- 17.5 million visits
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- 1.82 visits per visitor
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- 5.63 page views per visit
- 1.9 million zip files downloaded
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- 275,000 visits from the MIT community
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- 38% of visits used Firefox, 33% used IE, 15% used Chrome, and 10% used Safari
1/29/2011
Year-End Stats from MIT Point to Increasing Popularity of Open Educational Resources
Read Write Article
Screw this! We’re going digital
http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2010/12/28/screw-this-were-going-digital/
Several universities have decided to walk away from the Access Copyright contract, giving higher education institutions and policy makers heavy incentive to develop new ways of accessing materials. For example, in lieu of renewing their contact with the collective, Athabasca University announced in early December that they are increasing the availability of open education resources (OERs), materials ranging from lectures to podcasts that can be used by students and staff at various institutions.
Alberta’s advanced education minister Doug Horner also recently told the Edmonton Journal that he wants to launch an online eBook depository for students. “Because isn’t the objective to help the student achieve, as opposed to paying a stipend to whoever wrote a book?”, Horner said in the Journal. Rory McGreal, associate vice-president of Athabasca University, told the Journal that this could be an important step in helping universities deal with the copyright conflict. The depository could encourage more professors to publish outside of mainstream publishers, giving universities more options for accessing their publications, he said.
Several universities have decided to walk away from the Access Copyright contract, giving higher education institutions and policy makers heavy incentive to develop new ways of accessing materials. For example, in lieu of renewing their contact with the collective, Athabasca University announced in early December that they are increasing the availability of open education resources (OERs), materials ranging from lectures to podcasts that can be used by students and staff at various institutions.
Alberta’s advanced education minister Doug Horner also recently told the Edmonton Journal that he wants to launch an online eBook depository for students. “Because isn’t the objective to help the student achieve, as opposed to paying a stipend to whoever wrote a book?”, Horner said in the Journal. Rory McGreal, associate vice-president of Athabasca University, told the Journal that this could be an important step in helping universities deal with the copyright conflict. The depository could encourage more professors to publish outside of mainstream publishers, giving universities more options for accessing their publications, he said.
1/25/2011
Newsweek: Who Needs Textbooks? How Washington State is redesigning textbooks for the digital age.
The Washington “Open Course Library” is in Newsweek.
Other recent stories on this project:
- Seattle Times
- Chronicle of Higher Education
- Michael Eric Dyson Show (time index: 33:05)
- KOHO Radio
- Open Policy Report (p. 17)
Kudos to our magnificent Open Course Library team of faculty, librarians, instructional designers, accessibility specialists, researchers, multicultural experts, eLearning directors and students piloting the courses!
It is my honor to work with this team of dedicated people who care so very much about building and sharing quality, affordable open educational resources... so more people can access and succeed in higher education.
This is our time to redefine the rules of public investment, textbooks and access to research to help students.
Cable
Open Course Library on the Michael Eric Dyson Show
Time index: 33:05 (start playing – click pause – and let it load before moving to 33:05)
Students at the nation’s colleges and universities know all too well that even after scraping together enough money for tuition and fees, and often room and board as well, there’s still one more huge financial challenge to confront: books. Depending on the course of study, textbooks can cost an additional $1,000 a year—a real burden for a lot of students. Recently, however, a lot of attention has been paid to ways technology can be used to reduce this expense. Martha Ann Overland, contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education, discusses several programs underway to address the issue.
1/22/2011
World Library of Science
See post by Sir John Daniel on the "World Library of Science," a joint venture between UNESCO and Nature Publishing Group.
...launch of a partnership between UNESCO and the Nature Publishing Group to create the World Library of Science, which will be the first open online learning resource covering the entire life and physical science curriculum at the secondary and post-secondary level. Nature Publishing is the world's premier scientific publisher. As well as its flagship journals Nature and Scientific American, it publishes 70 other leading science journals.
The Library will offer high-quality material drawn from Nature Publishing Group's publications as well as new instructional materials developed specifically for the World Library of Science.
It will contain 2500-3000 learning modules in all concepts of life and physical sciences arranged into standard curricula but capable of full customization by all institutions; and a robust web-based and mobile-based delivery system providing access to materials, tutors, and academic information to any faculty or student with basic connectivity.
This is an ambitious project, which claims that it "is intended to transform global science education by creating a common ground of current, research-oriented, vetted information and curriculum for all".
Content will be licensed with CC-BY-SA...
Nice ;)
...launch of a partnership between UNESCO and the Nature Publishing Group to create the World Library of Science, which will be the first open online learning resource covering the entire life and physical science curriculum at the secondary and post-secondary level. Nature Publishing is the world's premier scientific publisher. As well as its flagship journals Nature and Scientific American, it publishes 70 other leading science journals.
The Library will offer high-quality material drawn from Nature Publishing Group's publications as well as new instructional materials developed specifically for the World Library of Science.
It will contain 2500-3000 learning modules in all concepts of life and physical sciences arranged into standard curricula but capable of full customization by all institutions; and a robust web-based and mobile-based delivery system providing access to materials, tutors, and academic information to any faculty or student with basic connectivity.
This is an ambitious project, which claims that it "is intended to transform global science education by creating a common ground of current, research-oriented, vetted information and curriculum for all".
Content will be licensed with CC-BY-SA...
Nice ;)
1/21/2011
DOL $2-Billion Grant: CC BY Required (Yey!)
As you know, the Departments of Labor and Education announced the Solicitation for Grant Applications (SGA) for Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grants Program yesterday.
- Chronicle article
- Chronicle Wired
- DOE Post (Hal Plotkin)
- former White House point on "Open" Beth Noveck
- Creative Commons Post
- Huffington Post
- Dave Cormier's Post
- eCampus News
Open Education Colleagues - this is VERY good news:
Intellectual Property Rights (page 21)
In order to further the goal of career training and education and encourage innovation in the development of new learning materials, as a condition of the receipt of a Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant (“Grant”), the Grantee will be required to license to the public (not including the Federal Government) all work created with the support of the grant (“Work”) under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (“License”). This License allows subsequent users to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the copyrighted work and requires such users to attribute the work in the manner specified by the Grantee. Notice of the License shall be affixed to the Work. For more information on this License, please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
My note to WA Community & Technical Colleges: This is VERY good news for our system (and is consistent with the SBCTC open policy) – as all 34 Colleges will have unrestricted, open access (legal rights to reuse, remix, revise and redistribute) to all $2B worth of courses / programs produced with this grant.
(from CC post): Beth Noveck, professor of law and former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Director of the White House Open Government Initiative, said, “The decision to make the work product of $2 billion in federally funded grants free for others to reuse represents a historic step forward for open education. The Departments of Labor and Education are to be congratulated for adopting more open grantmaking practices to ensure that taxpayer money funds the widest possible distribution of this important job-training courseware.”
(from CC post): Beth Noveck, professor of law and former U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Director of the White House Open Government Initiative, said, “The decision to make the work product of $2 billion in federally funded grants free for others to reuse represents a historic step forward for open education. The Departments of Labor and Education are to be congratulated for adopting more open grantmaking practices to ensure that taxpayer money funds the widest possible distribution of this important job-training courseware.”
1/18/2011
Free ‘Global University’ Seeks to Educate Medical Students (Chronicle)
Chronicle post.
An international group of medical educators and organizations have started an online university for medical students, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The goal is to help students in developing countries that lack access to medical schools. The founding participants include the University of British Columbia, Stanford University, the University of Zambia, Harvard University’s Center for Surgery and Public Health, and the World Health Organization.
Curricula is based on free medical education material available on Health Sciences Online, set up four years ago through the University of British Columbia with the World Bank, World Medical Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others. The new Global University is accepting registrations for a number of courses, including premed, a master’s in public health, and certificate courses in specific health areas like alcohol abuse, according to its beta site.
The organizers say they are developing partnerships with hospitals globally for practical experience, but students may have to arrange their own clinical work.
Curricula is based on free medical education material available on Health Sciences Online, set up four years ago through the University of British Columbia with the World Bank, World Medical Association, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others. The new Global University is accepting registrations for a number of courses, including premed, a master’s in public health, and certificate courses in specific health areas like alcohol abuse, according to its beta site.
The organizers say they are developing partnerships with hospitals globally for practical experience, but students may have to arrange their own clinical work.
1/13/2011
MIT Tries New Approach for Some OpenCourseWare
Chronicle
Call it OpenCourseWare 2.0. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today a new chapter in its popular effort to offer lecture notes and other materials from its courses free online. When the project started more than 10 years ago, leaders thought the main audience would be teachers and professors who wanted to see how the prestigious institution designed its curriculum. A bigger audience, though, has turned out to be students at other institutions and curious nonstudents, and in many cases they have been frustrated to discover that some courses lack all that they’re looking for, says Steve Carson, a spokesman for MIT’s OpenCourseWare project.
Today MIT opened a new section of the site, called OCW Scholar, where courses are fleshed out further for what the institute calls “self-learners.” There are five courses in the section now, and MIT plans to increase the number to 20 in three years. The project is supported by a $2-million grant from the Stanton Foundation.
Call it OpenCourseWare 2.0. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today a new chapter in its popular effort to offer lecture notes and other materials from its courses free online. When the project started more than 10 years ago, leaders thought the main audience would be teachers and professors who wanted to see how the prestigious institution designed its curriculum. A bigger audience, though, has turned out to be students at other institutions and curious nonstudents, and in many cases they have been frustrated to discover that some courses lack all that they’re looking for, says Steve Carson, a spokesman for MIT’s OpenCourseWare project.
Today MIT opened a new section of the site, called OCW Scholar, where courses are fleshed out further for what the institute calls “self-learners.” There are five courses in the section now, and MIT plans to increase the number to 20 in three years. The project is supported by a $2-million grant from the Stanton Foundation.
1/09/2011
Chronicle: State of Washington to Offer Online Materials as Texts
Chronicle story on the Washington Community and Technical Colleges’ Open Course Library.
My favorite part of the story is the #2 comment ... from one of the Open Course Library professors.
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