The Impact of Open CourseWare

Open Course websites allow the general public to participate in an educational opportunity without enrolling, paying the university, and without the promise of earning college credits.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) began the OCW project in 2000, with the mission of advancing knowledge and to educate students. By 2007, MIT had placed content from nearly all of the 1,800 on campus courses in the online OCW program.

To investigate this form of education, I elected to monitor and assess MIT's open course Introductory Biology class Spring 2006 . The course is very well organized, with a complete syllabus and assignments accessible online.

Design for Distance Learning

When designing a course for distance learning it is recommended to consider all aspects of the course as a system, including the learners, content, materials, environment, and the technology (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2009). All components must be equally accessible to all learners, and must be functioning efficiently to produce a quality learning environment.

During the initial phase of developing OCW, institutions developed courses by “adopting an archival strategy: capture as much course content as possible in as native a format as possible, and place those artifacts online in an archival structure” (Jansson, 2011). According to Jansson, there are few statistics documenting the real impact OCW is having on improving global learning, and OCW “does not provide the features that are emerging as best practices in online curriculums” (Jansson, 2011).

In the text, Teaching and Learning at a Distance (Simonson, et. al, 2009), some of the positive indicators of quality in distance education include an explicit statement of the purpose of distance learning, and having regular faculty overseeing the curriculum and actively involved in the development of the course. The OCW Biology course at MIT appears to have this involvement. What the course does not appear to have, is the support from academic advisors and technical support. Students taking OCW classes do not have access to MIT staff or resources beyond what is available at the course site. The red flag, as described by Simonson (2009), indicating a failure to follow best practices for distance learning, is the attempt to directly convert the MIT classroom course into a distance learning course without modification.

It would appear that even after 10 years, MIT is striving to find a way to meet learners’ needs by providing access to their course material, yet there is still need for evaluation and establishment of acceptable practices to assure the learner is being served in the most efficient and effect manner possible.



Some additional links to information on the MIT site:
The History if OCW at MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/about/our-history/

OCW stories http://ocw.mit.edu/about/ocw-stories/

OCW Courses at MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/

References

Jansson, E. (2011, July 7). Open questions on open courseware. In Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved July 27, 2011, from http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/07/07/essay_on_unanswered_questions_about_open_courseware

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Selecting Instructional Technologies

Scenario 3: Asynchronous Training

In an effort to improve its poor safety record, a biodiesel manufacturing plant needs a series of safety training modules. These stand-alone modules must illustrate best practices on how to safely operate the many pieces of heavy machinery on the plant floor. The modules should involve step-by-step processes and the method of delivery needs to be available to all shifts at the plant. As well, the shift supervisors want to be sure the employees are engaged and can demonstrate their learning from the modules.

Recommended Technologies for Instruction

Selecting a course management system or the appropriate technologies for use with an online learning experience requires the instructional designer to take several factors into consideration.  After familiarizing oneself with the available technologies, the ID would identify the learning outcomes and experiences to be developed that will allow successful achievement of those outcomes. Once the course is developed, the individual activities should be matched to appropriate delivery methods using the available technology ( Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009).  

In order to meet the demands of this instructional project I would recommend that the employer develop an online tutorial utilizing a pre test, tutorial, and post test. The course management system should allow for the tracking of the employees who have logged on and completed the training module, and successfully completed the post test. When the lessons are presented in a linear format, the learner is allowed to review the materials, take an assessment, and move forward to the next unit if they are successful in demonstrating their knowledge (Simonson, et.al, 2009).  Accommodations should be made for learners needing to repeat the tutorial if they are unable to show mastery o n the post test.  The tutorial should be developed as a narrated PowerPoint, and include the illustrations and videos to inform the learner of the proper and safe operation of the equipment.

To evaluate the learners, I would recommend that the ID use videos of role playing scenarios, filmed in the factory, to provide as near a real experience as is practical to demonstrate proper operation of the equipment and to explain situations that may arise that present a safety hazard. The video would be used to assess the decision making skills of the learner, asking the learners if they can identify how the worker should respond in a safe manner to the situation being presented.  Real experiences have the most impact on learning, yet the experience needs to be only as real as needed to create a learning experience (Simonson, 2009). Using a video will allow a realistic look at the workers’ environment.

Hosting multimedia modules and videos on a web page will make them available 24 hours a day from any location.  Employees from all shifts and in all locations would be able to log into the learning modules from any workstation, or from home if needed. Asynchronous instruction will allow the employee to progress through their required module at their own pace, repeating material as needed, and completing and saving assessments as documentation of the course completion.

Examples:

To view an example of a PowerPoint based training program you may view

http://www.free-training.com/osha/hazcom/Label/13.htm  In this online safety training course the lesson is arranged in a linear format. The learner progresses as long as they answer correctly. If the incorrect answer is selected, they are returned to the lesson for review.  In this example, a multiple choice test is given at the completion of the modules, with an option to enter the employee ID and email the results.

The courses offered at http://www.xilinx.com/training/free-video-courses.htm  are examples of instruction using narrated PowerPoint and allow the users to select which modules they will need to complete within the course. This flexibility allows the user to focus their effort in the area they need.

Resources

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Distance Learning

Personal Definition

I have always thought of distance learning as a means of a learner accessing content from outside of the traditional brick and mortar school buildings. Whether it was the earlier correspondence courses, or the newer virtual high schools or universities, distance learning meant the learning was done in isolation, using the materials provided by the school and being away from the instructor overseeing the lessons. As a young student, I recall seeing advertisements for art school or business schools. I understood this form of distance learning to require the student to be self driven and able to work on their own with little or no contact with the instructor.

Revised definition

Distance learning can take place from a remote location, or from a traditional classroom. In schools around the world, students are able to connect to online learning programs and work at an individual pace under the supervision of an instructor overseeing the learning lab. An expansion in my definition of distance learning includes students who are able to take virtual field trips using technology such as video conferencing, to enable them to carry on a live discussion with experts in the field being studied. Such access may have been previously unavailable to them due to cost and distance. Distance learning also includes the collaboration between two classrooms via a live video link. A single instructor can host a class with students joining in from a variety of locations, allowing collaboration between classrooms and improving the course offerings at many small schools. In summary, distance learning is any situation in which there is an exchange of knowledge with a separation between the learners, the instructor, or the materials.

The Future of Distance Learning

Our education system has evolved to include technology and improve access to remote learning. E-learning and the use of technology will continue to allow us to maximize productivity as workers are trained for new aspects of their careers using technology resources and distance learning. Younger students will perhaps be given the advantage to complete their secondary education requirement while working in a chosen field of interest. Distance learning has become a very popular method for providing synchronous and asynchronous training for employees when new job skills are needed or they elect to change careers. (Moller, et.al, 2008). Having worked with at-risk students and listened to their needs, I foresee a time when distance learning will routinely be used to allow a student to choose to go to work, and to complete their high school requirements under the supervision of an on the job training program. Based on my experience with these students I would agree with Moller that “Meaningful learning is more likely to occur when learners have access to a supportive community that encourages knowledge building and social reinforcement (Moller, 1998). This supportive community can be a network of learners in the same course of study, or a supportive group of fellow employees assisting the learner while they gain an education and experience in a selected career. Although e-learning is not a perfect solution for everyone, it does hold the promise of allowing a personalize approach to education that has previously been difficult to achieve. (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008).

Moller, L. (1998). Designing communities of learners for asynchronous distance education. Educational Technology and Research Development Journal, 46(4), 115-122.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.

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