Comments on If We Talked About the Internet Like We Talk About OER: The Cost Trap and Inclusive Access eclectic, pragmatic, enthusiastic2017-11-09T20:15:00Zhttps://opencontent.org/blog/archives/5219/feed/atom
By: Enkerli Enkerlihttp://enkerli.wordpress.comhttps://opencontent.org/?p=5219#comment-514332017-11-09T20:15:00Z2017-11-09T20:15:00ZMy answer to the Internet question had to do with a part of the Network Effect. There’s a multiplier effect happening through putting things online. And, yes, publishers have been doing some of this. But their models focused on “access to content” does make it much harder to benefit from really widespread, virus-like multiplication.
For textbooks specifically, been asking publishers to consider a way to build bridges between people using the same “titles”. If two instructors who “adopted” the same textbook get a chance to communicate about their experience, something really neat tends to happen. Same with learners from different institutions answering each others’ questions about a chapter. This can be very close to the typical MOOC’s forums. But it’s also Stack Overflow, Disqus, or even Quora.
Sure, this can also be very challenging and is likely to cause the same kind of problem as we notice in most forums… if no care is provided to build a strong community with a shared culture. This is basic community management stuff and is actually easier to do with learners (or teachers) than with most people who congregate around some material.
Now, there’s something to be said about bringing annotations to the mix. Added a few “tates” to this very piece, using Hypothes.is. https://via.hypothes.is/https://opencontent.org/archives/5219
As several pedagogues from the #DigPedPosse have found out (say, Robin DeRosa and Remi Kalir), the Open Web allows for quite a different type of conversation when you start annotating it in learning contexts.
]]>