Comments on: On the (im)Possibility of OER Research http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/972 pragmatism over zeal Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:36:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: iterating toward openness » Blog Archive » A New Kind of Media Comparison Study http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/972/comment-page-1#comment-44447 iterating toward openness » Blog Archive » A New Kind of Media Comparison Study Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:00:24 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/?p=972#comment-44447 [...] written about this before, but here we go [...] [...] written about this before, but here we go [...]

]]> By: Leigh Blackall http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/972/comment-page-1#comment-43948 Leigh Blackall Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:39:42 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/?p=972#comment-43948 Right on Dave! Even though I wasn't there, reading between the lines of the quote, I have to agree with Andre.. "impact, evidence and effectiveness" sounds more like a first call to the publishing industry to get on board and make OER investments .. sustainable.. that word will probably be their 3rd wave. None of this has ever been about improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning has it? So another research questions might be: *How the publishing industry can profit from OER And, actually, I think this is a good move. If we can get the publishing industry to take these mostly DIY resources and add graphical and formatting quality to it, then the average teacher will start using the resources in class, like they do any other resource that's good enough. They will continue to photocopy, burn and handout - only this time it will be more legal. It'll be a long time (if ever) before a teacher or a student comes to appreciate the geekiness of copyright and the legalities of their effectiveness. Right on Dave! Even though I wasn’t there, reading between the lines of the quote, I have to agree with Andre.. “impact, evidence and effectiveness” sounds more like a first call to the publishing industry to get on board and make OER investments .. sustainable.. that word will probably be their 3rd wave. None of this has ever been about improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning has it?

So another research questions might be:
*How the publishing industry can profit from OER

And, actually, I think this is a good move. If we can get the publishing industry to take these mostly DIY resources and add graphical and formatting quality to it, then the average teacher will start using the resources in class, like they do any other resource that’s good enough. They will continue to photocopy, burn and handout – only this time it will be more legal. It’ll be a long time (if ever) before a teacher or a student comes to appreciate the geekiness of copyright and the legalities of their effectiveness.

]]> By: Cecilia d'Oliveira http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/972/comment-page-1#comment-43869 Cecilia d'Oliveira Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:49:31 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/?p=972#comment-43869 Dave, your analogy about the textbook is missing something. OER isn’t just about replacing the copyright page with a new CC page, is it?. There’s also the aspect that has to do with freeing the textbook to be made widely available in many different formal and informal learning environments. Doesn’t that create whole new situation that is ripe for research in terms of the book's impact and effectiveness. For example wouldn’t it be interesting to know about the educational impact of the textbook in informal learning situations, with online learners studying in a peer-to-peer community, in classrooms with teachers of differing skills, or in completely different cultures? Dave, your analogy about the textbook is missing something. OER isn’t just about replacing the copyright page with a new CC page, is it?. There’s also the aspect that has to do with freeing the textbook to be made widely available in many different formal and informal learning environments. Doesn’t that create whole new situation that is ripe for research in terms of the book’s impact and effectiveness. For example wouldn’t it be interesting to know about the educational impact of the textbook in informal learning situations, with online learners studying in a peer-to-peer community, in classrooms with teachers of differing skills, or in completely different cultures?

]]> By: Andre Malan http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/972/comment-page-1#comment-43856 Andre Malan Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:59:42 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/?p=972#comment-43856 I took a different take on the quote entirely. When I read "This next wave is about impact, evidence and effectiveness", I don't think of effectiveness in the sense of "more effective learning materials", but instead in the sense of "how effectively do OER materials accomplish the things that we say they will accomplish?" If you phrase is that way, then all of the research topics that you described do indeed apply to OLNet. I took a different take on the quote entirely. When I read “This next wave is about impact, evidence and effectiveness”, I don’t think of effectiveness in the sense of “more effective learning materials”, but instead in the sense of “how effectively do OER materials accomplish the things that we say they will accomplish?” If you phrase is that way, then all of the research topics that you described do indeed apply to OLNet.

]]>