This team of researchers (including David Wiley) from Brigham Young University, examined the extent to which a face-to-face course can be shared with learners at a [...]]]> Hilton III, J. et al. (2010) Using online technologies to extend a classroom to learners at a distance, Distance Education, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 77-92

This team of researchers (including David Wiley) from Brigham Young University, examined the extent to which a face-to-face course can be shared with learners at a distance. Distance learners did not have to register with the university, nor received credit for the course. The face-to-face classes were recorded and made available online to the distance learners, as well as the online course material. (This is a follow-up to a study by Young, 2008, in which David Wiley also opened up his face-to-face class to distance learners). The Hilton et al. study examined a graduate seminar on open education offered by Wiley, but in this case, Wiley deliberately restricted the time devoted to the ‘extra’ distance students to no more than 30 minutes a week, whereas in the Young study, he put in more work on the distance learners. Note that there were only 6 face-to-face students in the class, while there were 38 at a distance.

Comment: I have some real concerns about this approach by Wiley. I think the idea of opening up classes to non-registered students is a good one, but not just making them relatively ‘outside’ participants of a class designed deliberately for face-to-face teaching. Wouldn’t it be more logical to open up classes deliberately designed for distance delivery to non-registered participants, and design them carefully for joint use? The distance learners in the Wiley experiment are being treated as second-class citizens in this set-up. Also it is one thing to open up a class of six students to anyone, but a very different matter if there are 30 or more registered students in a course.

Incidentally, opening up online credit classes to non-registered students is not new. In many universities all lectures are open to the public. How is this any different, just because the non-registered students are at a distance? In the 1980s-1990s, students who enrolled with the Open Learning Agency could take distance courses from any of the three universities in British Columbia for credit towards their Open University degree, without having to be admitted to the other universities. Nowadays, the University of British Columbia offers both a certificate and a masters online program where all the students participate together online in the same classes.

These programs however do highlight some of the absurdities of credit vs non-credit teaching. What happens when certificate or ‘external’ students who do not qualify for entry to a graduate program do as well or better than the admitted students in the same class? We had this situation at UBC, which became ridiculous when students who had excelled as certificate students wanted to transfer into the masters program and were denied, because they did not have the requisite qualifications for graduate studies (the certificate was not considered an appropriate qualification, even though the students had ‘proved’ themselves.).

The point is that our systems are unnecessarily restrictive in allowing in particular mature adults to access university programs. The real problem is a lack of places in the system, and hence over-zealous admission requirements, rather than finding means to combine registered students with others.

My point here is that just opening up classes to non-admitted students does little to make access really open, but merely results in frustration when these extra students try to get credit for their often excellent work. Such efforts at opening access need to be combined with changes to admission policies if they are to be meaningful. I’d like to see open access to all university programs, but only those that ‘prove’ themselves at the end of the first course or year are allowed to continue. (Tuition fees are now at such a level as to discourage ‘flippant’ enrolments).

Reference

Young, J. (2008) When professors print their own diplomas, who needs universities? Chronicle of Higher Education, September 25

Wiley, D. (2009) Defining ‘open’ Iterating towards openness, November 16.

Wiley defines four characteristics of open content – the 4Rs – and the discussion following the blog is also interesting.

Thanks to Burkard Lehmann for directing me to this.

Table of Contents

Editorial:

Openness and the Future of Higher Education David Wiley, John Hilton III

Research Articles

Openness, Dynamic Specialization, and the Disaggregated [...]]]> The International Review of Open and Distance Learning has just brought out a special issue, Vol. 10, No. 5, 2009, edited by David Wiley and James Hilton III, on openness and the future of education.

Table of Contents

Editorial:

Openness and the Future of Higher Education David Wiley, John Hilton III

Research Articles

Openness, Dynamic Specialization, and the Disaggregated Future of Higher Education David Wiley, John Hilton III
From Open Content to Open Course Models: Increasing Access and Enabling Global Participation in Higher Education Tannis Morgan, Stephen Carey
The Impact of Openness on Bridging Educational Digital Divides Andy Lane
Open Textbook Proof-of-Concept via Connexions Judy Baker, Joel Thierstein, Kathi Fletcher, Manpreet Kaur, Jonathan Emmons
Peer-To-Peer Recognition of Learning in Open Education Jan Philipp Schmidt, Christine Geith, Stian Håklev, Joel Thierstein
Open Educational Resources: New Possibilities for Change and Sustainability Norm Friesen
The Technological Dimension of a Massive Open Online Course: The Case of the CCK08 Course Tools Antonio Fini
Incentives and Disincentives for the Use of OpenCourseWare Anne M. Arendt, Brett E. Shelton

Comment

Once again, another timely and excellent collection of articles from IRRODL.

Also, congratulations to the Editor of the Journal, Professor Terry Anderson, who was recently awarded the prestigious Chales Wedemeyer award for last year’s best book on distance education: Anderson, T. (2008) Theory and Practice of Online Learning Athabasca, Alberta: Athabasca University.

This Call for Papers is for a theme issue of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning entitled: Openness and the Future of Higher Education.  The projected publication date is October 2009.  The Guest Editors are Dr. David [...]]]> NOTE: now published as Vol. 10, No. 5, 2009: click here to access the issue

This Call for Papers is for a theme issue of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning entitled: Openness and the Future of Higher Education.  The projected publication date is October 2009.  The Guest Editors are Dr. David Wiley and John Hilton.

The aim of this Special Issue is to further our understanding of the manner in which the open source, open access, and open education movements are now and will impact higher education organizations, learners, and other stakeholders in the future.

Our intent is to stimulate critical debate, encourage collection and analyses of relevant data, and add to the theoretical foundations used in policy and planning discussions related to openness within institutions of higher education. Special consideration will be given to articles that present analyses and interpretations of empirical data, but rigorous theoretical submissions will also be considered.

All submissions will be peer reviewed.  Those submissions accepted for publication will be published  under Creative Commons license in www.irrodl.org.

DEADLINES:
* Submission Proposals: January 15, 2009
* Notification of Acceptance: February 15
* Papers Due: May 1
* Peer Reviews Returned: June 30
* Finalized Papers Due: August 1
* Publication Date: October 15

SUBMISSION PROPOSALS
Individual or multiple-authors must first submit an abstract-length proposal of approximately 500-750 words to IRRODL’s Managing Editor, at irrodl@athabascau.ca.

Those who have had their abstracts accepted will be formally invited by the Guest Editors to submit a full-length paper of approximately 5000 words.  For IRRODL’s submission guidelines, visit: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/about/submissions

All full-length papers submitted to IRRODL will be subject to multiple blind peer review.  All blind peer reviews will be shared with the authors.  While influenced by the outcome of the blind peer reviews, the Guest Editors reserve the right to make final publication decisions.

TOPICS MAY INCLUDE:
·      Critical perspectives on open education
·      Effect of openness on access to educational opportunity
·      Evaluation of open educational resources and services
·      Issues of affordability and openness
·      Issues of quality and localization of open educational resources
·      Openness and accreditation
·      Openness and future course management systems / personal learning environments
·      Open models for awarding credit or degrees
·      Open / peer tutoring and advising models
·      Open source, open access, or open education policy in higher education
·      Open teaching / massively open online courses (“MOOC”)
·      Open textbooks
·      Social implications of open education
·      Structures and patterns of reuse of open educational resources
·      Sustainable models of creating and sharing open educational resources
·      Unique impact of openness on institutions in developing countries

For more information contact:
David Wiley, PhD
Associate Professor
Instructional Psychology & Technology, Brigham Young University
Email: david.wiley@byu.edu

***

ABOUT IRRODL
The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (www.irrodl.org) is a peer reviewed, open access e-journal designed to disseminate research, theory, and best practice related to open and distance learning worldwide.  IRRODL enjoys strong download activity and because it is fully peer reviewed, reputable, and open access, it is cited broadly.

Detailed information about submission is available on IRRODL’s website. All submission proposals and full length papers must be emailed to IRRODL’s Managing Editor, Bridgette McConkey, at irrodl@athabascau.ca.

The copyright of all papers published in IRRODL will be held by Athabasca University – Canada’s Open University.  All articles published, however, are licensed under the Creative Commons for re-use and distribution for non-commercial purposes.  For details on IRRODL’s Creative Commons license, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

For details concerning IRRODL, please contact:
Terry Anderson
terrya@athabascau.ca