Doug Levin

FEBRUARY 21, 2016

K-12 education system by open educational resources (OER) since 2009, although my first exposure to the ideas and leaders of the movement stretch back to the launch of the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative. This is where context matters most for the OER movement. Even within the U.S.

OER 170

OER Instructional Materials Advocacy Meeting 170

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

There’s great news out of the recent UNESCO meeting in Paris, where member states unanimously adopted the draft Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER). This dramatically simplifies understanding what is and isn’t OER. Resources in the public domain or released under an open license are OER.

OER 119

OER Advocacy Resources Accessibility 119

Iterating Toward Openness

OCTOBER 30, 2017

There was a lot of discussion at OpenEd17 about the relationship between OER and value-added services like platforms. Examples of Value-Added Services in the Context of Open. They do not have the technical expertise, the time, or the institutional support to engage meaningfully with OER. The first has to do with capacity.

OER 60

OER LMS Learning Moodle 60

Edsurge

AUGUST 5, 2017

Remind is a good example of this because professors can easily and privately share with a whole class, or groups within a class, relevant course materials. But companies might not be attuned enough to how the user experience shifts from one device to another. Even modestly priced e-texts are still out of reach for some students.

Mobility 86

Mobility OER Technology BYOD 86

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

Effective Advocacy. They understood the outsized influence that billion dollar behemoths like Microsoft would continue to have, and knew that the only way the open source model could “win” would be if proprietary software companies adopted it. These are huge companies that compete directly with each other in many ways.

OER 80

OER Advocacy Software Company 80

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 13, 2017

[Back in 2012 – 2013] I was impressed (like many others I’m sure) with how Wiley was able to frame the cost-savings argument around open textbooks to build broader interest for OERs. I fear it is OER wanting it both ways. The question we must each ask ourselves is – what is the real goal of our OER advocacy?

Accessibility 62

Accessibility OER Pearson MOOC 62

Iterating Toward Openness

APRIL 25, 2019

I spend most of my time doing fairly tactical thinking and working focused on moving OER adoption forward in the US higher education space. For example, I spend a fair amount of time thinking about the future of learning materials writ large. Now, make no mistake – OER is a means, not an end.

OER 73

OER Course Company Smartphone 73