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Open Course Websites

As we journey through this course into the world of distance learning and learning theories, we paused this week to explore open course websites.  Open, meaning free!  According to Educational-Freeware.com the availability of open courses is a “new movement among academic communities where schools from around the world are providing free lectures, lessons, and other learning materials at absolutely no cost”.  Many universities, including Yale, Harvard, MIT, and Penn are offering open courses.  Stephen Colbert, on the Colbert Report, with his usual humor explores this idea of open courses as he ponders why universities would give knowledge away for free (Inside Higher Ed, 2013).  Colbert’s guest Anant Agarwal is the president of edX, a major provider of open courses.  When asked why universities would offer free courses, Agarwal simply responds that an educated world is a better world. 

Adult Learning Theory – Andragogy

How does this idea of open course websites fit with adult learning theory?  Malcolm Knowles, the “father” of andragogy, laid out principles or factors that describe adult learning (Conlan, Grabowski, and Smith, 2003).  These principles describe adult learners as someone who:

1.  “Has an independent self-concept and who can direct his or her own learning”

·        Distance learning, where the learner and instructor can be separated by space and time is an appropriate environment for independent learners.

·        Open courseware where learners are free to choose from many different universities and many different topics is also a learning environment that fits learners who are independent and capable of directing their own learning.

2.  “Has accumulated a reservoir of life experiences that is a rich resource for learning”

·        Adult learners can use their prior experiences to assist them in choosing and completing open courseware.  Their background knowledge will help them learn in this independent environment.

3.  “Has learning needs closely related to changing social roles”

·        With the variety of open courseware available on the internet, as adult learners’ needs change, they can choose topics that best suit their needs.

4.  “Is problem-centered and interested in immediate application of knowledge”

·        Another characteristic of adult learners is that they want to know the “reason for learning something, and learning should be applicable to work or home” (Cercone, 2008).

Open Course Example

Let’s take a closer look at one example of open courseware from Hillsdale College.  I chose this example of open courseware because my husband, an avid history reader, has taken several of the Hillsdale courses and has enjoyed the format and the learning.  Hillsdale offers free, not-for-credit online versions of some of its core curriculum with a focus on history, economics, and the Constitution.  The courses appear to be well thought-out and organized in their design.  All of the courses follow the same format:  video lecture series featuring different speakers, course readings available online and containing primary documents, study guide to summarize learning, quizzes, asynchronous discussion board, and a prerecorded question and answer session where students have previously submitted questions via the discussion board.  While the courses are free, students must create a login to participate and there is a message that pops up asking learners to contribute a donation to the college to support online learning.

These courses are definitely most appropriate for the independent, highly motivated, and self-directed learner (Cercone, 2008).   There is not an instructor assigned to the course, however the lecturers do participate in the discussion board.  Also, because these courses have very specific topics, there would be a smaller target audience of learners who have a strong desire to learn about these issues.  The discussion board is not a requirement, so there does not seem to be the rich conversations that we engage in through our required Walden discussions.  The courses do not have a wide variety of learning experiences, but the format allows students to work at their own pace, material is available in audio formats as well as video, the platform is simple to use, and there is an opportunity for interactivity through the discussion board (Simonson et al., 2011). 

I would not term the Hillsdale courses as “shovelware” because it seems that someone informed about distance learning theories took time to organize and plan the classes for the eLearning environment (Simonson et al., 2011).  I am interested to see where open courseware will take us in the next ten years.  I’m curious to see what impact the availability of this instructional content will have on the face of distance learning.

References

Cercone, K. (2008). Characteristics of adult learners with implications for online learning design, AACE Journal, 16(2), 137-159. 

Conlan, J., Grabowski, S., & Smith, K., (2003). Adult Learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Educational Freeware. Retrived from http://www.educational-freeware.com/news/opencourseware.aspx

Hillsdale College Online Courses Retrieved from http://online.hillsdale.edu/home

Inside Higher Ed. (2013) Colbert report explains moocs. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/07/26/colbert-report-explains-moocs#ixzz2gbouOJq1

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance

Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.