Open Course University

MIT - ESD.36 System & Project Management

Open Course

Looking at an open non-accredited course website, an emphasis is made on the course quality that is entirely free.  History:  The materials are copied to reuse for the next semester.  At the same time, I look at our online distance learning courses and I’ve found that in order to reuse materials it has to be in quality through planning and revising. Resources are used in open source in multiple ways, such as in lectures, presentation, audio/video, and for independent studies.  At the same time, they do listen to student’s needs for an add on application, etc. 

A nice feature open source utilizes is their chat screen.  Through open source courses, students are able to share information asynchronously and synchronously.  Thus, it is an online collaboration and learning environment, as well as for independent studies.  Our online course normally does not include a chat feature, when interacting with instruction or to asynchronously participate in discussion.     

I think the open course is well organized and carefully pre-planned for what it is used for, such as from a Face to Face class environment to an online website, since this is where the original course and material were implemented.  However, since they do not know what kind of online learners will be enrolling, I think the course could not be designed with distance learning quality, as it relate to the online learner.  On the other hand, some cool information is there on how educators might use a similar topic, viewing of concepts from previous semesters; touch up using their video sessions, and to include exams to practice what has been learned. 

Does this course follow the recommendations for online instruction?  I think open source courses are dumped from Face to Face courses onto the web.  But, other than not being designed based on the learning audience, I think they do a pretty good job with everything else, such as the material/information.  And, for instance, there are assignments, examples, relevant online resources, forum for interaction and discussions, media, and objectives. 

I think open source courses provide course activities that induce active learning for the student, such as in having the opportunities to engage in collaborate, groups, interactivity, and in discussion together.  They have an outline, introduction, expectations, and needs from students, desired attributes, course concept, and lots of visual aides (graphic and pictorial).  So the challenges, project assignments, problem statement, and limited amounts of extraneous processing create what I think is a balance environment for free learner enrollment learners.  

Rita Fowler

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at
     a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) p.127 Boston, MA: Pearson