H817 Activity 2 – David Wiley and Cormier exploring Open Education.
For this activity I have been asked to review Wiley’s talk on Open Education and also Cormier (2013)
So the first thing Wiley considers is sharing. When collecting and creating open learning material a few years ago the first barrier I had was one that he also referenced and that was the reluctance to share. Every teacher spends endless hours preparing classes and new material and of course people don’t just want to give it away freely. The two be fears teachers have are
1. Other teachers using their material.
2. Students not showing up for class is the material is online.
These are of course very valid reasons but I have found that over time the first fear has somewhat relaxed. Educators are no longer afraid to use YouTube videos or other peoples content in class and with that have become relaxed with their own fears over sharing. The second fear is one that may take some time yet
As Wiley says: ‘If there is no education there is no sharing’
I do agree that you can share your knowledge without giving away. As educators we are constantly sharing, making others more knowledgeable and in turn I am sure we are learning from our students who in turn also learn from eachother.
When I was in college 10 years ago our first assignment in sociology required a mad dash to the college library to pick up a book. If the books were gone then tough you would just have to hope one came back in time for you to complete your project before the deadline or try harder next time. These days sources are more readily available through MOOCS, iBooks, websites, YouTube etc.
Both Cormier and Wiley both look at openness and what it means and both share the same thoughts on the importance of openness
- Cormier (2013), What do you mean… open?
- Wiley (2010), Open education and the future (video).