OER Research RSS Feed

A Analysis of Technology Enhancements in a Large Lecture Coursen

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

As the large lecture course continues to be a component of many college programs, the potential of online technology to enhance such courses remains a question for researchers. To what extent can such technology result in saving financial resources and teaching time? How do students attending lectures respond to online course components? Does such technology have a noticeable impact on student performance and remote learning? In a study conducted at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, authors Diane Harley, Jonathan Henke, and Michael W. Maher compared traditional and technology-enhanced versions, including video lectures streamed over the internet, of an undergraduate chemistry course over a two-year span. In their findings, the authors indicate significant potential savings of money and teaching time after the second year as well as positive student attitudes towards the technology. Although the technology-enhanced version of the course did not result in any noticeable differences in student performance, the authors conclude that the benefits of online technology for large lectures remain substantial, particularly in providing stressed students with flexibility in their use of time and space, including viewing lectures remotely while preparing for exams. With respect to fully realizing significant institutional cost-savings, however, more faculty members would need to share and reuse course materials than is currently the case....

Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Computer Simulation In Conjunction With Tutorials In Introductory Physics In Undergraduate Physics Recitations

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

We present two studies documenting the effectiveness of the use of a computer simulation with Tutorials in Introductory Physics1 in a transformed college physics course.2 An interactive computer simulation, entitled the Circuit Construction Kit (CCK),3,4 was introduced to investigate its possible impact on students' conceptual understanding. The first study compared students using either CCK or real laboratory equipment to complete two Tutorials on DC circuits. The second study investigated the impact of the simulation's explicit representation for visualizing current flow by removing this feature for a subset of students. In the first study, students using CCK with Tutorials performed slightly better on measures of conceptual understanding compared to real equipment, as measured by exam performance soon after the intervention. In the second study, students using CCK with and without the explicit visualization of current performed similarly to students using real equipment, though on some specific questions we note significant variation in student performance. We discuss the implications of adding (or removing) such representations within computer simulations....

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Computer Simulation in Introductory Undergraduate Environments

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

We present studies documenting the effectiveness of using a computer simulation, specifically the Circuit Construction Kit (CCK) developed as part of the Physics Education Technology Project (PhET) [1, 2], in two environments: an interactive college lecture and an inquiry-based laboratory. In the first study conducted in lecture, we compared students viewing CCK to viewing a traditional demonstration during Peer Instruction [3]. Students viewing CCK had a 47% larger relative gain (11% absolute gain) on measures of conceptual understanding compared to traditional demonstrations. These results led us to study the impact of the simulation's explicit representation for visualizing current flow in a laboratory environment, where we removed this feature for a subset of students. Students using CCK with or without the explicit visualization of current performed similarly to each other on common exam questions. Although the majority of students in both groups favored the use of CCK over real circuit equipment, the students who used CCK without the explicit current model favored the simulation more than the other group...

BIBS: A Lecture Webcasting System

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

The Berkeley Internet Broadcasting System (BIBS) is a lecture webcasting system developed and operated by the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center. The system offers live remote viewing and on-demand replay of course lectures using streaming audio and video over the Internet. During the Fall 2000 semester 14 classes were webcast, including several large lower division classes, with a total enrollment of over 4,000 students. Lectures were played over 15,000 times per month during the semester. The primary use of the webcasts is to study for examinations. Students report they watch BIBS lectures because they did not understand material presented in lecture, because they wanted to review what the instructor said about selected topics, because they missed a lecture, and/or because they had difficulty understanding the speaker (e.g., non-native English speakers). Analysis of various survey data suggests that more than 50% of the students enrolled in some large classes view lectures and that as many as 75% of the lectures are played by members of the Berkeley community. Faculty attitudes vary about the virtues of lecture webcasting. Some question the use of this technology while others believe it is a valuable aid to education. Further study is required to accurately assess the pedagogical impact that lecture webcasts have on student learning....

Building Open Educational Resources from the Ground Up: South Africa's Free High School Science Texts

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

This paper presents a case study of the development of the South African project Free High School Science Texts (FHSST), an initiative to develop a free high school science text for all teachers and learners in South Africa. The goals of the case study were two-fold: to examine and analyze the practices associated with the successes and challenges encountered by FHSST; and to encourage a participatory, analytical process that will assist other open education projects in thinking about and sharing their practices, processes, and strategies. Beyond its implications for South African education, the FHSST project can serve as a model for peer production of open content, offering insights into planning and decision making around 1) recruiting volunteers; 2) sustaining their participation; 3) using technology to create effective workflow; 4) conducting hackathons; and 5) facilitating teacher trials. Findings from this study offers insights into overall approaches and goals that may prove instrumental across open education projects, serving as a reference for development of assessment tools and resources that may assist open education projects in tracking, sharing, and advancing their learnings and success....

California's Community Colleges: Hewlett Foundation Education Technology

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Hewlett Foundation Education Program

A powerpoint presentation addressing problems with using academic content on the web, basic strategy, challenges to open knowledge, funding examples, and possible community college models....

Can Computer Simulations Replace Real Equipment in Undergraduate Laboratories?

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

This paper examines the effects of substituting computer simulations in place of real laboratory equipment in the second semester of a large-scale introductory physics course. The direct current (DC) circuit laboratory was modified to compare the effects of using computer simulations with the effects of using real light bulbs, meters and wires. Three groups of students, those who used real equipment, those who used computer simulations, and those who had no lab experience, were compared in terms of their mastery of physics concepts and skills with real equipment. Students who used the simulated equipment outperformed their counterparts both on conceptual survey of the domain and in the coordinated tasks of assembling a real circuit and describing how it worked...

ccREL: The Creative Commons Rights Expression Language

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Creative Commons

<p>This paper introduces the Creative Commons Rights Expression Language (ccREL), the standard recommended by Creative Commons (CC) for machine-readable expression of copyright licensing terms and related information. ccREL and its description in this paper supersede all previous Creative Commons recommendations for expressing licensing metadata. Like CC's previous recommendation, ccREL is based on the World-Wide Web Consortium's Resource Description Framework (RDF). Compared to the previous recommendation, ccREL is intended to be both easier for content creators and publishers to provide, and more convenient for user communities and tool builders to consume, extend, and redistribute.<br /><br />Formally, ccREL is specified in an abstract syntax-free way, as an extensible set of properties to be associated with a licensed documents. Publishers have wide discretion in their choice of syntax, so long as the process for extracting the properties is discoverable and tool builders can retrieve the properties of ccREL-compliant Web pages or embedded documents. We also recommend specific concrete "default" syntaxes and embedding schemes for content creators and publishers who want to use CC licenses without needing to be concerned about extraction mechanisms. The default schemes are RDFa for HTML Web pages and resources referenced therein, and XMP for stand-alone media....

Chemistry vs. Physics: A Comparison of How Biology Majors View Each Discipline

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

A student's beliefs about science and learning science may be more or less sophisticated depending on the specific science discipline. In this study, we used the physics and chemistry versions of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) to measure student beliefs in the large, introductory physics and chemistry courses, respectively. We compare how biology majors -- generally required to take both of the courses -- view these two disciplines. We find that these students' beliefs are more sophisticated about physics (more like the experts in that discipline) than they are about chemistry. At the start of the term, the average % Overall Favorable score on the CLASS is 59% in physics and 53% in chemistry. The students' responses are statistically more expert-like in physics than in chemistry on 10 statements (P ≤ 0.01), indicating that these students think chemistry is more about memorizing disconnected pieces of information and sample problems, and has less to do with the real world. In addition, these students' view of chemistry degraded over the course of the term. Their favorable scores shifted -5.7% and -13.5% in 'Overall' and the 'Real World Connection' category, respectively; in the physics course, which used a variety of research-based teaching practices, these scores shifted 0.0% and +0.3%, respectively. The chemistry shifts are comparable to those previously observed in traditional introductory physics courses....

Correlating Student Beliefs With Student Learning Using The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

A number of instruments have been designed to probe the variety of attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and epistemological frames taught in our introductory physics courses. Using a newly developed instrument -- the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS)[1] -- we examine the relationship between students' beliefs about physics and other educational outcomes, such as conceptual learning and student retention. We report results from surveys of over 750 students in a variety of courses, including several courses modified to promote favorable beliefs about physics. We find positive correlations between particular student beliefs and conceptual learning gains, and between student retention and favorable beliefs in select categories. We also note the influence of teaching practices on student beliefs....

Creating a Foundation for Open Knowledge: Technology Assessment of Web-based Learning

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Hewlett Foundation Education Program

<div>Presentation that covers:</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>* Problems of Access and Quality of Academic Content</div><div> </div><div>* Basic Strategy and Assumptions including Theory of Action</div><div> </div><div>* Hewlett Grantees and Demonstrations</div><div> </div><div>* Challenges</div>...

Creating, Doing, and Sustaining OER: Lessons from Six Open Educational Resource Projects

Tue, 26 May 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

The development of free-to-use open educational resources (OER) has generated a dynamic field of widespread interest and study regarding methods for creating and sustaining OER. To help foster a thriving OER movement with potential for knowledge-sharing across program, organizational and national boundaries, the Institute for Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), developed and conducted case study research programs in collaboration with six OER projects from around the world. Embodying a range of challenges and opportunities among a diverse set of OER projects, the case studies intended to track, analyze and share key developments in the creation, use and reuse of OER. The specific cases include: CurriculumNet, Curriki, Free High School Science Texts (FHSST), Training Commons, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), and Teachers' Domain. ...

CurriculumNet: Creating Freely Available Curriculum Materials to Meet Uganda's Growing Student Population

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

The National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC), an office under the Ugandan government's Ministry of Education and Sports has using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to assist in addressing the curriculum needs of the growing student population in both rural and urban schools in Uganda. With funding from the Canadian International Development and Research Centre (IDRC), the NCDC developed CurriculumNet, the goal of which has been to develop, test, and integrate ICT-based instructional materials and teaching into existing Ugandan curriculum. This report presents key practices and learnings of the CurriculumNet project in terms of its collaborative curriculum development process, as well as the opportunities and challenges faced by the project overall. Through analysis of the projects internal documentation, as well as interviews with the CurriculumNet project leader, this report documents how the project developed and disseminated content to meet curriculum needs while also addressing funding and infrastructure related challenges....

Curriki: Facilitating Use and User Engagement Around Open Educational Resources

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

Through interviews with the Curriki management team, analysis of internal documents,<br />observations of internal user data collection practices, and a survey and interviews with Curriki users, the Curriki case study explored use patterns and user perceptions of the site, its resources and tools. The specific questions addressed include: 1) how often and why users are coming to Curriki; 2) how they use and engage around the Curriki site, its tools and its resources; and 3) what factors help or hinder engagement and use. The goal of this case study has been to develop an understanding of the mechanisms and processes that can help to attract and sustain users over time, and to facilitate and enhance their use, reuse and content contribution experiences....

Dealing with Legally Incompatible Content in OER

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Creative Commons

Open Educational Resources (OER) are defined by the use of a Creative Commons license and are generally created by those who would like to share their work globally. However, some creators find the need to consider the costs and benefits of incorporating third-party materials with incompatible licenses into their "otherwise open" OER. This document recommends ways of managing or avoiding the problems that will arise....

The Design and Validation of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) is a new instrument designed to measure various facets of student attitudes and beliefs about learning physics. This instrument extends previous work by probing additional facets of student attitudes and beliefs. It has been written to be suitably worded for students in a variety of different courses. This paper introduces the CLASS and its design and validation studies, which include analyzing results from over 2400 students, interviews and factor analyses. Methodology used to determine categories and how to analyze the robustness of categories for probing various facets of student learning are also described. This paper serves as the foundation for the results and conclusions from the analysis of our survey data...

Developing and Researching PhET simulations for Teaching Quantum Mechanics

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

Quantum mechanics is difficult to learn because it is counterintuitive, hard to visualize, mathematically challenging, and abstract. The Physics Education Technology (PhET) Project, known for its interactive computer simulations for teaching and learning physics, now includes 18 simulations on quantum mechanics designed to improve learning of this di±cult subject. Our simulations include several key features to help students build mental models and intuitions about quantum mechanics:visual representations of abstract concepts and microscopic processes that cannot be directly observed, interactive environments that directly couple students' actions to animations, connections to everyday life, and e±cient calculations so students can focus on the concepts rather than the math. Like all PhET simulations, these are developed using the results of education research and feedback from educators, and are tested in student interviews and classroom studies. This article provides an overview of the PhET quantum simulations and their development. We also describe research demonstrating their effectiveness and share some insights about student thinking that we have gained from our research on quantum simulations....

Enhanced Search for Educational Resources - A Perspective and a Prototype from ccLearn

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Creative Commons

Users of search tools who seek educational materials on the Internet are typically presented with either a web-scale search (e.g., Google or Yahoo) or a specialized, site-specific tool. The specialized search tools often rely upon custom data fields, such as user-entered ratings, to provide additional value. As currently designed, these systems are generally too labor intensive to manage and scale up beyond a single site or set of resources.<br /><br />However, custom (or structured) data of some form is necessary if search outcomes for<br />educational materials are to be improved. For example, design criteria and evaluative metrics are crucial attributes for educational resources, and these currently require human labeling and verification. Thus, one challenge is to design a search tool that capitalizes on available structured data (also called metadata) but is not crippled if the data are missing. This information should be amenable to repurposing by anyone, which means that it must be archived in a manner that can be discovered and leveraged easily.<br /><br />In this paper, we describe the extent to which DiscoverEd, a prototype developed by ccLearn, meets the design challenge of a scalable, enhanced search platform for educational resources. We then explore some of the key challenges regarding enhanced search for topic-specific Internet resources generally. We conclude by illustrating some possible future developments and third-party enhanc...

Finding your way into an open online learning community

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Open University Netherlands

Making educational materials freely available on the web is not only a noble enterprise, but also fits the call of helping people to become lifelong learners; a call which gets louder and louder every day. The world is rapidly changing, requiring us to continuously update our knowledge and skills. A problem with this approach to lifelong learning is that the materials that are made available are often both incomplete and unsuitable for independent learning in an online setting. The OpenER (Open Educational Resources) project at the Open Universiteit Nederland makes more than 20 short courses, originally developed for independent-study, freely available from the website www.opener.ou.nl. For our research we start from an envisioned online learning environment now under development. We use backcasting to select research topics that form steps from the current to the ultimate situation. The two experiments we report on here are an extension to standard forum software and the use of student notes to annotate learning materials: two small steps towards our ultimate open learning environment....

Harnessing Openness to Improve Research, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Committee for Economic Development

Colleges and universities should embrace the concept of increased openness in the use and sharing of information to improve higher education. That is the core recommendation of this report. The report was produced by CED's Digital Connections Council (DCC), a group of information technology experts that advises CED's business leaders on cutting-edge technologies....

High-Tech Tools for Teaching Physics: the Physics Education Technology Project

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

<p>This article appeared in the Journal of Online Teaching and Learning September 15, 2006.</p><p> This paper introduces a new suite of computer simulations from the Physics Education Technology (PhET) project, identifies features of these educational tools, and demonstrates their utility. We compare the use of PhET simulations to the use of more traditional educational resources in lecture, laboratory, recitation and informal settings of introductory college physics. In each case we demonstrate that simulations are as productive, or more productive, for developing student conceptual understanding as real equipment, reading resources, or chalk-talk lectures. We further identify six key characteristic features of these simulations that begin to delineate why these are productive tools. The simulations: support an interactive approach, employ dynamic feedback, follow a constructivist approach, provide a creative workplace, make explicit otherwise inaccessible models or phenomena, and constrain students productively.</p>...

The Information Commons: A Public Policy Report

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): National Coalition Against Censorship

<p>For democracy to flourish, citizens need free and open access to ideas. In today's digital age, this means access to information and ideas online. </p><p>In the face of dramatic consolidation in the media industry and new laws that increase its control over intellectual products, the emerging concept of the <em>information commons</em> offers new ways for producing and sharing information, creative works, and democratic discussion. </p><p>The fifth in FEPP's series of detailed policy reports, <em>The Information Commons</em> is the first comprehensive, easy-to-read summary of a new movement that offers exciting alternatives to today's increasing restrictions on access to information, scholarly research, and other resources so necessary for democracy.</p><p>Authored by former American Library Association President Nancy Kranich, the report gives an overview of the problem of enclosure, explains how theories of the commons have been adapted to the information age, and describes dozens of flourishing information communities, ranging from Linux designers to the Open Video Project, from a knitting commons to the OYEZ Supreme Court Multimedia Archives.</p>...

Interim Report: Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

The Center for Studies in Higher Education, with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is conducting research to understand the needs and desires of faculty for inprogress scholarly communication (i.e., forms of communication employed as research is being executed) as well as archival publication. In the interest of developing a deeper understanding of how and why scholars do what they do to advance their fields, as well as their careers, our approach focuses in fine-grained analyses of faculty values and behaviors throughout the scholarly communication lifecycle, including sharing, collaborating, publishing, and engaging with the public. Well into our second year, we have posted a draft interim report describing some of our early results and impressions ased on the responses of more than 150 interviewees in the fields of astrophysics, archaeology, biology, economics, history, music, and political science.<br /><br />Our work to date has confirmed the important impact of disciplinary culture and tradition on many scholarly communication habits. These traditions may override the perceived "opportunities" afforded by new technologies, including those falling into the Web 2.0 category. As we have listened to our diverse informants, as well as followed closely the prognostications about the likely future of scholarly communication, we note that it is absolutely imperative to be precise about terms. That includes being clear about what is mea...

Mission 2007 Training Commons: Developing a Living Curriculum for Telecentre Workers in India

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre was formed to establish telecentres offering shared access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in each of India's 600,000 villages by the year 2007. The telecentres would support community development and poverty reduction, and would be run by managers trained in specific skill sets that would allow them to serve the diverse needs of the communities they support. The <em>Mission 2007 Training Commons</em> initiative, a collaborative, open content approach drawing on existing trainer expertise, was established to develop resources that could support trainers through a 'living curriculum': materials that were free, accessible online, and easily adapted. The primary objective of the Training Commons case study was to understand and document the practices, processes, successes, and challenges of the partnership and the content development, and to assess the overall impact on stakeholders. Several key learnings were identified that hold relevance to other OER projects, including 1) the role of culture in securing and maintaining open content partnerships, 2) the importance of workflow creation and supports and 3) incorporating user feedback early on to facilitate localization of content and differentiation of content among key types of users; resulting in content that is adaptable and draws on the expertise of multiple partners and individuals....

MIT OpenCourseWare 2005 Program Evaluation Findings

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): MIT OpenCourseWare

<p>MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a large-scale, web-based electronic publishing initiative, accessible on the Internet at ocw.mit.edu. Through OCW, MIT makes its core teaching materials -- lecture notes, problem sets, syllabi, reading lists, simulations, etc. -- openly available for non-commercial educational purposes. OCW publishes those materials in standards-based formats for anyone with access to the Internet. OCW has a dual mission: </p><p><br /> * To provide free access to virtually all MIT course materials for educators, students, and individual learners around the world.</p><p><br /> * To extend the reach and impact of MIT OCW and the opencourseware concept.</p><p><br />Beginning in 2002, MIT OpenCourseWare has published 1,259 of MIT's approximately 1,800 courses to date. In addition, OCW has published 133 updated versions of previously published courses. MIT OpenCourseWare expects to have published 1,800 courses by 2008, and beyond that milestone will continue to update courses as an ongoing activity of the Institute.</p><p>Major findings<br /><br /> * Access: Online access to MIT OpenCourseWare content continues to grow dramatically on ocw.mit.edu and on translation sites, with currently more than 1 million monthly visits to OCW content, and a 56% annual increase in visits.<br /><br /> * Use: The OCW site is being used by educators, students and self l...

Motivations for OpenLearn: the Open University's Open Content Initiative

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Open University, The

<p>This short paper is a contribution to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) expert workshop to help identify "motivations, benefits and barriers for institutions producing open educational resources". The motivations are examined by looking at the reasons behind the launch by the Open University in the UK of a web based collection of open educational resources, OpenLearn. OpenLearn launched on October 25th 2006 and reflects an initiative backed by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Open University to develop a learning environment (LearningSpace) and an accompanying educator environment (LabSpace) giving free access to material derived from Open University courses. There are of course many reasons for the taking part in open educational resources and so this paper considers motivations in community, organisational, technical and economic terms.</p><p>The paper was initially prepared for the OECD experts meeting on Open Educational Resources 26-27 October 2006 in Barcelona, Spain. </p>...

A new instrument for measuring student beliefs about physics and learning physics: the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) is a new instrument designed to measure student beliefs about physics and about learning physics. This instrument extends previous work by probing additional aspects of student beliefs and by using wording suitable for students in a wide variety of physics courses. The CLASS has been validated using interviews, reliability studies, and extensive statistical analyses of responses from over 5000 students. In addition, a new methodology for determining useful and statistically robust categories of student beliefs has been developed. This paper serves as the foundation for an extensive study of how student beliefs impact and are impacted by their educational experiences. For example, this survey measures: that most teaching practices cause substantial drops in student scores; that a student's likelihood of becoming a physics major correlates with their 'Personal Interest' score; and that, for a majority of student populations, women's scores in some categories, including 'Personal Interest' and 'Real World Connections', are significantly different than men's scores....

Oersted Medal Lecture 2007: Interactive simulations for teaching physics: What works, what doesn't, and why

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

We give an overview of the Physics Educational Technology (PhET) project to research and develop web-based interactive simulations for teaching and learning physics. The design philosophy, simulation development and testing process, and range of available simulations are described. The highlights of PhET research on simulation design and effectiveness in a variety of educational settings are provided. This work has shown that a well-designed interactive simulation can be an engaging and effective tool for learning physics....

OER Handbook for Educators

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Center for Open and Sustainable Learning

Welcome to the world of Open Educational Resources (OER). This handbook is designed to help educators find, use, develop and share OER to enhance their effectiveness online and in the classroom.<br /><br />Although no prior knowledge of OER is required, some experience using a computer and browsing the Internet will be helpful. For example, it is preferable that you have experience using a word processor (e.g. Open Office or Microsoft Word) and basic media production software, such as an image editor (e.g. Gimp, Inkscape or Photoshop).<br /><br />The handbook works best when there is some sort of OER you would like to create or make available to others, but it is also useful for the curious reader.<br />There are several ways to use this handbook, including:<br /><br />Cover-to-cover, which is intended for newcomers who want to gain an understanding of OER and engage in the whole development cycle (find, compose, adapt, use, share, ...) in a real world setting;<br /><br />Individual sections, as a quick reference for educators engaged in OER development looking for pointers at any stage in the OER development cycle.<br /><br />You are not expected to be an instructional designer or media production expert to use this book. If you encounter a term with which you are unfamiliar, check the glossary at the end of the handbook for a definition.<br /><br />What this handbook does not cover<br /><...

OOPS 2005 Online Survey Report

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Foundation of Fantasy Culture and Arts

<p>Survey held May 18 to Nov 16, 2005 to investigate reception of Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System (OOPS). Survey topics:</p><p> * Background<br /> * How did You First Become Aware of 'OOPS'<br /> * Roles in Educational System<br /> * Satisfaction to Course Materials<br /> * Suggestions<br /> * 65 Educators and OOPS<br /> * Volunteers and OOPS</p><p>Total surveys recorded: 839. Total valid surveys: 788</p>...

Opening Up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, The

<div>Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available -- from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for students, self-learners, faculty, and educational institutions -- we have yet to take full advantage of shared knowledge about how these are being used, what local innovations are emerging, and how to learn from and build on the experiences of others. Opening Up Education argues that we must develop not only the technical capability but also the intellectual capacity for transforming tacit pedagogical knowledge into commonly usable and visible knowledge: by providing incentives for faculty to use (and contribute to) open education goods, and by looking beyond institutional boundaries to connect a variety of settings and open source entrepreneurs.</div><div><br /></div><div>These essays by leaders in open education describe successes, challenges, and opportunities they have found in a range of open education initiatives. They approach -- from both macro and micro perspectives -- the central question of how open education tools, resources, and knowledge can improve the quality of education. The contributors (from leading foundations, academic institutions, associations, and projects) discuss th...

Open Content and Public Broadcasting Conference Report

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): WGBH Educational Foundation

<p>On September 19-21, 2006, the WGBH Educational Foundation hosted a conference on "Open Content and Public Broadcasting." With an initial grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and additional funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, WGBH proposed the conference as a way to explore public broadcasting issues related to producing and distributing open access content across multiple platforms.</p><p>The conference grew out of the recognition that public broadcasting executives were interested in the Open Content movement, but were struggling to understand how it might both further public broadcasting's public service mission and support efforts to pursue strategic business models and sustainable solutions.</p><p>The Open Content conference was designed to bring together key stakeholders in the public broadcasting system, academics who promoted open content in higher education, industry leaders in new media and technology, experts in intellectual property rights, and leaders in philanthropy. Together they examined existing models and efforts that might guide public broadcasting's entry into open content, possible barriers to adoption of open content models in public broadcasting, and opportunities to pursue.</p><p>This report looks at the events of the conference and the key points discussed. It summarizes the group's conclusions and presents recommendations from the WGBH planners. Audio from the conf...

Open Content in Open Context

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Alexandria Archive Institute, The

<p>This article presents the challenges and rewards of sharing research content through a discussion of Open Context, a new open access data publication system for field sciences and museum collections. Open Context is the first data repository of its kind, allowing self-publication of research data, community commentary through tagging, and clear citation and stable hyperlinks, and Creative Commons licenses that make reusing content legal and easy.</p><p>The Nov-Dec 2007 issue of <em>Educational Technology</em> magazine is an entire special issue dedicated to "Opening Educational Resources." A series of articles in this issue highlight open educational models, including OpenCourseWare, Connexions and this piece on Open Context, co-authored by Sarah Whitcher Kansa and Eric Kansa. </p><p> </p>...

A Open Context for Near Eastern Archaeologyn

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Alexandria Archive Institute, The

<p>The common use by archaeologists of ubiquitous technologies such as computers and digital cameras means that archaeological research projects now produce huge amounts of diverse, digital documentation. However, while the technology is available to collect this documentation, we still largely lack community-accepted dissemination channels appropriate for such torrents of data. Open Context aims to help fill this gap by providing open access data publication services for archaeology. Open Context has a flexible and generalized technical architecture that can accommodate most archaeological datasets, despite the lack of common recording systems or other documentation standards. It includes a variety of tools to make data dissemination easier and more worthwhile. Authorship is clearly identified through citation tools, including web-based publication systems that enable individuals to upload their own data for review, and collaboration is facilitated through easy download and "tagging" features. Near Eastern archaeologists will benefit from Open Context's flexibility to share a variety of content from diverse projects, no matter how large or small. </p><p>This article was originally published in Near Eastern Archaeology (ISSN 1094-2076), Volume 70, Number 4, December 2007.</p>...

Open Educational Content for Digital Public Libraries

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Hewlett Foundation Education Program

If the production of digital content for teaching -- particularly free content -- is to expand substantially, there must be mechanisms to establish a link to fame and fortune that was not perceived in a pre-digital world. How that might be done is the central question this report addresses, in the context of examining the movement for open educational content. Understanding that movement requires delving into the history of what may seem, on first pass, a totally unrelated field of endeavor. The reader's patience is requested........

Open Educational Practices and Resources. OLCOS Roadmap 2012

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft

<div>As a Transversal Action under the European eLearning Programme, the Open e-Learning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS) project carries out a set of activities that aim at fostering the creation, sharing and re-use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Europe and beyond.</div><div><br /></div><div>OER are understood to comprise content for teaching and learning, software-based tools and services, and licenses that allow for open development and re-use of content, tools and services.</div><div><br /></div><div>The OLCOS road mapping work was conducted to provide decision makers with an overview of current and likely future developments in OER and recommendations on how various challenges in OER could be addressed.</div><div><br /></div><div>While the results of the road mapping will provide some basis for policy and institutional planning, strategic leadership and decision making is needed for implementing measures that are likely to promote a further uptake of open educational practices and resources.</div><div><br /></div><div>OER are understood to be an important element of policies that want to leverage education and lifelong learning for the knowledge economy and society. However, OLCOS emphasises that it is crucial to also promote innovation and change in educational practices.</div><div><br /></div><div>In par...

Open Educational Resources and Practices

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft

<div>In the last few years, Open Educational Resources (OER) have gained much attention. From January 2006 to December 2007 the Open e-Learning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS), a project co-funded by the European Commission under the eLearning Programme, explored how OER can make a difference in teaching and learning. The project aimed at promoting OER through different activities and products such as a European OER roadmap and OER tutorials. In this paper we present some results of the roadmap which provides an overview of the OER landscape and describes possible pathways towards a higher level of production, sharing and usage of OER. Moreover, the roadmap provides recommendations on required measures and actions to support decision making at the level of educational policy and institutions.</div><div><br /></div><div>The roadmap emphasises that the knowledge society demands competencies and skills that require innovative educational practices based on open sharing and the evaluation of ideas, fostering creativity and teamwork among the learners. Collaborative creation and sharing among learning communities of OER is regarded as an important catalyst of such educational innovations.</div><div><br /></div><div>The OLCOS project also developed free online tutorials for practitioners. The objective of these tutorials is supporting students and teachers in the creation, re-use and sharing of OER. To promote h...

Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): UNESCO

Education systems today face two major challenges: expanding the reach of education and improving its quality. Traditional solutions will not suffice, especially in the context of today's knowledge-intensive societies.<br /><br />The goal of the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement is to equalize access to knowledge worldwide through openly and freely available online high quality content.<br /><br />UNESCO has contributed to building awareness about this movement by facilitating an extended conversation in cyberspace. Over a two-year period, a large and diverse international community discussed the concept and potential of OER in a series of online forums.<br /><br />The background papers and reports are now available in print. <strong>Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace</strong> provides an overview of the first steps of this exciting new development: it captures the conversations between leaders of some of the first OER projects, and documents early debates on the issues that continue to challenge the movement. The publication will provide food for thought for all those intrigued by OER -its promise and its progress.<br /><br /><strong>Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace</strong> is UNESCO's first openly licensed publication - an indication of the commitment of the Organization to the sharing of knowledge and the free flow of ideas....

Open Educational Resources: The Way Forward

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): UNESCO

The report, "Open Educational Resources: The Way Forward", presents the results of an extensive international consultation to identify an agenda for advancing the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement worldwide. It is the fruit of the UNESCO OER Community's collective reflection, following two years of intensive discussion and debate....

Open Educational Resources: The Way Forward - PCF5 presentation

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): UNESCO

Presentation given by Susan D'Antoni (UNESCO) at the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF5), London, 14-17 July 2008. The presentation gives a brief overview of UNESCO's action on Open Educational Resources, then presents the "Way Forward" - the results of an extensive international consultation in the UNESCO OER Community to identify an agenda for advancing the OER movement....

A Open Knowledge Resources for Higher Education: Scholarly Publications, Course Materialscademic Software

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): IFF Science Communication and Higher Education Research, University of Klagenfurt

This paper will explain why electronic knowledge resources in academia cannot only be regarded as private commodities, but also as public goods. After sketching a concept of public goods for a postnational, global society, three types of electronic knowledge resources are distinguished: scholarly publications, course materials and academic software. With the help of practical examples, similarities between these resources are developed. Finally, it will be explained what advantages the status of public good for knowledge resources would have and how it could be achieved by the academic community....

A Open Standards, Open Sourcend Open Innovation: Harnessing the Benefits of Openness

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Committee for Economic Development

Digitization of information and the growth of the Internet have profoundly expanded the capacity for openness, which can be viewed largely as a function of the accessibility and responsiveness (meaning the ability of anyone to make modifications) of a work or process. In this report, the Digital Connections Council of the Committee for Economic Development (CED) studies the impact of three manifestations of openness in order to gauge the importance of openness, and to determine whether public policy should encourage it, restrict it, or be neutral....

Open Textbooks: Why? What? How? When?

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Hewlett Foundation Education Program

This paper is based on the recorded proceedings of a conference held in Newport Beach, California, on August 22 and 23, 2007. This conference was attended by educators, authors, administrators of open-source based organizations, and entrepreneurs, all of whom had a stake in the concept of open textbooks. The goals of the conference were to summarize and assess the current development of open textbooks, and to describe a possible direction for future development and funded support of open textbook projects. This paper has the same goals, and provides at least partial answers to the four fundamental questions: Why do we need open textbooks? What are open textbooks (how are they defined)? How will open textbooks be produced and then used? And finally, when will open textbooks be available in sufficient quantity and quality to have a positive impact? In addressing these questions, other dimensions relevant to the Open Education Resource (OER) movement emerge for discussion....

Otherwise Open: Managing Incompatible Content with Open Educational Resources

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Creative Commons

This paper seeks to provide an overview of the problem posed by the incorporation of materials protected by all-rights-reserved copyright, or that are not legally compatible with the copyright terms of materials offered to users, into otherwise open educational resources. This paper also describes a number of approaches to resolving this issue, including the reliance on jurisdictional copyright exceptions and limitations, and explores the trade-offs involved in adopting any one of these approaches. This paper also suggests areas for further empirical research into these issues....

The Promise of Open Educational Resources

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Hewlett Foundation Education Program

This whitepaper defines OER, discusses what underlies the open educational resources movement and the current status of open educational resources, presents MIT's OpenCourseware project as a case-study, and concludes with future visions for teaching and learning, challenges, and observations....

Promoting Innovation and Economic Growth: The Special Problem of Digital Intellectual Property

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Committee for Economic Development

There has been an explosion in the popularity of downloading and transmitting high-value digital content, triggered by the growth of the Internet and the evolution of peer-to-peer systems. At the same time, there is a substantial disconnect between public attitudes toward copyright and the letter of the law, and growing concern among copyright-holders over the erosion of their rights. The National Academy of Sciences has identified the phenomenon at the center of these developments and labeled it the "digital dilemma": The same technologies that allow the creation and manipulation of digital content (as well as its perfect reproduction and nearly free distribution) can also be used to prevent access to digital content. The result is a major policy debate between those who seek to protect their rights in digital content and those concerned about the public access to content that has traditionally been guaranteed under copyright law. In this emerging digital world, what, if anything, should be done to ensure that authors, artists, songwriters, and musicians have adequate incentives to create content? And what, if anything, should be done to protect the public's access rights, developed in the physical world, in order to encourage innovation and dissemination and to enhance the public domain? This report from the Digital Connections Council (DCC) of the Committee for Economic Development presents a different view of this "digital dilemma." Because of CED's...

Publishing Primary Data on the World Wide Web: Opencontext.org and an Open Future for the Past

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Alexandria Archive Institute, The

<p>More scholars are exploring forms of digital dissemination, including open access (OA) systems where content is made available free of charge. These include peer -reviewed e -journals as well as traditional journals that have an online presence. Besides SHA's Technical Briefs in Historical Archaeology, the American Journal of Archaeology now offers open access to downloadable articles from their printed issues. Similarly, Evolutionary Anthropology offers many full -text articles free for download. More archaeologists are also taking advantage of easy Web publication to post copies of their publications on personal websites. Roughly 15% of all scholars participate in such "self -archiving." To encourage this practice, Science Commons (2006) and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) recently launched the Scholar Copyright Project, an initiative that will develop standard "Author Addenda" -- a suite of short amendments to attach to copyright agreements from publishers (http://sciencecommons. org/projects/publishing/index.html). These addenda make it easier for paper authors to retain and clarify their rights to self -archive their papers electronically. Several studies now clearly document that self -archiving and OA publication enhances uptake and citation rates (Hajjem et al. 2005). Researchers enhance their reputations and stature by opening up their scholarship.</p><p>Mounting pressure for greater public ac...

The Regulation of E-learning: New National and International Policy Perspectives

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

The universe of postsecondary education is expanding. It is an era of rapid demographic and labor market changes, increased competition and shifts in institutional form (e.g., the rise of for profit degree granters, the hybrid form of nonprofit/for profit partnerships, corporate universities), and new forms of delivery driven by emerging technologies. In nearly all of these cases, the pace of innovation and establishment of new institutional forms outstrips the ability of regulators or policy makers to stay ahead of the curve. <br /> <br /> To better understand the complex interplay of public policy drivers regulating e-learning, the Center for Studies in Higher Education convened a meeting of experts in February 2006 for a preliminary examination of existing and emerging public policies that will shape its regulation both domestically and internationally. Three white papers were used as a point of departure for the discussions, which focused on the following areas: <em>The Changing Regulatory Environment: Who, What, Why, and Where?</em>; <em>Finance, Investment, and the Flow of Capital</em>; <em>Student Access and Equity; Social Costs and Benefits from an International Perspective</em>; and <em>Consumer Protection and Cross-border Education</em>. This report summarizes our conversations and recommendations for future research....

Remixing OER: A Guide to License Compatibility

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Creative Commons

This document gives a brief overview of Creative Commons license compatibility for the purposes of remixing OER....

A Research Agenda for OER: discussion highlights

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): UNESCO

This report summarises a UNESCO-IIEP OER Community discussion conducted in March and April 2006 to brainstorm a research agenda for Open Educational Resources. Over 500 participants from around the world provided a rich diversity of perspectives. Topics discussed included existing OER initiatives, current levels of use, collaborative authoring, technology, learning from other open initiatives, quality assurance, dissemination and access. Participants put forward over 100 questions....

A Research-Based Curriculum for Teaching the Photoelectric Effect

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

Physics faculty consider the photoelectric effect important, but many erroneously believe it is easy for students to understand. We have developed curriculum on this topic including an interactive computer simulation, interactive lectures with peer instruction, and conceptual and mathematical homework problems. Our curriculum addresses established student difficulties and is designed to achieve two learning goals, for students to be able to (1) correctly predict the results of photoelectric effect experiments, and (2) describe how these results lead to the photon model of light. We designed two exam questions to test these learning goals. Our instruction leads to better student mastery of the first goal than either traditional instruction or previous reformed instruction, with approximately 85% of students correctly predicting the results of changes to the experimental conditions. On the question designed to test the second goal, most students are able to correctly state both the observations made in the photoelectric effect experiment and the inferences that can be made from these observations, but are less successful in drawing a clear logical connection between the observations and inferences. This is likely a symptom of a more general lack of the reasoning skills to logically draw inferences from observations....

Full Report: Scholarly Communication: Academic Values and Sustainable Models

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

This report presents five thickly-described interdisciplinary case studies that explore academic value systems as they influence publishing behavior and attitudes of University of California, Berkeley faculty. The case studies are based on direct interviews with relevant stakeholders -- faculty, advancement reviewers, librarians, and editors -- in five fields: chemical engineering, anthropology, law and economics, English-language literature, and biostatistics. The results of the study strongly confirm the vital role of peer review in faculty attitudes and actual publishing behavior. There is much more experimentation, however, with regard to means of in-progress communication, where single means of publication and communication are not fixed so deeply in values and tradition as they are for final, archival publication. We conclude that approaches that try to "move" faculty and deeply embedded value systems directly toward new forms of archival, "final" publication are destined largely to failure in the short-term. From our perspective, a more promising route is to (1) examine the needs of scholarly researchers for both final and in-progress communications, and (2) determine how those needs are likely to influence future scenarios in a range of disciplinary areas....

Sorting Through and Sorting Out: The State of Content Sharing in the E-Learning

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Hewlett Foundation Education Program

On 22-24 September 2002, a group of 22 education and information technology specialists gathered on the campus of the University of California at Irvine (UCI), for a symposium on the state of educational "content sharing." (See participant list.) The meeting was sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Education Program and the UCI Distance Learning Center. This paper summarizes the themes that emerged from that gathering. Most papers can be characterized as collaborative, but this one is particularly deserving of that adjective. The presentation here is an attempt to synthesize the ideas of all the participants, expressed in numerous conversational and written exchanges pre-, during and post-meeting. While every effort has been made to present the range of views, surely not all participants would agree with the emphases and interpretations herein. This report includes a hyper-linked bibliography and footnotes for additional web-based material on e-learning topics. Links are provided for the reader's convenience only, and represent neither an endorsement nor a guarantee of the accuracy of the content of the associated sites. Comments and questions about this document are welcomed, however, and should be directed to the author or the meeting sponsors....

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: A University/Library Partnership in Support of Scholarly Communications and Open Access

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Project

<p>One major and recurrent theme of the scholarly communication column is the question, What can librarians do to help bring about fundamental changes in the system of scholarly communication? This question is at the heart of both the ACRL Scholarly Communications Initiative (1) and the Scholarly Communications Toolkit.(2) To answer this question, several principles of reform have emerged:(3)</p><p> * the broadest possible access to published research;</p><p> * increased control by scholars and the academy over publishing;</p><p> * fair and reasonable prices for scholarly information;</p><p> * open access to scholarship;</p><p> * innovations in publishing that reduce distribution costs, speed delivery, and extend access to scholarly research;</p><p> * quality assurance in publishing through peer review;</p><p> * fair use of copyrighted information for education and research purposes; and</p><p> * preservation of scholarly information for long-term future use.</p><p> Though different strategies for achieving reform have been identified, one that appears most frequently is that of building partnerships to help bring about change. One central ACRL document indicates that "the purpose of the ACRL scholarly communications initiative is to work in partnership with other library and higher education organizations to encourage reform in the system of scholarly commu...

A Study of Educational Simulations Part II - Interface Design

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

Interactive computer simulations with complex representations and sophisticated graphics are a relatively new addition to the classroom, and research in this area is limited. We have conducted over 200 individual student interviews during which the students described what they were thinking as they interacted with simulations. These interviews were conducted as part of the research and design of simulations for the Physics Education Technology (PhET) project. PhET is an ongoing project that has developed over 60 simulations for use in teaching physics, chemistry, and physical science. These interviews are a rich source of information about how students interact with computer simulations and what makes an educationally effective simulation. The interviews demonstrate that the simulation must function intuitively or the student's attention is focused on how to use the simulation rather than on the topic presented. Here we provide guidelines for intuitive interface design developed by this research. These cover layout, tool use, help and representations that we use to create a simulation. We give examples from interviews which demonstrate the effectiveness of each guideline for engaging students in educationally productive interactions....

A Study of Educational Simulations Part I - Engagement and Learning

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

Interactive computer simulations with complex representations and sophisticated graphics are a relatively new addition to the classroom, and research in this area is limited. We have conducted over 200 individual student interviews during which the students described what they were thinking as they interacted with simulations. These interviews were conducted as part of the research and design of simulations for the Physics Education Technology (PhET) project. PhET is an ongoing project that has developed over 60 simulations for use in teaching physics, chemistry, and physical science. These interviews are a rich source of information about how students interact with computer simulations and what makes an educationally effective simulation. We have observed that simulations can be highly engaging and educationally effective, but only if the student's interaction with the simulation is directed by the student's own questioning. Here we describe our design process, what features are effective for engaging students in educationally productive interactions and the underlying principles which support our empirically developed guidelines. In a companion paper we describe in detail the design features used to create an intuitive simulation for students to use....

Survey of Community College Faculty about OER Attitudes and Behaviors

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Foothill-De Anza Community College District

This report provides aggregate findings of the Faculty Survey on Open Educational Resources (OER) conducted online during late fall 2007 and early spring 2008. There were 1,203 faculty respondents to the survey from 12 Districts and 28 colleges. Of these respondents, 793 or 66% indicated they are full-time faculty. Part-time numbered 401 or 34%. There were 9 who did not indicate their full or part-time status. The faculty respondents represent a wide range of disciplines. The largest numbers were from English, Math, Counseling, Computer and Information Science, Business, ESL, and Foreign Languages. Substantial numbers were from Life, Social, Behavioral, and Physical Sciences. The respondents to the survey indicated considerable interest in using, sharing, and even producing OER learning materials. Over 90% indicated interest in using OER materials. A third of the respondents noted they were already using OER materials in their classes. As this sample does not represent the entire faculty, however, it cannot be concluded that a third of the faculty are using OER materials though many are no doubt using Internet resources. Respondents represented a wide range of disciplines including many in vocational education, basic skills, counseling, social, behavioral, life and the physical sciences. About 87% said they were likely to use OER if they were readily accessible and about 66% percent said they were interested in identifying or producing OER. About 75% of those responding to...

Towards a Global Learning Commons: ccLearn

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Creative Commons

<p>Though open educational resources (OER) promise to transform the conditions for teaching and learning worldwide, there are many barriers to the full realization of this vision. Among other things, much of what is currently considered "free and open" is legally, technically, and/or culturally incompatible. Herein, the authors give a brief history of open education, outline some key problems, and offer some possible solutions</p><p>This article was originally published in Educational Technology 4(6). Nov-Dec 2007. </p>...

Towards characterizing the relationship between students' interest in and their beliefs about physics

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

We examine the relationships between students' self-reported interest and their responses to a physics beliefs survey. Results from the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS v3), collected in a large calculusbased introductory mechanics course (N=391), were used to characterize students' beliefs about physics and learning physics at the beginning and end of the semester. Additionally students were asked at the end of the semester to rate their interest in physics, how it has changed, and why. We find a correlation between surveyed beliefs and self-rated interest (R=0.65). At the end of the term, students with more expert-like beliefs as measured by the 'Overall' CLASS score also rate themselves as more interested in physics. An analysis of students' reasons for why their interest changed showed that a sizable fraction of students cited reasons tied to beliefs about physics or learning physics as probed by the CLASS survey. The leading reason for increased interest was the connection between physics and the real world....

Towards European-wide Quality and Benchmarking of Open Educational Resources

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): European Association of Distance Teaching Universities

<p>Empowered by a multi-partner Consortium, MORIL will deliver high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) with pedagogically-rich content, specifically designed and developed for distance learning. MORIL refers to "Multilingual Open Educational Resources for Independent Learning". It constitutes a New Generation of open resources, having a strong focus on development and delivery of quality-assured materials for off-campus target groups. MORIL is value added, as face-to-face didactics are not obligatory, contrary to on-campus education. Besides open offers, formal offers are fronted as well, establishing a transparent prospective learning path into higher education for those that seek recognition and/or certification. MORIL will provide a single European access point for lifelong open and flexible learning: a referatory to participating local repository portals. For courses of interest to domestic markets, universities can utilise multilingual versioning and localisation. Blending MORIL with leading edge quality assurance and benchmarking, truly provides the Consortium with a head start. European-wide quality and benchmarking is enabled by E-xcellence: a web-based instrument to assess the quality of e-learning in higher education. Although many instruments already exist, which cover the organisational and content-related quality assurance of higher education institutions and programmes, only few exist which have developed a focus on the parameters of qualit...

Towards European-wide Quality and Benchmarking of Open Educational Resources (presentation)

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): European Association of Distance Teaching Universities

<p>Presentation includes:</p><p>Part -- One: Consortium of New Generation OER <br /><br /> * Consortium introduction <br /> * Consortium stages <br /> * Consortium progress <br /> * Consortium outlook<br /><br />Part -- Two: Proliferating Quality and Benchmarking <br /><br /> * The problem at hand<br /> * Some results<br /> * Tool support needed<br /> * E-xcellence</p>...

Toward an Effective Understanding of Website Users

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

Almost every American research university and library has made significant investments in digitizing its intellectual and cultural resources and making them publicly available. There is, however, little empirical data about how these resources are actually used or who is using them (Harley, 2007). Those who fund and develop digital resources have identified the general lack of knowledge about the level and quality of their use in educational settings as pressing concerns. As part of a larger investigation into use and users of digital resources (Harley et al., 2006), 1 we conducted an experimental analysis of two commonly-used methods for exploring the use of university-based Web-based resources: transaction log analysis (TLA) and online site surveys. In this article, we first provide an overview of these two methods, including their key challenges and limitations. We then describe an implementation of TLA and online surveys in combination on two local sites and the results of that test, including an exploration of the surveys' response rates and bias. From that test, we draw conclusions about the utility of these two methods and the particular analytic methods that may provide the most valuable and efficient results....

The University as Publisher: Summary of a Meeting Held at UC Berkeley on November 1, 2007

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

<p>With the advent of electronic publishing, the scholarly communication landscape at universities has become increasingly diverse. Multiple stakeholders including university presses, libraries, and central IT departments are challenged by the increasing volume and the rapidity of production of these new forms of publication in an environment of economic uncertainties. As a response to these increasing pressures, as well as the recent publication of important reports and papers on the topic, the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) convened a meeting of experts titled, <em>The University as Publisher</em>. The event was sponsored as part of the A.W. Mellon Foundation-funded Future of Scholarly Communication project at CSHE.</p><p>Our goal was to explore among stakeholders -- faculty, publishers, CIOs, librarians, and researchers -- the implications of the academic community, in some structure, taking over many, if not all, aspects of scholarly publishing. Two themes were the focus of the public panels: <em>Institutional Roles in Evaluation, Quality Assessment, and Selection</em> and <em>Structuring and Budgeting Models for Publishing within the University Community</em>. Our discussions included the importance of distinguishing between informal dissemination and formal publishing and the challenges that each presents to the university community. The harsh economic realities of high-quality formal scholarly publica...

Full Report: Use and Users of Digital Resources: A Focus on Undergraduate Education in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

A "build it and they will come" approach to many university digitization initiatives has precluded systematic investigations of the demand for these resources. Those who fund and develop digital resources have identified the general lack of knowledge about the level and quality of their use in educational settings as pressing concerns. This full report describes our research and the complete results of a large 2-year study. The purpose of our research was (1) to map the universe of digital resources available to a subset of undergraduate educators in the humanities and social sciences, and (2) to investigate how and if available digital resources are actually being used in undergraduate teaching environments. We employed multiple methods, including surveys and focus groups. Our definition of digital resources was intentionally broad and included rich media objects (e.g., maps, video, images, etc.) as well as text....

Summary Article: Use and Users of Digital Resources: A survey explored scholar's attitudes about educational technology environments in the humanities

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Center for Studies in Higher Education

This Educause Quarterly article draws on an in-depth study of humanities and social science (H/SS) faculty and their attitudes about use and nonuse of digital resources in teaching undergraduates. It explores in some detail faculty attitudes about digital resources use in teaching environments. It also summarizes the larger research we conducted on the universe of digital resources available to undergraduate educators in a subset of users in H/SS and suggests how understanding use, users, and nonusers might benefit the integration of these resources into scholarly environments....

WGBH's Teacher's Domain: Producing Open Materials and Engaging Users

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education

Launched in 2002 by WGBH, the non-commercial public media service, located in Boston, Massachusetts, Teachers' Domain is an online repository of multimedia open educational resources for use in classrooms and for professional development. As part of its effort to increase the availability of freely accessible resources WGBH has developed content from public media archives into high quality, open educational resources for Teachers' Domain. Using a participatory case study methodology, this report examines WGBH and Teachers' Domain's successes and challenges in 1) converting proprietary content to open content 2) engaging users in content and 3) redesigning the Teacher's Domain site to accommodate new categories of use and tools for teachers and learners of all different backgrounds and activity levels. For OER projects more generally, ongoing research on user behaviors, experiences and perceptions can be a challenging and resource-intense process; however, by assessing and building data collection mechanisms and research questions into organizational practices, knowledge and learnings can be cultivated to inform how users are best supported, as well as to inform continuous improvement for the projects overall....

WGBH's Teachers' Domain Rights Assessment

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): WGBH Educational Foundation

This rights assessment evaluates the feasibility of converting the contents of WGBH's free online educational resource collection <em>Teachers' Domain</em> (http://www.teachersdomain.org) to open content status. It employs a two-pronged approach -- (1) categorizing and determining licensing costs for the website's already-existing media assets, and (2) researching and identifying challenges and solutions to licensing issues.<br /><br />For this report, WGBH identified all of the media assets and elements (the pieces that comprise a given asset) within the <em>Teachers' Domain</em> science collections, researched the rights holders and licensing agreements associated with each one, and created a classification system to identify rights status. This made it possible to determine the action necessary to shift each asset toward open content status, and to estimate the associated costs (if any). This research also mapped the potential difficulties and the opportunities for progress in this area....

What status for "open"? An examination of the licensing policies of open educational organizations and projects

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Creative Commons

What makes an educational resource "open"? Is it enough that resources are available on the World Wide Web free of charge, or does openness require something more?" These questions have become more urgent as the open education movement has gained momentum and as potential users of open educational resources (OERs) increasingly face uncertainty about whether permission is required when they translate, reuse, adapt, or simply republish the resources they find. <p>With the support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, ccLearn surveyed the copyright licensing policies of several hundred educational projects or organizations on the Internet to assess whether these legal conditions limit the usefulness of self-designated open resources from the user's perspective.</p> <p>The study reveals three principal findings:</p> <ul><li>The copyright licenses or terms of use associated with some OERs are difficult to find or to understand;</li><li>The majority of OER projects or organizations have adopted a standardized license created by an independent license provider, and of these, the large majority have adopted one or more of the six Creative Commons copyright licenses ("CC licenses") to define the terms of openness. But, a sizable minority of OER providers have chosen to craft their own license -- often borrowing terms from one of the standardized licenses. Thus, as a group, OER providers have adopted...

When learning about the real world is better done virtually: A study of substituting computer simulations for laboratory equipment

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:01 -0500

Contributing organization(s): Physics Education Research Group at Colorado

This paper examines the effects of substituting a computer simulation for real laboratory equipment in the second semester of a large-scale introductory physics course. The direct current circuit laboratory was modified to compare the effects of using computer simulations with the effects of using real light bulbs, meters, and wires. Two groups of students, those who used real equipment and those who used a computer simulation that explicitly modeled electron flow, were compared in terms of their mastery of physics concepts and skills with real equipment. Students who used the simulated equipment outperformed their counterparts both on a conceptual survey of the domain and in the coordinated tasks of assembling a real circuit and describing how it worked....

Zicht op OpenER - Resultaten en effecten

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:59:01 -0400

Contributing organization(s): Open University Netherlands

OpenER is een project van de Open Universiteit waarin Nederlanders drempelloos toegang hebben gekregen tot hoogwaardige zelfstudie-cursussen: gratis, zonder in te schrijven en volledig online. Na 1,5 jaar OpenER is er een schat aan informatie over omvang en aard van de belangstelling, mogelijke functies en al dan niet beoogde effecten....