Because I am an accountant by profession and exhibit fairly OCD compunctions in my life, I have decided that I need to create a separate blog entry and build upon it for the novice badge in the OER class. So this will attempt to tie the different blog posts associated with each topic we are reading to this entry as an index and access point. It will be added to throughout the semester, and perhaps longer than that.
Open Licensing
There are four separate entries that I posted regarding open licensing. The first was the overview we were asked to prepare. It is found at the link for open licensing
My main additional interest in the open license world is in the legal foundations in support of using open licensing as a means of allowing the rights-holders to license through open licenses and still have some recourse should the terms of those licenses be violated. I made three additional posts are linking to legal rulings that addressed these concerns. These posts are linked here:
These three article show that the use of creative commons licenses still allowed the original creator the right to control the reuse, modification, or redistribution of their original work according to sharing terms that they set.
Open Source
This post regarding open source discusses the history of open source software development and the evolution of the development process. This link to a post on an article on open community participant motivations was an interesting read following up on the Cathedral and the Bazaar. This link to a post on application of open principles in management was also prompted by the readings and videos in this topic area.
Open Content
The readings and video in this section are summarized in this blog post. I had some additional thoughts on the Open Publication License and the "Four Rs" in this post (includes open courses) and this post (a response to Dr. Wiley's comment on earlier post) and then a thought about remixing at this post.
OpenCourseWare
This is the link to my post on the readings and video regarding OpenCourseWare.
Open Educational Resources (OER)
My summary of thoughts and observations from the viewing of the video, in depth review of the Benkler article, and skimming the other materials is found in in this post.
Open Access
This post on open access summarizes my view of the readings and video on OA. I see the great benefit of requiring OA publications for research, particularly when that research is funded by taxpayers.
Open Science
This post on open science summarizes my takeaways from the readings and video under that topic category. Key observations include the sharing of failures to increase researcher efficiency and save money, and that there needs to be a change in the culture around scientific discovery that finds a way to incentivize sharing rather than hoarding. There are big dollars at stake in the discoveries in science and sharing that diminishes these returns is a large sacrifice for many discoverers.
Open Data
The first artifact on the Open Data topic page is a video from a TED talk given by Tim Berners-Lee. In this post I note that the his proposal for the hypertext linked documents on the internet was "scratching a programmers itch." In his talk, Berners-Lee describes the continued itch he would like to scracth by moving beyond hypertext marked-up documents on the internet to the next great step of tagging data that can be searched on the web. This Semantic Web will speed up access to data, including related data, around the world through the internet. This summary post outlines my discoveries through this video and readings regarding open data and some additional thoughts about openness that have occurred to me throughout this class.
Open Teaching
This summary post talks about the experiences of faculty and students participating in courses that are taught openly. Open courses taught in this matter are not Open CourseWare per se, but are actual courses taught on campus to which off campus learners are invited to participate without charge. The most recent evolution of these courses are referred to as MOOCs (massive online open courses). My observation is that the more that institutions move to online course delivery in their regular instruction, the easier it will be to open these courses to off campus participants who can enjoy the opportunities for the educational experience. Not only will the development be easier, but there will be minimal marginal cost to provide these experiences if the courses are already designed and built in online formats.
Open Assessment
The link to the summary post for open assessment is here. The use of badges to signify accomplishment is a reasonable way to bridge the gap between the general credentials represented by degrees and diplomas, and the specific credentials that are most needed when those credentials are considered for academic, professional, or hiring decisions. If the mass of those accepting badge credentials becomes sufficiently large, then we would likely see an uptick in demand for badges both employers, universities, and students/learners. In my opinion, there are many "consumers" of these credentials who desire a much more specific assessment of competencies than that offered by the more general degrees and diplomas.
We have seen the acceptance of certifications as a form of credentialing (MCSE, CPAs, endorsements, etc.) and we have seen a precursor to badges with the fairly open marketplace for providers of continuing professional education (CPE) experiences for many participants. The use of standardized testing for evaluation of candidates for entry into graduate programs and professional schools has also indicated fulfillment of a need beyond the traditional credentials.
However, as these alternative assessment credentials continue to develop there is a concern about the need for some sort of evaluation body who can confirm that the badges indicate real achievement and mastery of the skills or knowledge that they purport to convey. If there can be a broad based acceptance of these alternate credentials, and a trusted quality control process (like accreditation) then such open assessments may further expand opportunities for students and learners that do not pursue a brick and mortar degree track.
Open Business Models
This post is linked here and was used not only to fulfill the requirement for this novice level badge but was also used to earn the badge that Erin created for her designer badge that she called A Lead Scholar. I mentioned Downes' eight models of funding for OER and then commented on each reading under the Open Business Model topic as required for the badge.
Open Policy
This post is the final topical post required to receive the novice level badge. The link is to my post on Open Policy.
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