It’s week 7 and Open Education is topic of the week. Here are my thoughts on the Open Education movement.
One of the most exciting aspects of the Open education movement is the part it plays in the evolution of learning. Knowledge is now quite far reaching and is altruistically shared among other learners near and far. Due to Web 2.0, OERs create a “unique blend of learning” (Bosk, 2009). Peer to peer learning that may have not been possible in the past due to proximity is now something of the past. OERs allow learning to evolve by “eliminating barriers and facilitating access” (McNally, 2012).
The biggest challenge is the perceived ambiguity of intellectual property and copyrights. OERs need licensing to in order to provide information to learners. Copyrights create an obstacle for the OER as they have the ability to block knowledge from others on the stance that they will lose ownership of the idea (McNally, 2012). On a work related note, I have heard professors discuss that are apprehensive of doing a MOOC or putting a curriculum online as they want to keep their intellectual property. If organizations and universities can find a way to let reluctant faculty know that OER can be an assets to learning instead of hindrance to intellectual property, research and content.
After perusing on the internet find out more about open education, I found this great video on the importance of open education. To see other videos, please go to whyopenedmatters,org
My learning activity is heavily related to Open Education. One of the goals of my learning activity is to create a community where education is shared in order for all staff members to perform better in their positions.
My questions for my readers this week: Do you think the Open Education Movement has the ability to negatively impact Education? If so, how?
References
Blink Tower,. (2014). Why open education matters. Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/43401199
Bosk, C. (2009). The word is open:How web technology Is revolutionizing education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Life animated gif. (2014). Retrieved from http://i.giphy.com/12Aj3TAodsyL0Q.gif
McNally, M., & Western University,. (2014). Democratizing Access to Knowledge: Find Out What Open Educational Resources (OER) Have to Offer. YouTube. Retrieved 5 December 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2IPOgl0ZE8
Embrace Higher Ed 
Hi Amanda,
Even though open education promotes sharing and collaboration, I do believe it can impact education negatively. I’m not sure that consumers will take the time to check copyrights or use resources responsibly. I think that educators will have a huge responsibility to teach their students ethical use of educational resources. Educators themselves will need to set a good example as well. It can be quite difficult to find copyright and licensing information, so I do not always think it is malicious when people share information. Therefore, it will be important to be proactive when it comes to OER.
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I really do boeve open education will have an impact. I keep thinking about what a great concept it would be and how everyone will finally have an opportunity to get a great education no matter what zip code you live in. However, I can’t help but wonder who is going to do quality control and make sure information is accurate. I think if it like Wikipedia. Anyone can submit works and with no one there to regulate we could be learning wrong information. There would almost have to be a governing group of scholars that I am sure would want to be paid to monitor it. How would that be funded?
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In answer to your question if the OEM has the capability to negatively impact education, I say yes because not all information on OERs is good information. It may potentially lead people to be misinformed. This relates primarily to those seeking information on OERs, since some information may be inaccurate or out of date. On the whole I think this is probably a small negative, as compared to the all the benefits of OERs. Besides, I think one of the qualities of a good instructor is having the ability to decipher what is reliable, valid information, and that which is not.
That was a good video you posted; short and informative.
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To answer your question, I feel that OER’s can negatively impact education. I read that OER’s only cater to mostly English speaking people. Not everyone speaks English. Also, everything on the internet is not entirely accurate possibly giving students and learners false knowledge. Hopefully there is some way to make sure all this information is true to the reader.
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