Open Education and the Impact of Open Source Software and Open Educational Resources
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Description
Many educators have turned to Open Source Software (OSS) and Open Educational Resources (OER) as part of a strategy to increased access to education. This session will explore some of the characteristics of OSS and OER that hold such promise with a focus on economically developing countries. Distance education has historically reduced time and geographic access barriers that classroom-based education imposes on learners. In the last decade, Internet-based learning opportunities have further eroded access barriers found in traditional correspondence and video-based distance learning methods. This session will explore the impact of open source software (OSS) and open educational resources (OER) on the open education higher education movement with an emphasis on characteristics of OSS and OER that reduce barriers to accessibility and support sustainability.
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There has been much dialog about the potential impact of Open Source
Software (OSS) and Open Educational Resources (OER) on education. OSS
and OER are social phenomena that change the relationship between
digital asset creators, managers, users, teachers, and learners. The
increasing use and central role of educational technologies and digital
content in the learning enterprise has put OSS and OER at the center of
numerous, and occasionally impassioned, conversations. In this session,
as a starting point, OSS and OER will be explored from multiple perspectives
that have been addressed through a presentation series hosted by the
Penn State World Campus. In addition to providing an overview of themes
developed during the series, the dialog will extend to identify characteristics
of OSS and OER that reduce barriers to accessibility and support sustainability
with a focus on economically developing counties.Beginning on March 12, 2007, a collection of international authors started
posting brief online articles featuring their perspectives on the impact of OSS
and OER on education. The posts appeared biweekly on Terra Incognita (http://blog.worldcampus.psu.edu/), the official blog of Penn State’s World
Campus. In addition to posting their perspectives, the authors spent time
responding to questions and engaging in dialog during the weeks following
initial postings. The series elicited a variety of perspectives from across the
globe with authors from numerous countries including the US, Canada,
New Zealand, Australia, the West Indies, South Africa, Kenya, and Iran.The presentation is founded on the notion of an “open” distance learning
provider, which reduces and eliminates access barriers to education.
Distance education has historically been tied closely with open universities
and colleges because it reduces some of the time and geographic access
barriers that classroom-based education imposes on learners who are not
able to attend classes in physical locations at specific times. The advent of
the Internet opened opportunities for online learning or eLearning to
supplement and replace traditional correspondence and video-based
distance learning methods. Simultaneously, during the past decade, OSS
has become an important part of the technology infrastructure through
which online learning has been delivered and educational resources have
been developed. Furthermore, the licensing, distribution, and development
methods used in OSS have been adopted by producers of educational
resources.The openness in OSS and OER promises to enable the free use and reuse of
resources that are critical to the educational enterprise. OSS and OER could
reduce the cost barriers to education in so far as it is fee free, and reduce
cultural access barriers in so far as it is free for modification and reuse to meet
local educational needs. Many open education providers are turning to OSS
and OER to help them better meet their mission of widening access to high
quality education. There is dialog about applying the general principles and
economic models that underlie OSS and OER to other functions of the
university such as teaching, research, and student services.
