Open Courses

The Impact of Open Source

The Open Learning Initiative created by Carnegie Mellon University has developed a number of open and free courses with full access to the course management system via the internet.  

Critically examining the Biology course for meeting recommendations as suggested by Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek (2012), the home/main page of the course lists six units, each with sub-modules (Syllabus, n.d.). The learner can click on the unit link and when finished they are directed back to the home/main page to continue through the course in a distinctly linear manner. The main/home page is also the syllabus for the course, for which it could be argued, makes the course navigation that much more efficient (Syllabus, n.d.).

The first module dives right in to the introduction of modern biology and includes a link to the ‘General Instructions.’ This document gives the student an overview of the types of tools and activities used in the course. These include descriptions of what the course designer defines as low-stakes activities, where the student can learn interactively, repeating the activity as needed to re-enforce concepts, but they are not graded. This page also includes tips for using the technology tools provided in the course (Syllabus, n.d.).

In terms of Assessment guidelines, the course content contains quizzes, self-assessments, and short answer exams (Simonson, et al., 2012). However, elements that are missing in terms of assessment are papers/essays, projects, and discussion groups. Facilitation of discussion groups in a open free course would be more difficult to moderate and coordinate, since students learn at their own pace and participate as needed. Learning outcomes, called learning objectives in the Modern Biology course, were distinctly listed at the beginning of each module to focus on the learning goals (Syllabus, n.d.).

The course content included many types of interactive media tools that illustrate 3-dimensional features of cells and molecules. Simonson, et al. (2012) emphasized the inclusion of readings and text, video access, audio speech presentations, and recorded visual presentations that include narration. There was a lack of narrated presentations or lectures from any experts with a strong focus on written text and visual materials such as interactive 3-D visual tools and short quizzes for testing knowledge (Syllabus, n.d.). Additionally, an approximate recommended time-frame for the course was not given (Simonson, et al., 2012), which also ties in with the idea that no instructor guidance would be given, as is typical of open source courses.

Pre-Planning

From an instructional design perspective, I would say that there was pre-planning for this course, otherwise there would not be so many interactive media technology tools included in the program. Also, the quizzes were not traditional but interactive quizzes with visual representations.

Maximizing Active Learning

      Despite the fact that this course was an open-course without an instructor to guide aspects such as grading, group projects, or discussions, there could have been more done to maximize the learning experience for distance learners. Some modifications could include asynchronous discussion forums by topic. Students could add their viewpoints and reflections and have the ability to view the posts of previous or current students. On a topic such as biology, a project could be proposed for the student to work on his/her own.

 

References

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

 

Syllabus: Modern Biology (Open + Free). (n.d.). Open Learning Initiative. Retrieved from https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/lms/students/syllabus.do?section=0bb0c42880020ca600b504a8a5daae29.