Open Conference on Open Education/Lunch and open networking



Lunch provided by La Trobe Library, Faculty of Business Economics and Law, and Faculty of Health Sciences.

Spilling out from LIMS 209 and environs, we had an hour to eat and discuss what's been looked at so far.

Please use this page on the wiki to add any note you wish after the event...

Am I the agent of my own redundancy?
The following notes derive from a conversation relating to the use of proprietary text books versus the use of open educational resources to compile a free textbook. The notes are de-identified, pending approval for release.

Open educational resources cannot achieve the quality and consistency of proprietary and restricted content, and the licenses we pay are less than what we’d pay to see open content developed to anywhere near proprietary quality. As an example: the estimated cost of (#### example text name removed) per student over 5 years is between $29.41 and $31.25. This gives the students 2 years access to the resources.

Academic staff production of open educational content is not recognised, valued or compensated, and openly accessible and reusable content is perceived by many staff as a threat to their competitive edge, or seen as agency toward their own redundancy.

Student generated content methods and models to produce open educational content would appear to increase staff workload, where as publisher produced quizzes, self-assessment and diagnostics software seems to reduce it.

The proprietor value adds their product by providing IT and technical support and real time statistical analysis of their product


 * Drawing from this recent presentation from Lumen Learning, they make a few points that talk generally around the proprietary vs open textbook example:
 * There are grants available that specifically resource the production of open educational resources
 * That there is a direct relationship between textbook costs and student success (Florida Virtual Campus. (2012). 2012 Florida Student Textbook Survey. Tallahassee, FL.)
 * That open educational resource development models afford continuous quality improvement processes on textbooks
 * (David Wiley speaking in the Lumen Learning presentation at 5-11:30 minutes)
 * Leighblackall (discuss • contribs) 06:00, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Some ideas from Physiotherapy
Thanks so much for yesterday.

It was insightful and encouraging and stimulating to be a part of.

Two things - I wanted to add.

I have used LibGuides to present resources on WHO-ICF and Pain - these did not get a mention - the fact they have accessible URL address means that I have been able to upload my ideas and resources for people from across the world to access. So are the LibGuides something that can be used to show pre-existing benefits of open access? Not sure of this - but just a thought that the excellent library staff might consider.

Also the discussion about students work ending up in the bin is something I try and avoid - usually by designing assessment tasks that I feel will have potential reuse (either in revision of topic or to be added to). But also I get teams of final year students to construct a resource for a student in the UK. This multimedia resource is shared through a URL (artifact/asset created in PebblePad and publish to web) which gives the assessment tasks a different life and these products - which are usually of quite good quality - are able to be shared. Not sure of my point here but it seems another area where open/public education practice could drive quality and increase the capacity of shared knowledge. We do not do enough with international opportunities I think!

It would seem important the University (perhaps in collaboration with IUA group) provide an appropriate environmental and philosophical template/envelope/scaffold to support staff in their endeavours to produce and deliver quality educational resources and learning experiences.

Thanks heaps again.

Regards,

Lester E. Jones | Lecturer | Department of Physiotherapy | School of Allied Health | Faculty of Health Sciences | La Trobe University


 * Lester, great to hear from you, and you make good points and suggestions. Can I copy these onto the wiki?


 * If you're workload is still manageable, I would invite you to participate in our group attempting to formulate recommendations to executive LTU.. I think our meeting is planned for Friday afternoon. Or our notes will be added to the wiki for this ongoing session, if asynchronous collaboration is your cup of tea. http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Open_Education_Week_2013/La_Trobe_University_Open_Conference/Recommendations


 * Regarding LibGuides.. I got excited about this when I first arrived.. and remain so. I have tried on several occasions to argue the case for librarian services that help staff locate, use and generate open educational resources, and to use the LibGuides as the repository for these resources. This way, the LibGuide becomes both a library venue for students and teaching staff, with content included that has reusable copyrights, so assignments, research projects or course material prep can have the maximum flexibility for publication and distribution. As yet I don't appear to be gaining much ground on the proposition, mainly because Faculty are not requesting such assistance. Perhaps you could help me with this?


 * If I may, I'll try and catch you on the phone or in person for a more ranging discussion :) Thanks again, I hope I can copy your message to the wiki.


 * Leigh Blackall | Educational Designer | Faculty of Health Sciences | La Trobe University