OERs as a Social Platform

Peretiako-Soto, Alexandria

Cohen, A., Reisman, S.l, & Sperling, B. B. (1 October 2015). Personal spaces 
in public repositories as a facilitator for open educational resource usage.  
International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(4), 
156-176.

Summary: 

OERs are offering many benefits to educators and students as they allow for free
access to many resources. Learning object repositories are a popular means of 
sharing OERs as well as storing them and accessing them. A study was done on 
OER user behaviors such as use, commenting, learning exercises used for, and 
content building materials. Both OER collections and users are growing over time 
showing that they are becoming increasingly important and popular. There are 6 
types of contributors to the OERs studied: teachers, librarians, admins, faculty, 
students, and other. Faculty members were markedly high in uploading content as 
well as submitting learning exercises. OER repositories show high rates of reuse 
of materials, with almost 30% of content being reused. The ability for personal 
expression among repository users would be beneficial. Many repositories require
member status to upload, edit, or comment on resources, but allow anyone to view 
them.

Evaluation:

This article was very interesting as it discussed not only the relevance and benefits 
of OERs, but also the social aspect of OERs. For instance, who is uploading content? 
Who is viewing it? Are people starting educational discussions amongst each other in 
the comments? Who is allowed to comment? As someone who is fairly new to the 
world of OERs, I was not aware that there were platforms used where content users 
and generators could interact with one another.

Key Trends & Technologies Impacting Higher Ed: The 2016 Horizon Report

Micka, Tracy.

INFO266, Fall 2016

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., and Hall, C. (2016). NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2016-higher-education-edition/

The highly respected Horizon Report (Higher Education edition) for 2016 has been released, highlighting the trends, challenges, and technology that will impact higher education over the next five years. The key trends accelerating technology adoption can be summarized as:

1. Advancing cultures of innovation:  Using technology as a catalyst, universities aim to foster a Silicon Valley startup / entrepreneurial culture in order to drive innovation that will have practical / commercial outcomes for the local community and even the global workplace.
2. Rethinking how institutions work: Research shows a gap between the needs of the 21st century economy and how students are currently being prepared for the workplace. Cross-disciplinary approaches and new competency-based credentialing programs are made possible by technology and work to expand educational opportunities while also enhancing the employability of graduates.
3. Redesigning Learning Spaces: Physical spaces on campus must accommodate the new pedagogies of student-centered, active learning which is project-based and hands-on, calling for multiple devices, mobility, collaboration, lots of bandwidth, and remote access. These new spaces mimic real-world work environments, not lecture halls.
4. Shift to deeper learning approaches: Critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and self-directed learning are the new buzzwords articulating the cornerstones of modern education. All of this works to help students make connections between their education and the real world. Technology- namely the internet, but also web 2.0 tools, virtual reality, robotics and even 3D printers- enables deeper learning by giving students unprecedented access to information, otherwise remote experts/practitioners, and to each other to collaborate, create, and share to an authentic audience.
5. Growing focus on measured learning: Data mining software, and the prevalence of online programs and learning management systems provide the basis for massive data gathering that feeds a growing industry in analytics and changes in student assessment. With the trend toward better matching student skills with workplace needs, assessment is morphing from measuring rote learning to tracking competency-based learning goals. Protecting student privacy in the midst of this data mining is a key factor for policy leaders.
6. Increasing use of blended learning designs: Online learning is gaining traction in colleges and universities as technology and multimedia make high quality, low-cost, and even free learning objects/content available. By integrating face-to-face classes with online offerings, universities can offer greater affordability, accessibility, and more personalization.  

The following six technologies have been selected as ones likely to have real impact in higher education over the short, medium, and long term:

1. BYOD (Short Term; 1 yr or less)
2. Learning Analytics and Adaptive Learning (Short Term; 1 yr or less)
3. Augmented and Virtual Reality (Medium Term; 2-3 yrs)
4. Makerspaces (Medium Term; 2-3 yrs)
5. Affective Computing (Long Term; 4-5 yrs)
6. Robotics (Long Term; 4-5 yrs)

My comments:

Understandably, I see a lot of overlap between the K-12 and the higher ed reports. Namely, the trends of attention to deeper learning and redesigning learning spaces, since everyone is rethinking how these institutions (schools and universities) work. As far as technology developments, both institutions will be impacted by makerspaces, robotics & virtual reality, and online learning which provides useful analytics to boost learning outcomes, but which needs to be balanced by privacy concerns. All in all, education is changing dramatically, fueled by disruptive technologies and the new pedagogies that spring from them.

Reinventing the Library for Online Education: Chapter 6

Stielow, F. J. (2014). Redefinition Commentaries. In Reinventing the library for online education (pp. 139-168). Chicago, IL: American Library Association.


Summary:

This chapter  discusses the need for redefining acquisition, audio collections, collection assessment, collection development, video collections, and weeding for online education. In this section it reviews the need for redefining the process of acquisition in the twenty-first century.This is a scholarly work written by a library administrator with a doctorate in the field of library science. This chapter is a guide to redefining acquisitions and collection development for libraries working with distance learners. The author explains that copyright concerns, cost, and licensing issues are prominent concerns in virtual libraries. The author addresses the issues with consortia and rental packages are that they come with time limits. He also states that there are also often limits on the number of users with digital materials. The author believes that this means when using materials in a virtual classrooms libraries need to consider classroom size and proper licensing number/type. The author reveals how copyright becomes a bigger issue when materials are downloaded in library catalogs or embedded, LMS, or library support pages. This work is a clear concise manual of the issues that arise with libraries supporting online education. The work is well-investigated and well thought-out look into the future of libraries in an online education environment. This trend for colleges to offer online courses is increasing and this knowledge will be important to current and future librarians in academic environments.