Tom Caswell

Listen. Share. Learn.

Category: Open Course Library

  • 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.

  • CA’s Digital Open Source Library and WA’s Open Course Library

    California Bill Pushes for Free Online College Books (via KQED MindShift)

    Here’s a quick summary of the bills (there are actually 2):

    • The first CA bill would create 50 open textbooks for high-enrollment college courses that would be free online and available in print for ~$20.  Book contracts would be awarded through competitive grant process open to publishers, faculty and organizations, and must use a Creative Commons Attribution license.

    • The second bill would create the “California Digital Open Source Library” to serve as a platform for accessing and customizing the 50 open textbooks, and will include incentives for faculty to adopt these and other open textbooks.  It also requires that publishers provide free library reserve copies of textbooks adopted in high-enrollment courses at California’s public colleges.

    • No cost is indicated in the bill summaries, but an article on KQED’s website quotes $25 million.  This is a lot of money given the state’s budget issues, but the return would undoubtedly be huge — the state has close to 3 million college students, at least half of which are at the community colleges where books on average cost more than tuition (as of ’08).

    How this compares to the Open Course Library:

    • WA is covering more courses (81) with less money (about $2 million).  However, CA would create a full open textbook for each course, while the Open Course Library can include non-open materials as long as the cost is under $30.

    • Both programs use the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) open license for all new materials, which allows the public to freely use, distribute and adapt the material.  It also would allow publishers to improve and re-sell proprietary versions.

    • Both aim to address high-enrollment courses, but WA’s focuses specifically on community college level.  It appears that CA will focus on all three public systems: the UCs, CSUs and CCCs.

    Thanks to Nicole Allen and Brandon Muramatsu for this information!

  • Three Things You Should Know About the Open Course Library

    Credit: Timothy Valentine & Leo Reynolds CC-BY-NC-SA

    It’s been 11 days since the launch of the Open Course Library and we had our 10,000th visitor today. The launch of these 42 courses was covered at least 67 times by reporters and bloggers, which will hopefully lead to increased faculty adoptions. The Student PIRGs has also written a cost analysis of the Open Course Library which shows that the textbook savings being realized this year alone is already more than the cost of the project itself. As of the first week the course materials we created have been adopted by faculty in New York, Oregon, Washington, and Romania.

    After lots of practice talking with reporters last week, I’ve come up with a quick summary of the project and three things you should know about the Open Course Library:

    What is the Open Course Library?

    The Open Course Library is a collection of expertly developed educational materials designed by faculty and openly shared with the world. It includes textbooks, syllabi, course activities, readings, and assessments for 81 high-enrollment college courses. 42 courses have been completed so far, providing faculty with a high-quality, affordable option that will cost students no more than $30 for course materials.

    The Open Course Library is:

    1. High Quality – Course materials go through an extensive series of quality checks.

    • All course materials are pilot-tested in a college classroom and then further refined.
    • Quality checks include peer reviews, instructional designer reviews, and expert reviews by universal design, accessibility, and global education specialists.

    2. Affordable – Students pay no more than $30 for Open Course Library materials, including textbooks. Most courses use 100% free materials.

    • Students spend $1000 or more on textbooks annually, in addition to tuition.
    • Some students even attempt courses without purchasing the textbooks, which affects completion rates.
    • Using Open Course Library materials allows students to spend less per course and afford more courses per term so they can graduate faster and get better paying jobs sooner.

    3. Adaptable – Faculty can modify and build on some or all of the course materials.

    • Faculty adopters can use as much of the course materials as they choose.
    • There are no strings attached. We only ask that faculty cite the Open Course Library in their course and fill out our short adoption form.