Open learning- sharing and openness (Topic 2)

This topic has been eye opening from a professional perspective. In my masters studies I am at the moment participating a course that is shared between two Universities in Finland. We are using an IT- platform for learning, that is used in the other University, and not used in our own University. It is a closed course between these two organizations, but still shared between the members and the teachers in both Universities. I think this is something that is more common and something we are more familiar with in Finland. To continue from topic 1, using different digital tools and platforms, can be something that might cause problems for students or teachers, who are in a different stage in digital literacy. We as teachers shouldn’t assume that every student can use the ”foreign” platform, just because they can use the one they are familiar with. This is something I think we have to keep in mind, and take into account, when sharing courses between Universities.

What openness means for me as a student or a teacher? After watching the intro video, getting to know the resources and reading the scenario for the topic, I can say that I am only sharing and using resources within the organisation, in the teacher role. I’m not so familiar with MOOC s, only heard of it. As a student I sometimes, when doing research, look into resources that are open to read and cite, and use them in my studies.

Thoughts that came in my mind during this Topic? I think open access learning can be seen as giving a chance to study, and maybe later on study at some University, for people who might not had the interest or possibility to do it earlier in life? It can open doors maybe? It can also work as advertising for a University, which I think doesn’t have to be a negative thing. From a student perspective, that could be helpful when choosing a University to apply to. In healthcare we have a lot of programs and new technique that could be useful to learn already as a student, before entering practical training and work life. But that is a field that is strictly copyright and behind patents. It depends on where you do your practical training, which digital systems and what technique you have possibility to learn, as a student. More openness is maybe something that both University and work life could benefit of, in that case?

I work as a teacher in nursing and in these kind of programs everything can’t be shared, split in parts, or online. It would be impossible to become a nurse, midwife or paramedic without any practical training and skills training at the University. In health programs like nursing we need to follow the ”Nordic thinking” and Nordic “rules” in healthcare. I suppose courses could easily be shared in Nordic countries, but it would be difficult to share specific courses worldwide. In ongoing learning, online open courses could be a success for working healthcare staff, to develop their knowledge in different areas. Because it can be done from home and while working full time, it doesn’t take that much courage and effort as coming back to University for further learning. In Finland we are this year and the next getting a new digital patient information system for the University hospitals and smaller hospitals belonging to the same organisation. We can’t teach the students anything about that in forward…not even what the system includes or looks like, just the name of it. Some sharing at this point could benefit both parts? I also like the thinking of virtual mobility, collaborating and learning without travelling, which is time- and money saving and also environmental friendly.

OEP? Open educational practice, digital learning and everything that comes with it is something I think is to expand and to become the new normal. As Bates (2019) says:

”We can either as individuals throw up our hands and leave all these developments to either state or commercial entities to manage in their own interests, or we can try to prepare ourselves so that we can influence or even control how these developments are managed, for the greater good (Bates, A.W, 2019) ”

As researching OEP from a student perspective I found an article: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education. They describe OEP as:

”A broad descriptor of practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of open educational resources (OER) as well as open pedagogies and open sharing of teaching practices (Cronin, 2017).”

They showed a schedule of four dimensions shared by open educators: balancing privacy and openness, developing digital literacies, valuing social learning, and challenging traditional teaching role expectations. Cronin (2017) writes that the use of OEP by teachers can be seen as a complex, personal, and contextual, and that it is continually negotiated. Teachers and students are in this article seen as balancing between privacy and openness in OEP at four levels and in four dimensions. In macro (global level), meso (community/network level), micro (individual level) and nano ( interaction level). Cronin writes that a growing body of research is needed for better theorization and critical analysis of OEP. It is important to recognize the complexity and risks of openness, as much as the benefits. The inform and knowledge should reach both individuals and institutions. (Cronin, 2017)

MOOC s? I am not familiar with MOOC s, only heard of them, so it was really interesting to read and find out more about it. In the literature I found some challenges of teaching MOOC s to be: difficulty in evaluating students’ work, having a sense of speaking into a vacuum due to the absence of student immediate feedback, being burdened by the heavy demands of time and money and encountering a lack of student participation in online forums.  One of the student drop out reasons were lack of support or someone to ask for help, same kind of feelings that raised among teachers, can be recognized I think. (Khe&Wing, 2014)

For me who hasn’t worked as a teacher for so long yet, this openness is a really eye opening experience. When I studied to become a nurse it wasn’t that digital yet, we only had some platforms for schedules, databases etc. digital, but still wrote some exams on paper. Now studying my masters degree online and working as a teacher, I have just got thrown into this digital world and now getting familiar with its ”size” during this journey.

Picture 1: Increasing openness

^{(Cronin C, 2017, Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education}, ^{International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Volume 18, Number 5. pp.8 http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3096/4263 18.10.2019)}

Picture 2: Four dimensions

Cronin C, 2017, Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education

^{International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Volume 18, Number 5, pp. 9 http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3096/4263 18.10.2019)} Cronin C, 2017, Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education

Picture 4: Four levels

^{(Cronin C, 2017, Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education}

^{International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Volume 18, Number 5, pp. 12 http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3096/4263 18.10.2019)}

 ^{International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Volume 18, Number 5, pp. 12 http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3096/4263 18.10.2019)}

References:

Bates, A.W. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age – Second Edition, Chapter 1: Fundamental Change in Education, Vancouver, B.C.: Tony Bates Associates Ltd. Retrieved from https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/PUBLISHERTony Bates Associates Ltd.PUBLICATION DATE

Cronin C, 2017, Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education ,

^{International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning Volume 18, Number 5.  http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3096/4263 18.10.2019}

Khe&Wing, 2014, Students’ and instructors’ use of massive open online courses (MOOCs): Motivations and challenges, Educational Research Review, Volume 12, June 2014, Pages 45-58
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2014.05.001Get rights and content