“chofmann” at MozzillaZine has posted on open source projects in Brazil.
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Monthly Archives: November 2009
Open Textbooks at U of Washington
Mike Noon has posted an article recommending open textbooks at the University of Washington. Noon cites cost as the reason. From the post:
A 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office found that the average annual cost of textbooks for students at a four-year public institution was $898. Since 1986, textbook prices have increased at twice the rate of inflation.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged higher education, open textbook, open textbooks, openness, policy
Teaching Psychology Through Open Materials
Kelvin Seifert has posted on places to find open educational resources relating to psychology.
Wikipedia Volunteers Leaving
Julia Angwin and Geoffrey A. Fowler are reporting in the Wall Street Journal that many Wikipedia volunteers are leaving in record number. Increasing layers of bureaucracy and fatigue over fighting are cited as possible reasons. From the article:
“People generally have this idea that the wisdom of crowds is a pixie dust that you sprinkle on a system and magical things happen,” says Aniket Kittur, an assistant professor of human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University who has studied Wikipedia and other large online community projects.
Additional coverage on Slashdot. Thanks to Brian Lamb for the link.
OER and Educational Development
Dave Cormier has posted on OER and educational development. Cormier questions the usefulness of OER repositories. From the article:
Being open need not be complicated, it doesn’t need to be organized, nor does it even need to be funded. It has to respond to a need that exists. Simple solutions may require a 10% concession from the educator, but a small concession to sustainability can be important.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged higher education, ocw, oer, open content, Open Education, openness
OER, Trademarks and CC BY
Jane Park is announcing the first in a series of “advanced topics” relating to Creative Commons. The document explains the relationship between rights, trademark and OER. From the post:
For OER organizations with a strong trademark, or with the plans and capacity to build and sustain one, this primer is a guide to understanding the relationship between your organization’s rights as a copyright owner using CC licenses (particularly CC BY) and your organization’s trademark rights within the context of open educational resources (OER). This primer is not relevant for OER creators generally, as trademark law only pertains to those entities with the capacity to build and sustain a brand.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged cc, CC licenses, commons, copy right, copyright, creative commons, open content, Open Education, openness
Language OER Lagging in Canada?
Steve Kaufmann has a new post criticizing Canada for its lack of OER relating to foreign languages. From the post:
Then I returned to Vancouver, back to earth, back to Canada, where a language “cosa nostra” decides what learners are allowed to do.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged e-learning, online learning, open content, Open Education, open learning, openness
Response to Defining ‘Open’
Last week OEN reported on a post by David Wiley defining openness. Stephen Downes now has a post in response. From Downes’ post:
My perspective is that each of these, and large swaths of Wiley’s own position, represent efforts by corporations to own what we might call free and/or open content, and to make it not free.
BYU Units Adopt Open Access
David Wiley has a new post announcing that BYU’s Instructional Psychology and Technology department and library have adopted open access policies. From the post:
I am giddy with excitement to see some of my own published articles beginning to appear in BYU’s institutional repository – they now have an open, permanent, curated home and I can link to them with confidence.
Posted in Open Education
Tagged higher education, journal, library, OATP, OATP.new, policy
Future OCW Webinars
Meena Hwang has a new post listing upcoming OCW webinars.
