Higher Education in Perpetual Beta:

Web 2.0, eLearning, Open Content & Technology Plan

Cable GreeneLearning Director

http://www.slideshare.net/cgreen

Hold On!

“We are in the midst of a technological, economic, and organizational

transformation that allows us to negotiate the terms of freedom, justice, and productivity in the

information society”Yochai Benkler

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonewolf23/1570632701/

Why does it matter?

seamless connection of people, resources & knowledge

digitization of content mobile, personal global platform for

collaboration outsourcing open-sourcing

In a flat world, the synthesizers of ideas will rule.

And they will use open web 2.0 software standards, and practices to distribute their ideas.

And we can makeall of our “digital stuff”available toall people…and most of itwill get used...by someone.

"According to an IBM study, by 2010, the amount of digital

information in the world will double every 11 hours."

http://elearning101.org

The digital universe in 2007 was equal to almost 45 gigabytes (GB) of digital information for

every person on earth …

…or the equivalent of over 17 billion 8 GB iPhones.

http://elearning101.org

Choices:

(1) Open up andleverage global input

OR

(2) close up shop

How do we Deal with This?

We are preparing students for

jobs that don’t yet exist, using

technologies that haven’t been

invented, to solve problems we

don’t even know are problems yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHWTLA8WecI

(1) Engage Web 2.0

Stuff

http://www.go2web20.net

RSS

RSS: Really Simple Syndication

Hmmm… well what does that mean?

Who Here Reads Newspapers?

News Story Syndication

Story is written

Story

is se

nt to

“the

wire”

Papers pick up

‘feed’ off the

wire

Story appears here

Syndication

Syndication

Appears in Appears in many papersmany papers

RSS is like reading a newspaper

Lots of newspapers!

Social Networking

Social Bookmarking

http://delicious.com

Social Bookmarking: “TACTC”

http://delicious.com

Share Slides (and use others’)

http://www.slideshare.net

Online Meetings: System License!

Blog

http://blog.elearning.sbctc.edu

“Micro-Blogging”

http://twitter.com

(2) eLearningWhy call it

“eLearning?”

“Distance” is about geographic separation.

“eLearning” is about leveraging the unique affordances of digital technologies to support new ways of learning in new spaces. Online, Hybrid, Enhanced

“eLearning”

eLearning in Context

Growth in online enrollments far exceeds overall enrollment growth.

CTC system FTE growth Fall 2007 up 1%, online enrollments increased 15% Online + hybrid = 19.6%

3.5 million students are taking at least one online course = 20%of all U.S. higher education students.

Washington Community & Technical CollegesOnline Courses: Fall 07

13,473 FTE online equivalent to 2.5 Community Colleges

Over 72,000 students learn online each year

45% of all CTC graduates earn 15 or more credits via eLearning

Growth in Online CoursesFall FTE: 1998-2010

1999-2007 growth = 715%

Why does this growth curve

matter?

Educate More Citizens

HECB Master Plan I. Raise educational attainment to

create prosperity, opportunity Policy Goal: Increase the total number of

degrees and certificates produced annually to achieve Global Challenge State benchmarks.

By 2018, raise mid-level degrees and certificates to 36,200 annually, an increase of 9,400 degrees annually.

… if we don’t offer online courses and excellent online student services … someone else will… and students will choose.

(3) Open Educational Resources

State of the Art (and Open / FREE)

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11309&mode=toc

Because when we cooperate and share, we all win – exponentially.

Reedʼs Law: Networks grow [in value] exponentially by the number of nodes.

It’s a social justice issue: everyone has the right to access global knowledge.

Why is “Open” Important?

Institute for the Future whitepaper: Technologies of Cooperation

Definition of OER

Digitized materials, offered freely and openly for educators, students, to use and re-use for teaching, learning and research.

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/openeducation

What about Copyright / IP?CC Video

- JSB

http://wiki.elearning.ubc.ca/ComingApart

OpenLearn (UK) - DEMO

OCW – MIT (MIT HS) China Open Resources for Education has

translated 109 MIT OCW courses into Simplified Chinese.

Rice Connexions

(a few) Open Content Repositories

and there is this smallcollection of articles:

What are Open Textbooks?

“Open textbooks” are free, online, open-access textbooks. The content of open textbooks is licensed to allow anyone to use, download, customize, or print without expressed permission from the author.

http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.org

Examples of Free, Open Textbooks

Why do we Need Open Textbooks? 2005 GAO report: College textbook prices have

risen at twice the rate of annual inflation over the last two decades

At 2-year public institutions, the average cost of books and supplies per first-time, full-time student (’03-’04) was $886 = almost 75% of the cost of tuition and fees $898 at 4-year public institutions, about 26% of the cost

of tuition and fees

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05806.pdf

May, 2007: Dept of Ed.

http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.org/course_correction.pdf

What does the report say?

Digital textbooks must meet three criteria: affordable, printable and accessible.

Digital textbooks done wrong: Publisher e-textbooks fail to meet the criteria.

Digital textbooks done right: Open textbooks meet all of the criteria.

We must get rid of our “not invented here” attitude regarding others’ content move to: "proudly borrowed from there"

Content is not a strategic advantage

Nor can we (or our students) afford it: Students want open, free textbooks

Hey Higher Ed!

“As uncomfortable a proposition as this new openness may be for some, I believe it is the future of higher education.”

In web 2.0, everything is public & higher education needs to

get used to it.

Future of Openness in Education

David Wiley 2006. Open source, openness, and higher education.

(4) Strategic Technology

Planhttp://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/college/dl/StrategicTechnologyPlan-final.pdf

1. Our state’s most urgent need: educate more people to higher levels

2. Fuller use of information technology is key to making education more accessible

3. One, single-minded goal: to mobilize technology to increase student success

Strategy I: Create a single, system-wide suite of online teaching and learning tools that provides all Washington students with easy access to “anywhere, anytime” learning.

Strategy II: Create a seamless P-20 system for personalized online student services including: recruitment, retention, advising, course catalogue, transfer, and financial aid management.

Strategy III: Create a system of lifelong learning and change management for faculty, staff and college leadership.

Strategy IV: Use data to drive continuous improvement in both student success and administrative efficiency.

Strategy V: Treat information technology as a centrally funded, baseline service in the system budget.

Five strategies for transformation

We will not try to do what others can do better, faster, and for less money.

We will shift our best and brightest IT staff from software developers to integration experts who tie together best-of-breed applications.

This plan also recommends a shift from locally-developed software and hosting services.

In the end, catching up with today’s information technologies is not about technology itself; it is about a new world of open, online sharing where everyone has the power to create and disseminate their ideas, courses and textbooks and to re-mix and use others’ work.

But the biggest shift called for in this plan is cultural.

And it will take leadership to get there…

Bottom Line

Accountability Shared technology, support services and content is a

responsible use of public funds.

Accessibility All students, faculty and staff need access to enterprise

eLearning & administrative systems and support services to compete in the global market.

Affordability No College can afford all necessary eLearning &

administrative systems & support services individually.

What Happens if weDon’t Change?

Google, Amazo

n, Apple, O

pen Sourc

e,

Open Content, O

pen Textbooks…

Higher EducationFu

nct

ion

al P

oss

ibili

ties

Time

Harder to catch-up …

Or even understand.

Parting Thought…

Is the network to the point where we can challenge traditional models of pedagogy, publishing, and how we use digital technologies?

If so, how will our curriculum and methods of learning change, assuming that today’s technology will be readily available to both faculty and to students?

http://blog.oer.sbctc.edu http://blog.elearning.sbctc.edu

Dr. Cable Greencgreen@sbctc.edu (360) 704-4334Twitter: cgreen