The Impact of Open Source

Before reading about Open Source courses in our readings this week, I had never heard of such a thing. Simsonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek (2012) defined open source courses as “course management systems that are free educational software that are maintained by users who implement, even modify, and ultimately support their system to meet local, specific needs” (2012, pg 162). I reviewed an open source course offered by Yale University, Roman Architecture, taught by Diana E. E. Kleiner, Dunham Professor of History of Art and Classics at http://oyc.yale.edu/history-art/hsar-252#overview.

Does the course appear to be carefully pre-planned and designed for a distance learning environment? How so?

This particular course was “taught on campus twice per week for 75 minutes” and was recorded for “Open Yale Courses in Spring 2009” (Yale University, 2012). I do not believe this course was edited much for the online/distance learning format. This seems to be a case of “dumping a face to face course onto the web” (Simsonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2012, pg 134).  I find this to be the case because the online sessions include multiple video lectures for viewing, along with transcripts with which to use for following along or making notes. For this course it would be necessary to view the lectures as the images are not included in the transcript file.

Does the course follow the recommendations for online instruction as listed in your course textbook?

The course does not follow the all recommendations for online instruction listed in our text. While the requirements for the reading assignments for each session are clearly listed, some areas are unclear. Because this is an online free course with no credit, I’m confused with the “requirements”. In the syllabus, the course grading system is listed

“Midterm examination 1: 30%
Midterm examination 2: 30%
Final paper: 30%
Participation in online forum: 10%” (Yale University, 2012).

With no explanation as to where these items are turned in, or for what purpose other than learning new information. Also while the requirements are listed, there is no explanation as to when these assignments should be completed. Our text does suggest “one of the most effective techniques to promote interaction in distance education is the threaded discussion-instructors post questions related to reading, viewing, and/or listening assignments, then students post comments in a discussion area” (Simsonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2012, pg 156). This is implemented to some extent, a discussion board is available for students to use, however I checked the status of it, and no one was currently signed up to use the board. It was also apparent this board was used only by students, with no input from the instructor.

Did the course designer implement course activities that maximize active learning for the students?

This course was designed to be teacher centered, rather the distance learning norm of student centered learning. We typically see “the trend to reduce the amount of information delivered and to increase the interactive value of the learning experience” in distance learning, this class was missing this component. The course activities or lack thereof did not maximize active learning, only checked to see if the students were “paying attention” during class instead of applying what they have learned to improve the transfer of this new information.

While this course wasn’t created with the best distance learning design, the course itself would serve its purpose for someone looking to learn about roman architecture without needing a “grade” or course credit. It seemed to be very informative and the videos were rich with interesting information and images.

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

Yale University. (2012). Roman architecture. Retrieved from http://oyc.yale.edu/history-art/hsar-252