[Oer-community] Forwarded message on behalf of Kathy Nicholson

Tue Nov 13 09:45:33 MST 2012

Friends,

As baptizer of the term "Open Educational Resources" (at the UNESCO meeting
ten years ago that Susan notes), I am pleased beyond my wildest hopes to
see progress in this domain over the last decade.

The idea of mapping OER is a great one, just in case it will facilitate growth
in competent and effective use of OER; that in turn entails promotion
of sharing,
reuse, adaptation, localization, and translation of OER assets.

As some others have suggested, though, *geographic* mapping (i.e.,
representation in map/mash-up format) might not capture the most important
aggregation, representation, or search aid.

So what kind of mapping would be more important towards facilitating growth
in competent and effective use?  Some on this list have proposed various kinds
of meta-data to collect (especially important, for any international
efforts, as regards geographic and linguistic identity), and they are
surely correct to do so.  Towards that end, the best self-standing OER
projects already build meta-data into their architecture, some extensively
so.

But let's look at this from a user's perspective.  If you are involved in
instruction or academic administration, you want to know *what* assets there
are (perhaps discoverable through currently available search tools),  *where*
the assets are (again, currently available search tools might suffice), and
*how* they might fit into your curricular framework.  This last piece is a
great challenge, if only because everyone's curricular framework differs
from the next one, whether because of national, institutional,
disciplinary, or personal differences.  But as that is the most difficult
problem to tackle on a systematic basis (because it's strongly dynamic and
highly context sensitive), so too it must be the problem (of these three)
that is most valuable to solve.  And it is, after all, a mapping problem
--namely, a *curricular *mapping problem.

Many in this community are likely familiar with curricular mapping.  So,
briefly (or as a reminder), curricular mapping is a representation—often
visual—of curricular units *and their relations*, relative to curricular
pathways and trajectories to completion of courses, degrees, certificates,
or other learning units.  While such maps are often built to represent
actual pathways, they are also used to plan new ones or adjust old ones.  I
doubt we could expect to create such a map that shows how extant OER meet
all curricular needs; instead, we might hope to show what OER fit where for
a wide variety of curricular pathway-relative needs.  That, in turn, would
help identify where pressing gaps are, whether relative to general
curricular demands, or specific needs as indexed to local educational
parameters, linguistic gaps, and the like.

Curricular mapping in the OER space has been explored in a number of OER
projects, and hopefully our community can draw on those experiences and
knowledge, as well as the longer tradition of curricular mapping in the
academy.

All best wishes,

Saul Fisher

*---
Saul Fisher
Executive Director for Grants and Academic Initiatives
Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy
Mercy College
555 Broadway
Dobbs Ferry, NY  10522  USA
sfisher at mercy.edu *

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 4:25 AM, Zaid Alsagoff <zaid.alsagoff at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear Susan and Everyone,
>
> Searchable/Indexable/Visuable OER maps of repositories, courses,
> initiatives, objects are useful. However, I would love to have a Global map
> of OER experts (or educators that conduct workshops, give talks and
> facilitate OER in all forms.)
>
> Over the last year I have conducted several OER workshops and given OER
> talks in Universities in Malaysia to create awareness and encourage more
> participation: http://www.slideshare.net/zaid (slides to all of them).
>
> Blog: http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/
>
> Next, year I will also be conducting OER workshops probably in several
>  other countries, starting with Saudi Arabia in February (ELI13 conference).
>
> However, how many of you know that? Exactly :)
>
> Wouldn't it be cool if we had news updates on what all of us are doing
> regarding OER...Maybe just a Twitter hashtag where all of us share our
> ongoing activities as we go along. Even a simple Facebook Page could do,
> too :)
>
> Better yet a Global map of all OER trainers or experts, which we can find,
> contact and invite to various countries when needed.
>
> If this has already been suggested...Amen to that :)
>
> No doubt the best OER are the experts themselves, and they are often much
> more inspiring than the content :)
>
> Have a great weekend!
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Zaid or ZaidLearn :)
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On 12 Nov, 2012, at 23:40, Susan D'Antoni <susandantoni at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>  ----****
>
> Dear OER Colleagues, ****
>
>
>   In October of 2005 I spent some time volunteering in tsunami-stricken
> Sri Lanka.  It was a life-changing experience.  In the mornings we helped
> with home reconstruction, beachfront preservation efforts, or assisting
> with the turtle hatcheries that had been wiped out by the tsunami.  In the
> afternoons, we taught English and math at the tsunami camp in Kosgoda.  Of
> course, we weren’t trained teachers, and had very few resources.  At that
> time, I wished for an online resource that I could use to help teach our
> thatched hut classroom of 30 kids, ranging in ages from 6 to 19.  Shouldn’t
> it be possible, I thought, to find resources that could be translated into
> Sinhalese (the local language)?  How could I find a range of resources
> appropriate for the children who were just learning English, and for the
> one young math whiz who was fascinated with simultaneous equations?****
>
>
> Back then, I didn’t know about OER.  But I intuitively knew that something
> like OER could be transformative in so many places around the world in need
> of high quality, customizable, educational resources. ****
>
>  As I’ve had the opportunity to participate in the OER movement over the
> past 4.5 years, I’ve been tremendously impressed by how many resources
> actually are available.  So many people -teachers, professors, students,
> educators, volunteers, and lifelong learners- have spent time, energy, and
> their own resources to contribute to the educational commons, to share
> resources freely and openly.  We have seen how OER has become a global
> movement and become part of policy conversations and classroom activities
> alike.  As these projects have proliferated, so too has the need to see
> what activities are going on in various places and in different languages,
> and to see how these contributions are interconnected.****
>
>
> Our conversation this week will explore the idea of a global OER map as a
> possible answer to these needs.  Could such a map help determine which OER
> resources are available in Arabic or Kiswahili?  Could one look up the
> pipeline of OER activities – from the classroom implementation to the
> national policy level – that are taking place in a particular country?  And
> how do we make such a resource easy to find and use not just for our own
> OER community, but for anyone interested in OER?****
>
>
> I’m going back to Sri Lanka next month for a short vacation.  In the
> planning process, I can’t help but think about that classroom, and how
> helpful those resources would have been.  That particular classroom isn’t
> there anymore, but we all know of a classroom somewhere where OER could be
> helpful.****
>
> I look forward to our conversation and sincerely hope that many will
> participate.  Many thanks to Susan D’Antoni for leading this effort – this
> will be an exciting and engaging three weeks!****
>
>
> All the best,****
>
> Kathy****
>
>
> Kathy A. Nicholson****
>
> Associate Program Officer, Education****
>
> The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
>
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