From OpenCourseWare to Open CourseWare

As we enter the second decade of open course materials, interest is growing in alternate models that include much more of the support necessary for independent learners and that can be used directly as courses at colleges and universities. This “open courseware” builds upon the lessons learned in openly publishing course materials through OpenCourseWares (including MIT), as well as the opportunities raised by the confluence of the growing interest in open educational resources (OERs) coupled with declining university budgets. Through Project Greenfield we aim to build upon selected course materials published by MIT OpenCourseWare and transform them into “full courses” including support for formative assessment, the addition of existing, illustrative and interactive OERs. Presented by Brandon Muramatsu at the OER'11 Conference, Manchester, UK, May 12, 2011.

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From OpenCourseWare
to Open CourseWare
Brandon Muramatsu, [email protected]
MIT Office of Educational Innovation
and Technology
1
Citation: Muramatsu, B., (2010). From OpenCourseWare to Open CourseWare.
Presented at OER’11: Manchester, UK, May 12, 2011.
With a
Space

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Continuing the Cat Meme…
2
Source: icanhascheezeburger. (2009, March 9). algeblah confuzez mi. Retrieved May 11, 2011 from
icanhascheeseburger.com website: http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/03/07/funny-pictures-algeblahconfuzezmi/

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But I’m a dog
person…
…everyone say,
“Awwwww!”
3
Source: icanhasahotdog. (2009, August 2). Puppy Defense System CODENAME: CUTENESS . Retrieved May 11, 2011 from
icanhascheeseburger.com website: http://dogs.icanhascheezburger.com/2009/08/02/cute-puppy-pictures-codename-cuteness/

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The talk I was going to give was going
to go something like…
We’re experimenting with what we can do with
the course materials published in MIT
OpenCourseWare –for– MIT.
Namely, let’s restructure the materials and
import them into Moodle and build
assessments around them … turning them into
“real” Open CourseWare.
And then, here’s a working example and what
we learned… But…
4
With a
Space

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Somewhere along the way
I got sidetracked…
This little conference in [the other] Cambridge…
http://bit.ly/ocwcglobal-wrapup
…so, my apologies…
Instead I’ll describe the motivation and process we will
be exploring this summer.
5

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Caveats
I’m with the MIT Office of Educational
Innovation and Technology (OEIT)
I don’t work for MIT OpenCourseWare
I *do* work with them
So, I don’t represent MIT OpenCourseWare
Also, I’m not making institutional commitments
about MIT or MIT OpenCourseWare
6

7. @bmuramatsu
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Wouldn’t it be great if
MIT OpenCourseWare…?
About a year ago…
Early 2010
7

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MIT OCW is a Publication
MIT OpenCourseWare is a free publication of
MIT course materials that reflects almost all the
undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at
MIT.
OCW is not an MIT education.
OCW does not grant degrees or certificates.
OCW does not provide access to MIT faculty.
Materials may not reflect entire content of the
course.
8
Reference: MIT OCW. (2010). About OCW. Retrieved on May 5, 2010 from
MIT OCW Website: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/about/about/index.htm

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…but…we’re at MIT, certainly
we should be able to do more
with OpenCourseWare…
Wouldn’t it be great if
MIT OCW…?
9

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…aha!
We were asking the wrong question!
10
What if we experimented
with MIT OCW…?

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Sure…OEIT can develop a custom copy
of MIT OCW
Mirror of MIT OCW
site
Within boundaries of
Creative Commons
License, by-nc-sa
Project Greenfield
http://greenfield.mit.edu
11

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Project Greenfield
MIT Faculty have asked us about…
Interactivity
Tools and services
Innovative browse mechanisms
OEIT’s goals are to:
Support MIT faculty
Experiment, to show what’s possible (e.g., Web 2.0)
Prototype tools and services
… all with MIT OCW course materials
12
Project Greenfield

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Further Motivations
OEIT
Experiment with tools, content delivery
Internal to MIT
Lots of internal discussions
Increase use of MIT OCW for on-campus courses
Experiment with other LMS/VLEs
External to MIT
Increase in OER and especially open course
development (Saylor Foundation saylor.org, Washington
SBCTC Open Textbooks, etc.)
New models in certification (P2PU, KNEXT, etc.)
13

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“New” (Old?) Terminology
Open CourseWare
Especially in the context of the Educause Next
Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC)
program
14
With a
Space

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Open CourseWare
Should facilitate rich interactivity with instructor, peers, and
content;
Must be of the highest pedagogical and technical quality,
integrating effective teaching strategies and interactive
technologies;
Should include clear student learning objectives and assessment
strategies that monitor and review student success;
Must be standards-based to ensure they can be used broadly, yet
be customizable to the needs of different learners/instructors
(including persons with disabilities); [and]
Should be openly licensed to allow institutions and faculty to tailor
to local needs and improve the courseware over time.
15
With a
Space
Reference: Next Generation Learning Challenges. (2011). Open Core CourseWare.
Retrieved May 11, 2011 from Next Generation Learning Challenges Website:
http://nextgenlearning.org/the-grants/wave-1-challenges/open-core-courseware/articles/open-core-courses

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MIT OpenCourseWare
Serves a number of user groups:
Faculty looking to teach a new subject, to see how other
faculty (esp. MIT faculty) teach courses
Students, at MIT and elsewhere, looking for resources to
help them with a course
Independent learners
Is a publication
Snapshot of courses taught by a particular faculty in a
particular term
Has whatever materials the faculty made available
Typically has slides and lecture notes, perhaps
assignments and exams.
16

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MIT OCW Scholar Goals
Designed for independent learners who have few
additional resources available to them.
The courses are substantially more complete than
typical OCW courses and include new custom-
created content as well as materials repurposed
from MIT classrooms.
The materials are also arranged in logical
sequences and include multimedia such as video
and simulations.
17
Reference: MIT OCW. (2011). OCW Scholar. Retrieved May 11, 2011 from
MIT OCW Website: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/

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Features of OCW Scholar Courses
Modularized Content
With Quizzes
Includes Video
Includes link to OpenStudy
groups
Good step, but pretty big
concept chunks
Formative assessments, but
static and in PDF format <-
consistent with other MIT OCW
materials
Link to specific time segments
Can ask a question and get an
answer, but still not a “course”
18
Designed for independent learners

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What are others doing to build upon MIT
OpenCourseWare?—OpenStudy
Allowing users to
connect with other
learners
OpenStudy (9 courses)
19
6.00 Introduction to Computer Science
18.01 Single Variable Calculus (Fall 2006)
6.001 Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
6.002 Circuits and Electronics
8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics
8.02 Electricity and Magnetism
18.01 Single Variable Calculus (Fall 2006)
18.02 Multivariable Calculus
18.06 Linear Algebra
Source: OpenStudy
http://openstudy.com/questions/A-6500-kg-helicopter-accelerates-upward-at-0.60-ms-while-lifting-a-1200-kg-car.--a-What-is-the-lift-force-exerted-by-the-air-on-the-r-4cbd2903fddb3a7f0a66df45

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What are others doing to build upon MIT
OpenCourseWare?—Nixty
“Tracking progress through a course”
Nixty-versions of MIT OCW Courses
20
Source: Nixty, http://nixty.com/course/Physics-I-Classical-Mechanics-MIT-Walter-Lewin

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What are others
doing to build upon
MIT OCW ?—Saylor
Foundation
Remixing OERs,
including MIT OCW
Includes Learning
Outcomes
Adding Final
Assessments
21
Source: Saylor Foundation,
http://www.saylor.org/courses/ma252

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Reusing Courses, or Teaching directly
from OERs/OCWs
Questions of scale, and…
How much investment are you willing to
undertake?
For example, MIT OCW, consistent with their mission
takes a large investment to achieve the breadth,
instead of focusing on all the other things that would
make “Open CourseWare”
How much investment is necessary to create a
“course” from the course materials?
22

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So what does this mean for the
project?
Other Developments and
OCW Scholar
23

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Interactivity
“Should facilitate rich interactivity with
instructor, peers, and content.”
I’m not sure about this one yet.
External OERs and learning objects?
24

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High Quality
“Must be of the highest pedagogical and
technical quality, integrating effective teaching
strategies and interactive technologies.”
Arguably, high quality already
But, not designed for “teaching from…”
Newly designed for “learning from…”
Not especially interactive—but lots of resources out
there
25

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Learning Objectives and Assessment
“Should include clear student learning
objectives and assessment strategies that
monitor and review student success.”
Snapshot of course, with materials provided by
faculty
Broadly speaking only engineering faculty have
somewhat detailed learning objectives (because of
accreditation)
May or may not include assessments
26

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Customizable
“Must be standards-based to ensure they can
be used broadly, yet be customizable to the
needs of different learners/instructors.”
Arguably already broadly used, but room for
improvement
Technically hard to customize, because of how
materials are published (PDF)
27

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What might the end result look like
(for MIT)?
OCW Scholar + Collaboration + Assesments +
Facilitators = Open CourseWare
Might be an ongoing instantiation of a
massively open online course
Probably be able to import this Open
CourseWare course into your LMS/VLE
28

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Thanks!
Brandon Muramatsu, [email protected]
MIT Office of Educational Innovation
and Technology
29
Citation: Muramatsu, B., (2010). From OpenCourseWare to Open CourseWare.
Presented at OER’11: Manchester, UK, May 12, 2011.