brent lambert plone in education a case study of the use of plone and educational content
DESCRIPTION
In recent years MIT has been releasing course materials online through their OpenCourseware project, making content available all around the world for free. Many people have benefited and continue to benefit today from having these materials available. Other universities are also now beginning to see the value of participating in similar movements, and are publishing OpenCourseware sites of their own. This movement is growing across the world including universities from several countries such as Japan, China, Spain, the Netherlands, Mexico, and the United States. Producing web sites with freely available educational content can be a complicated endeavor for many academic institutions. Work is currently being done to reduce the technological and economic barriers to participating in OpenCourseware. A project called eduCommons, which is built by the Center for Open Sustainable Learning (COSL) at Utah State University, is making it easier for institutions share their course materials. This session will detail the evolution of eduCommons, from its first release on Plone 1.5.2, to the most current version that has just been released on Plone 3. Even if you are not involved in OpenCourseware, but are contemplating making course materials or educational content available on the web, you will want to learn about our approach to writing reusable Plone based educational products, and learn about best practices of how to publish educational content from those who have been involved in the OpenCourseware movement.TRANSCRIPT
Plone in Education: A Case Study of the Use of Plone and Education... http://localhost:9000/test/plone-conference-2007/plone-in-education/...
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Plone in Education: A Case Study of the Use ofPlone and Educational ContentBrent Lambert, David Ray
What is OpenCourseWare?
Makes available course materials from higher ed institutions to allUsed for informal learning environmentsSupplements existing course materialsAllows professors to share materials
What it is not
Not for creditNo access to professors, instructors
MIT, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The birth of OpenCourseWare
Quote
“We hope that in sharing MIT’s course materials, and our experience thus far with MITOpenCourseWare, we will inspire other institutions to openly share their course materials.”
Charles M. Vest, Former President, MIT
Who is Participating?
MIT, John's Hopkins, Notre DameMany other Universities across the World in Japan, China, Taiwan, Spain, UK, Netherlands and
Plone in Education: A Case Study of the Use of Plone and Education... http://localhost:9000/test/plone-conference-2007/plone-in-education/...
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moreUniversities in the State of Utah, Utah State University
OpenCourseWare Consortium
http://ocwconsortium.org
Ubiquitous
The goal is to make OpenCourseWare as common as having a web site at higher education establishments.
Achieving the Goal
Making it as easy as possibleLowering the cost of participating in OCWSupporting Best Practices, and making sure materials are high qualityMinimizing the legal risk of publishing materials in an open mannerMaximizing access to materials through accessibility
Barriers
High cost of developing coursesInfrastructure needed
Plone in Education: A Case Study of the Use of Plone and Education... http://localhost:9000/test/plone-conference-2007/plone-in-education/...
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Rolling your own vs. Off the shelfTechnical Resources (e. g. software, systems, sysadmin)
For Example
MIT OpenCourseWare grant $30million+Built on proprietary softwareCourse Materials move through three separate systemsLarge production team
The question of Copyright
Creative Commons LicensingOpen Content as well as Open SourceAverting Risk
Solution
If OpenCourseWare is to succeed, a better way of doing things is needed.
What is eduCommons?
An OpenCourseWare management systemA place to publish course materialsBuilt on top of PloneOpen source software (GPL)Freely available (just like Plone)
What eduCommons is Not
eduCommons is not an LMSDoes not track student gradesDoes not provide access to instructors
Why Plone?
Multi-LingualAccessibility
Plone in Education: A Case Study of the Use of Plone and Education... http://localhost:9000/test/plone-conference-2007/plone-in-education/...
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Feature Set (workflows, user roles, built in authentication)Rapid DevelopmentCommunity support
Key Features
Can track accessibility and copyright clearanceCan bulk upload content using zip archivesCan import content from Blackboard, WebCTSupports workflows and user roles for developing contentHas comprehensive copyright licensing engine
Additional Features
RSS FeedsBuilt in bookmarking for end usersEmbedded Machine Readable LicensesAs easy to use as editing a blog
Demo
Creating a new courseUploading content
Who is using eduCommons
Plone in Education: A Case Study of the Use of Plone and Education... http://localhost:9000/test/plone-conference-2007/plone-in-education/...
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eduCommons at Utah State University
Other Uses
OOPS - Chinese TranslationSite copies for 3rd World locations without or with limited internet access
Higher Education
What have we learned working with OCW in higher education?
Key Points
Working with higher ed institutions takes timeDealing with the "Not built here" mentalityFitting into existing infrastructures
Key Points (continued)
Plone in Education: A Case Study of the Use of Plone and Education... http://localhost:9000/test/plone-conference-2007/plone-in-education/...
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Expertise of people using and building coursesCathedral vs BazaarComplimenting other open source software instead of competing
The Future
More rich support for mulitmediapodcasting, videoConvergence between LMS and OCW management systemsLowering the cost of OCW even further
Questions?
Thank You
http://cosl.usu.edu/projects/educommons