R685, Week 8 Reflection

Week 8 Open Educational Resources

This week we entered into the actual web products in web 2.0. Only 1-2 article were required this week due to the volume of each of the readings. The first article is a book. It a good book but it is still a book. The Open eLearning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS) has produced a European Roadmap for 2012 is an incredibly dense publication that outlines everything done and everything we will do in this class. It is an outline for education and business, and acknowledges most will be done in higher ed. The report takes on tough topics of access, participation, licensing, etc. It also gives recommendations to educational institutions and separate recommendations for teachers. If someone wants to know about open source and is practical application one needs look no further than these 149 pages.

The article by Steven Downes is his attempt to alleviate excuses. For everyone who thinks open source is too hard or is not worth trying he gives suggestions to mitigate common excuses. First he understands that open source is not really free and needs money to sustain the movement he gives multiple models to obtain funding. This is repeated for both the technology and the staffing of projects. Dr. Bonk stated this sounds like Mr. Downes was sick of answering these questions, I agree.

The tidbits are open source project projects that we reviewed. My favorite is the Global Text Project. They are giving free text books via the web, CD, or DVD to economically depressed areas. The textbooks are written by reputable individuals and are free for all. Look at this movement to start to permeate throughout the world. The second is the Open Knowledge Foundation that does the same thing but is more of a distributor rather than a producer. Both these projects are means to bring once exclusive materials to the masses. A Dr. Bonk says, “Learning should be free.”


Geser, Guntram (ed.). (2007, January). Open Educational Practices and Resources: OLCOS Roadmap 2012 (149 pages). Retrieved July 4, 2007, from http://www.olcos.org/english/roadmap/ and http://www.olcos.org/english/roadmap/download/

Downes, Stephen (2007). Models for sustainable open educational resources. Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects. 3, Retrieved July 5, 2007, from http://ijklo.org/Volume3/IJKLOv3p029-044Downes.pdf

Tidbits:

The Open Knowledge Foundation: http://www.okfn.org/
Global Text Project: http://globaltext.org/