it is very late in China , but before I go to bed ,wake up forgot what I wanted to say to George Simens's Post :
1 I think it is totally or partly waste of time to translate the whole course of MIT especially what Taiwan is doing now , too radical , let me finish , they even translate the name wrong into Chinese ! 2 I am particularyly interested in how Developing countries develop their own OER and what kinda of OER existed in those countries especially to do with Non-technology course like Chinese history or Chinese history 3 I feel strong about the culture part of Creataing and reuse OER , I think WE does have a culture projects going on , how is it now ? 4 I am interested to hear about what you have to say George Simens comments on OER Leo 2008/5/6 Wong Leo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > was at CNIE earlier this week and participated on this panel > discussing<http://www.athabascau.ca/CNIE-RCIE/sess/pres_en.php?presentation_id=145>open > educational resources (OERs). Educators are periodically afflicted with a > psychological condition called "Cute Kitten Syndrome". This syndrome > manifests itself as evoking perceived universal favor for an idea or concept > and with those opposing cast as lacking some key element that comprises > humanity. I mean, really, who doesn't love cute furry kittens? If a person > is to speak against OERs, they are essentially revealing their callus > nature. But, I must say a few critical things. First, I'm in favor of OERs > as a concept. In fact, in 2003, a group of us started a community on open > educational resources based on a few articles I had posted online (Free and > Open Source - Part > 1<http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/open_source_part_1.htm>and Part > 2 <http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/open_source_part_2.htm> and Why we > should share learning > resources<http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/why_we_should_share.htm>) > and Stephen Downes' concept of DLORN<http://www.downes.ca/presentation/44>. > Summary notes from our first meeting are here: Open Education: Moving from > concept to reality<http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/OE_presentation.htm>. > We set up a few discussions, ran a few listservs for a while, tried to > organize sub-committees, but things never really moved forward as Stephen > and I had hoped (well, as I had hoped, anyway). The group slowly breathed > its last and the domain name went to the land of unfulfilled dreams. Where > are we now with OERs? The term is used very broadly and the landscape is > shifting constantly. MITs OpenCourseWare initiative is often cited as the > starting point of OERs, but David Wiley <http://opencontent.org/blog/> and > others were already dealing with the notion of openness from a licensing > perspective in the late 90's. (Slightly off topic, David's involved in a new > project with open textbooks: Flat World > Knowledge<http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/>). > Some view OERs as simply making resources freely available. Some - such as > OCWconsortium <http://www.ocwconsortium.org/> have a required minimum > commitment in order to participate. And it appears, that OERs are the new > hype feature of educational conferences...almost getting to the learning > object and repository level of late 90's early 00's. We're in that same > happy state of chaos where we find ourselves in so many areas of emerging > technologies - moving too fast with too many voices to give this thing a > concise name. As we were. While I have huge appreciation for OERs and hold > out for the prospect that OERs will truly make a difference to people who > most need them, I still have a few critical views. 1). Why OERs? What are we > trying to achieve? Marketing our institution? Reducing costs for learners? > Better quality learning materials? Making the world a better place? Help > people in developing countries? What's your motivation or the motivation of > your institution in pursuing OERs? I fear too many educators are talking > about it because others are. Look deep within your soul. Why are > *you*interested in OERs? What can we do with them that we cannot do under our > current system? From my perspective, resources developed with public funds > should be accessible by the public. Journals publishing research funded by > the government should be open. Content/curriculum created by public > institutions should be made public. Additionally, education has been listed > as one of the primary determinants of life expectancy, reduction of poverty, > etc. To deny people access to education has an ethical dimension. In a > wealthy country, we could make the argument that learners who pay for their > education possess a reasonable prospect of earning sufficient revenue from > having a degree that some trade off is possible. I won't get into this > discussion here...after all, even in a prosperous country, opportunities for > education are confined to a certain segment of society. In developing > countries, those with greatest need to access education, are often locked > out due to high resource issues. A typical learner from Africa cannot afford > to attend a well known university. It's not just that finances are a burden. > Finances are an insurmountable barrier. But to withhold the prospect of > education to learners in developing countries is to condemn people to the > possibility of a perpetual cycle of poverty. For me, that's the big "why" of > OERs, but concerns exist with targeting this audience, as detailed in #3. > 2). OERs are window dressing if systems and structures of education do not > change. Toward the end of the panel, one member stated "OERs can change > education". No. They can't. OERs, like blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other > ideas and tools are daily blips in the long term trend of how we are > interacting differently with information and with each other. OERs have not > yet achieved divine status. I don't think they will. They are an important > reflection of the larger trend wave, but the are not driving the larger > trend. Paul A. David in The Dynamo and the Computer: An Historical > Perspective on the Modern Productivity > Paradox<http://www.jstor.org/pss/2006600>suggests systems are confined by > previous innovations. New innovations, in a > very McLuhanesque sort of way, are used to do the work of previous > innovations. It's only when we change the system that we change > significantly. In our interaction with information, we have many > constraining elements from previous innovations such as books, libraries, > and even the design of school systems. Deep, significant, and systemic > change is required (he says in a non-sweeping, non-overstated, kind of way). > 3) OERs exhibit (are embedded with) certain ideologies/views/pedagogies, > etc. For a student in the Middle East to use MITs resources requires they > use the English language...or Aboriginal learner lose Indigenous > knowledge<http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/aboriginalplanet/750/resource/global/rewipo-en.asp>when > encountering resources created with a different world view. Better yet, > *how do we encourage people in developing countries to create their own > OERs and export them to our countries? I* had a discussion following the > session with an individual who felt that as other culture appropriate OERs, > they would naturally inject their identity and their culture. I'm not sure. > But, in fairness, there are many things we are not sure about with regard to > OERs. *Who is using the resources? How are they being used? I've heard of > Chinese students translating entire MIT courses into Chinese. How common is > this? *What is the impact of these courses? Why are students taking them? > For personal interest or part of an academic program? And how will we > sustain these initiatives? We need more research on the actual impact. BTW, > I do like cute kittens. > > the above is taken from > http://connectivism.ca/blog/2008/04/open_educational_resources_fur.html > > well my 2 cents , I strongly disagree with Georget Simens in many aspects > , but agree with him also in many parts painfully ? > > Leo > > http://wikieducator.com/user:leolaoshi > > -- blog:http://leolaoshi.yo2.cn HELP项目https://groups.google.com/group/helpelephantsliveproject --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
