The Impact of Open Source

The “Open-Course” concept offers excellent opportunity to learners who seek to acquire new, useful information without the need of college credit.  Materials from these courses could not only be used for distance learners, but by online instructors as a resource to support their students (Simonson et al., 2012).  The stark reality of an open course is that they won’t provide what most adult learners seek when attempting to improve their education for career purposes, which are college credentials (Parry & Young, 2009).  I definitely see the benefits of open courses being used as resources for distance education, but I cannot uphold the conjecture that they are designed completely with the distance learner in mind. 

The course that I reviewed is The Open Yale Course, EEB122: PRINCIPLES OF EVOLUTION, ECOLOGY, AND BEHAVIOR (Stephen C. Stearns, Spring 2009). Some components of distance education do peek their heads out; however, the course is merely transference of the traditional classroom online using videos.  The course does provide the following:

ü  A brief course syllabus

ü  Access to the resources  used in the on-campus course (the book is not free)

ü  Lecture notes

ü  Access to videos with transcripts

ü  A survey to “evaluate” the course for its usefulness (There is a need for instructors to examine what worked and what the problems are in a course (Simonson et al., 2012)).

ü  Assessments in the form of mid-term exams to measure students’ knowledge

The course materials provided do give some opportunity for active learning.   Learners may choose to respond to several essay questions that may push them to search for their own supporting resources outside of the course, but learners will not receive any feedback from the instructor that lets them know if the fruits of their efforts are successful. 

According to Simonson et al. (2012), one of the most important features of distance education is the need for the student to interact.  Lynda Ginsburg (1999) states, “The challenge in designing distance education courses is to build in the need and opportunity for learners to communicate, collaborate, and build a community with fellow learners (pg. 13).  Success in distance education is built on the foundation of the learning community achieving similar goals and interacting.  Open courses provide the information, but not a sense of community.  Yet, learners who participate in an open course should not expect to interact with others in the learning community, unless they are a part of a group participating in the same open course. 

Open course opportunities are a great option for any person seeking higher-level knowledge without gaining credit.  Learning will take place if the participant is motivated to complete the course and seek activities that allows for the application knowledge. 

Sources

Yale Open Course URL

http://oyc.yale.edu/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology/eeb-122#overview

 Ginsburg, L. (1999)  Educational Technology: Searching for the Value Added. Adult Learning, 10(4), 12.

Parry, M., & Young, J. R. (2009). Open Courses: Free, but Oh, So Costly. Chronicle Of Higher Education, 56(8), A1-A20.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.