the way both teaching and learning are managed in an online environment. “To teach and learn effectively we must understand the concepts of student-centered learning and distributed learning”. (Simonson, Pg. 231) In the developmental years of distance learning the instructional model essentially replicated the face-to-face teacher/textbook for the course content. “With computer and Internet-based technologies, however, have come exciting new opportunities for providing learning experiences to students”. (Simonson, Pg. 231)


“Student-centered learning promotes active learning, collaboration, mastery of course material and student control over the learning process”. (Simonson, Pg. 232) In the following paragraphs I will examine an open course class from Stanford on iTunes U: A public site that includes courses and faculty lectures. http://itunes.stanford.edu/ I focused on the Stanford School of Education on iTunes and quickly realized it was very different than my current online classroom.

Distance education is structured from the beginning with the evaluator’s requirements in mind (Simonson, 2009). Data is collected before, during, and after the instructional events or procedures. The data is evaluated in comparison to traditional face-to-face learners in the same courses and decisions about the distance learning process are actively made. Proponents of the Open University are opposed to the traditional, quantitative procedures for evaluation (Simonson, Pg. 350). The Proponents believe “in evaluation by focus groups, interview, observations, and journals to collect evaluation information in order to obtain a rich and colorful understanding of events related to the distance education activity” (Simonson, Pg. 350).

Most evaluators now use a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures to measure a student’s acquisition of the material. In the Stanford School of Education open course documents I found lectures and videos on fourteen topics. I was pleased that with the click of one button I could download them in iTunes and later to my iPod. I watched several and found them relevant and fascinating in examining modern educational issues.

Yet, they did not offer actual courses that I could locate merely excerpts from courses. Yet all of them materials I viewed on the Stanford School of Education iTunes list met the standards described in the text as the “five abilities” that e-learning standards should have.

1. Interoperability-can the system work with any other system? The software works with with any MP3 player that can accept files from iTunes.

2. Re-usability- can courseware (learning objects, or “chunks”) be re-used? The individual lessons, videos, and readings are free for use and viewing and be re-used.

3. Accessibility-can the learner access the appropriate content at the appropriate time? The portability of the information makes it assessable any where the learner chooses to view the data once it is downloaded.

4. Manageability- can a system track the appropriate information about the learner and the content? This system did not require registration or information of any type to access the open lectures, videos, and text that the site provided. Without being required to log in or register they have no way of tracking who is actually using the information they are providing.

5. Durability- will the technology evolve with the standards to avoid obsolescence? The technology that Stanford is using is the latest available and the course materials are current and continually evolving. The use of iTunes enables students the ease of access with very little effort and the option for portability increases user interest. (Simonson, Pg.255)

In review of numerous Open Course classes I found that they all lacked in assessment features and opportunities for collaboration. Participation is independent study or research format with the opportunity for self evaluation in a few courses I reviewed from other Open Course Universities. Of the courses I examined I favored the ones that offered multiple modes of data (MP3, video, text) and download features. Simple features to select entire sets of course with one button increased my desire to download the courses so that I could upload them to my iPod for later evaluation. I would recommend giving Open Course classes a try and take time to find one that suits your own learning style and interest.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). Planning and designing online courses [Multimedia]. Distance Learning. Retrieved from Week five resources.



Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.