Tom Caswell

Listen. Share. Learn.

Category: OER

  • Open Content: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

    The positive, often serendipitous news about the Open Course Library continues to appear. Shortly after our launch, the Saylor Foundation adapted 11 Open Course Library courses for use by self-learners. In the process they made the courses easier to access. You see, our first batch of courses were released as Common Cartridge .zip files which ended up being a barrier for those who don’t have access to a LMS. Saylor put our courses directly online and made them look pretty. They even caught a couple typos for us! (Note: We have since shifted to developing our course materials in Google Docs. All OCL course materials are available here: http://opencourselibrary.org).

    Recently the Saylor Foundation began uploading some of their open courses to iTunes U, including several from the Open Course Library. Everyone benefits all over again, simply because a group of educators was willing to share their less-than-perfect course materials freely with the world. Open Course Library materials are now being used in 8 states through Project Kaleidoscope, an NGLC grant whose research is now informing our open sharing efforts in Washington State. (more…)

  • From Cable to Me to You

    Flagrant reuse warning: I copied the following post from Cable’s blog because he said what I wanted to say 🙂

    1. If you use Creative Commons licenses for your OER (or any other openly licensed creative work), you might want to check out: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/32157
    2. Please contribute to the new OER Policy Registry: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/32072
    3. New video hot off the press from CC Qatar:
    Now to copy someone else. This past weekend the first 42 Open Course Library courses made their way to Haiti on a DVD — a little over 1GB of course content. Here’s the presentation given by Brandon Muramatsu. It’s worth watching. So maybe you don’t get to travel as much as I want to these days, but at least your openly shared content can.
    From OpenCourseWare to Open Education

  • A Big Day for Open Policy

    Today was a big day for open policy, with important hearings in the Washington State House and Senate on measures requiring open licensing of courseware developed with state funds. State Representative Reuven Carlyle sponsored the House bill (along with a number of other representatives), and testified at both hearings. The Senate companion bill was sponsored by Senators Tom, Hill, and Frockt.

    It is notable that even though there was significant opposition to the bills from the universities, everyone supported using and sharing open resources. The concerns centered around *how* to go about implementing an open policy. Today’s conversations are well worth watching for anyone interested in these arguments or considering similar legislation. A quick summary:

    EDIT: Cable Green posted a good FAQ on the bills.

    Consensus:

    • Broad support for quality open textbooks in higher ed. (several universities said they are “all in” for open textbooks)
    • Everyone supports the spirit and intention of sharing open educational resources

    Concerns raised at hearings:

    • Mandatory nature of policy (and how to track compliance)
    • Impact on faculty’s ability to publish in peer reviewed articles (and further impact on faculty P&T and retention)
    • Copyright vetting and copyright liability burdens on faculty

    Tonight I’m thinking of the Ghandi quote David Wiley used almost a year ago: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” I’ve been through the first three stages. The final stage we are in, the winning part requires a lot of listening, especially to faculty who are interested in OER but have different ideas about implementation.

    Regardless of what happens to these two bills, one thing is clear: Open Educational Resources are moving into the mainstream. It’s time to expand educational opportunities for all. No more waiting. It’s time to share.

  • Going Open: Lessons Learned from the Open Course Library

    Scott Dennis and I presented at NorthWest eLearn in Vancouver, WA last Thursday and Friday. As usual, I threw my slides on SlideShare before the presentation. On Sunday I got an email telling me my prezi was “hot” on SlideShare. 5300 views later I am wishing I spent a little more time on those slides, but glad so many people have been exposed to the great work being done by the faculty of the Washington State colleges. The first 42 shareable courses of Open Course Library will be available on October 31, 2011. These course materials have already saved WA students hundreds of thousands of dollars. And we’re just getting started. Can’t wait to share it at the 2011 Open Education conference next week.

    View more presentations from Tom Caswell

  • WA Representative Chris Reykdal at the Textbook Rebellion

    WA Representative Chris Reykdal supporting textbook affordability at the Textbook Rebellion #txtbktour11 chrisreykdal