The Impact of Open Source

Some Thoughts on Open Courseware

Open courseware is a concept where various organizations (typically schools) published some courses in an online environment and allow learners to take these courses at no charge. This allows learners to take courses that interest them and allows them to acquire new skills and knowledge as desired. While not always specifically aimed at the "adult" learner, the ideas behind open courseware do seem to align well with andragogy. The following table is designed to compare the "five assumptions underlying andragogy" (Merriam, 2001, p. 5) with how the open courseware addresses these assumptions.

Andragogy Compared to Open Courseware
Andragogical Assumptions:	How Open Courseware Addresses:
The adult learner has an independent self-concept and can direct his or her own learning.	The learner chooses the courses based on topics he or she desires to learn more about.
The adult learner has accumulated a reservoir of life experiences that is a rich resource for learning.	The learner is not required to take courses that are not related to something in which he or she is interested. Further, if a course appears to be based on previously gained knowledge, the learner can skip to another course.
The adult learner has learning needs closely related to changing social roles.	The learner may choose courses based on social roles, possibly seeking information to improve his or her skills for the marketplace.
The adult learner is problem-centered and interested in immediate application of knowledge.	The learner may choose courses to gain knowledge to solve current problems being faced in his or her life.
The adult learner is motivated to learn by internal rather than external factors.	The learner is taking the course for the purpose of gaining the knowledge. The incentive is personal growth which may lead to gain in other areas.

Andragogical assumptions based on information from (Merriam, 2001, p. 5).

Additional benefits of open courseware are that it allows learners to preview and review information on an "as needed" basis. For example, if a learner is getting ready for a job interview, he or she could take an open courseware course related to presenting oneself in a business situation.

The open courseware I chose to more closely review is from MITOPENCOURSWARE. The URL for the site is:  http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm . MITOPENCOURSWARE is owned by MIT and is being used in accordance with their publicly stated sharing policy (Creative Commons 3.0), available at this link:  http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/ . For information regarding how to use their site please watch the following video. This video is being used in accordance with the Creative Commons license.

 

The specific course I am reviewing is "Introduction to Music Composition" (Makan, 2009). This course is as it was taught in the Fall of 2009.

Pre-planning and Design

The site does a good job providing the learner with information about the courses and how to navigate the site. There is evidence of pre-planning as the courses are organized by field of study and each course has a set of icons denoting the types of materials that are contained within the course. This allows the learner to know, upfront, if the course is a series of lectures or if there are other components such as videos, assignments, and quizzes. For the most part, it appears that previously taught courses are being placed here but not actually designed for the online environment. Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek (2012) referred to Zemsky and Massy (2004) when indicating in Cycle 2, "faculty use[s] some of the basic tools a CMS offers and shift[s] resources and course activities to an online format" (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012, p. 133). Simonson et al., described this as shovelware  where, "Many faculty operating in Zemsky and Massy’s Cycle 2 do little more than transfer course handouts and selected discussion topics to the CMS" (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012, p. 134).

Recommendations for Online Instruction

The course does seem to follow some of the recommendations for online instruction. Specifically, the course is organized, and the organization and requirements are made clear to the learners. The syllabus provides an excellent overview of what to expect from the course. According to Simonson et al., "Instructors of online courses must make the course organization, calendar, activities, and expectations as clear as possible" (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012, p. 134). Additionally, the goals and objectives for the course are made clear in the syllabus. According to Simonson et al., "Instructional goals and objectives always should be shared with the students, helping both the origination and remote-site students to focus on the parameters of the instruction" (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012, p. 158).

 

Activity Implementation

There were several activities for the learners in the course I explored. Activities included appropriate task that were related to the topic. Listening to music samples was a large portion of the activities. Other activities included writing about music and composing music in a very basic format. The media content (listening selections) appears to have been chosen to reinforce the goals and objectives of the course. When discussing media selection, Simonson et al. (2012) referred to McAlpine and Westen (1994) when stating, "The first criterion is to match the medium to the curriculum or content. Other criteria include the accuracy of information, motivational quality, engagement quality, technical quality, and unbiased nature of material" (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012, p. 159). 

Conclusions

The open courseware provided by MITOPENCOURSEWARE seems to have a plethora of information on a massive variety of topics. According to the introduction video (embedded earlier in the blog), the open courseware consists of previously taught courses and is updated regularly (OCW.MIT.EDU). The courses have dates listed so the learner can tell when the course was last taught. While the information contained in these courses is excellent, there is a key piece of instruction missing – there is no active instructor. Essentially, the learner is retrieving information to preview or review material on their own. There is no interaction (i.e. chat, discussion boards, etc.) and the assignments are not turned in to be graded. According to Moore's (2007) theory of transactional distance, "in distance education there is a gap between teacher and student, so the student must accept a high degree of responsibility for the conduct of the learning program" (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012, p. 45). For the course I reviewed, there was no active instructor. Basically, the course is a very well organized source of information where an interested learner may increase understanding and knowledge if they apply themselves as if they were in a course with an active instructor.

All that being said, I really enjoyed the experience and plan to go through several courses after finishing my current course of study. Therefore, there is a good and valid use for this open courseware.

References:

Makan, K. (2009). 21M.065 Introduction to Music Composition,
        Fall 2009. Retrieved April 1, 2012, from Massachusetts
        Institute of Technology:
        MIT OpenCourseWare: http://ocw.mit.edu 
        License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

Merriam, S. B. (2001). Andragogy and self-directed learning:
        Pillars of adult learning theory.
        New Directions For Adult & Continuing Education , 89 (3).

OCW.MIT.EDU. (n.d.). Get Started with OCW.
        MITOPENCOURSEWARE.
        Retrieved April 1, 2012,
        from http://ocw.mit.edu/help/get-started-with-ocw/ 
        Used under the Creative Commons License 3.0.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012).
        Teaching and Learning at a Distance:
        Foundations of Distance Education (5th ed.).
        Boston, MA: Pearson.