Shifting Practice to Open
Thanks to Randi LaBonte our instructor for OLTD 502 I have been introduced to CEET Community of Expertise in Educational Technology (CEET) and given the opportunity to participate in a CEET Meet, an open online professional learning workshop. The topic for this six day workshop is “Moving Educational Traditions for Open Practices”. I began by introducing myself in the Cafe Forum and away I went.
The first night I choose to join in on the Twitter chat. I have heard Twitter can be a powerful tool for learning, but as a new comer I was a bit overwhelmed. Luckily I had a young adult at home who could help me. She easily navigated me through. I asked both of my children (ages 18 and 20) their thoughts on using Twitter for educational purposes. My son noted that you are limited by the 150 characters. My daughter related that one of her university professors uses it, students are able to respond to questions posed in class discussions, most have chosen not to respond as it was not worth marks. Further she sees social media
as separate from school, as this is how all of her schooling experiences have been up to this point. Interesting thoughts as we educators look to the future of education and the use of social media. In this CEET the Twitter feed has offered some good sites relating to open resources and practice. There is so
much out there however at times it can be overwhelming.
I used the Cafe Forum to assist me in defining what is meant by the statement“shift to open”. I posed related questions to two of the meet participants and received responses from them; the questions also lead others to help guide me. One response directed me to an hour long video, the comment accompanying it was “…
may give you more of an idea of how open practices are a little different from using online resources (many of which are proprietary) in a course….” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxHDY_laS6Y&feature=related
. Through this video I was introduced to Connexions http://cnx.org/aboutus/ an open education site. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together.
I then went in to the CEET topic outline and read through documents under the headings of
“Openness and the Future of Education, Creating a Vision, Making a Change, Open Research, and OERs & Open Textbooks” in the latter two I also watched the related videos. As I watched the “Global BC News
Videos on BC Open Textbook Initiative” I questioned whether they were using the word “Open Textbook”correctly. If I am correct to be an open educational resource students must be able to remix,
split apart and add to the online text. Is this what the university is offering or is it the textbook in a different format? Valerie Irvine the moderator of this CEET was interviewed as part of this video and said “ ..it’s an innovative move and a bold move…”. The key here I believe is that the university is willing to move toward more open resources, making education more affordable for all. One positive step at a time is the key.
I look forward to joining in on the closing CEET Twitter chat Wednesday night. As my learning journey continues I can see myself developing a deeper understanding of “shifting practice to open.
Thanks to Randi LaBonte our instructor for OLTD 502 I have been introduced to CEET Community of Expertise in Educational Technology (CEET) and given the opportunity to participate in a CEET Meet, an open online professional learning workshop. The topic for this six day workshop is “Moving Educational Traditions for Open Practices”. I began by introducing myself in the Cafe Forum and away I went.
The first night I choose to join in on the Twitter chat. I have heard Twitter can be a powerful tool for learning, but as a new comer I was a bit overwhelmed. Luckily I had a young adult at home who could help me. She easily navigated me through. I asked both of my children (ages 18 and 20) their thoughts on using Twitter for educational purposes. My son noted that you are limited by the 150 characters. My daughter related that one of her university professors uses it, students are able to respond to questions posed in class discussions, most have chosen not to respond as it was not worth marks. Further she sees social media
as separate from school, as this is how all of her schooling experiences have been up to this point. Interesting thoughts as we educators look to the future of education and the use of social media. In this CEET the Twitter feed has offered some good sites relating to open resources and practice. There is so
much out there however at times it can be overwhelming.
I used the Cafe Forum to assist me in defining what is meant by the statement“shift to open”. I posed related questions to two of the meet participants and received responses from them; the questions also lead others to help guide me. One response directed me to an hour long video, the comment accompanying it was “…
may give you more of an idea of how open practices are a little different from using online resources (many of which are proprietary) in a course….” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxHDY_laS6Y&feature=related
. Through this video I was introduced to Connexions http://cnx.org/aboutus/ an open education site. The pieces of the puzzle were coming together.
I then went in to the CEET topic outline and read through documents under the headings of
“Openness and the Future of Education, Creating a Vision, Making a Change, Open Research, and OERs & Open Textbooks” in the latter two I also watched the related videos. As I watched the “Global BC News
Videos on BC Open Textbook Initiative” I questioned whether they were using the word “Open Textbook”correctly. If I am correct to be an open educational resource students must be able to remix,
split apart and add to the online text. Is this what the university is offering or is it the textbook in a different format? Valerie Irvine the moderator of this CEET was interviewed as part of this video and said “ ..it’s an innovative move and a bold move…”. The key here I believe is that the university is willing to move toward more open resources, making education more affordable for all. One positive step at a time is the key.
I look forward to joining in on the closing CEET Twitter chat Wednesday night. As my learning journey continues I can see myself developing a deeper understanding of “shifting practice to open.