[Oer-community] Comments on a comment

Thu Nov 15 06:00:02 MST 2012

Agreed on both of your points, such as Helens one 
on the research question, and the one by 
Balasubramanian on educating the learners.

Distance learning, online learning, lifelong 
learning, or any other metaphors (in relation to 
learning technologies that are required to fill 
the gap of distance between the learner and the 
educator) are no more in the experimental stage. 
However, there are cases that should perform 
better even after years of efforts. Perhaps, this 
is due to the lack of knowledge from the Master 
(educator, or even the policy initiator), not the 
technology. Technology is a means that even 
required in a F2F learning situation. With the 
available technology, distance is not a problem 
any more. One can learn when they want, where 
they want and how they want. In such case to 
initiate a new dialogue along this route, mapping 
is essential, as a kick start in case of any 
project or initiative. The day is coming when 
learners will dominate the learning sequences, 
whether they will attend physically or remotely in a learning session.

But, as observed from previous postings, the 
mapping need to be structured and integrated 
(considering region, socio-economy, culture, 
policy, and other localized factors such as 
awareness, funding, or even transparency in 
performing the task monitoring or even financial 
aspects). There could be mis-information or 
mis-interpretation, and need to be checked and 
rechecked before generalizing the case.

Seems the communications are getting on its way 
leading to a successful outcome.

Thanking you,
Hakik

Hakikur Rahman
Post Doc Researcher, University of Minho, Portugal.
(former Director, Computer Division, Bangladesh Open University.)

At 11:37 15-11-2012, Dr.N.BALASUBRAMANIAN Narayanaswamy wrote:

>Dear Colleagues
>
>Greetings.  I wish to comment on the lines of 
>Helen ie "But I am reminded of a comment made 
>some years ago in the distance learning 
>community, it was this: if technology is the 
>answer what is the question? Following on from 
>this:  if mapping OERs is the answer
>what is the educational problem we are trying to address?" as follows:
>
>Technology cannot supplant the teacher.  But it 
>can only supplement the teacher. Technology is a 
>servant,  teacher is the master. Technology is a 
>tool in the hands of the teacher.  Unless the 
>master knows how to handle the servant, the 
>latter will take over the former.  In the same 
>way, unless the teacher knows how to handle the 
>modern technology, one day orther he will be 
>replaced by the technology.  Hence, I am very 
>sure that we have many things to discuss in the present context.
>
>Best wishes
>
>Dr.N.BALASUBRAMANIAN,
>Prof. and Head,
>Dept. of Education,
>Bharathiar University,
>Coimbatore 641 046,
>Tamil Nadu,
>India.
>Ph:914222428210 (Off.)
>914222423757 (Res.)
>Mobile:+91 9443703756
>
>--- On Thu, 15/11/12, Roy Williams <Roy.Williams at port.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>From: Roy Williams <Roy.Williams at port.ac.uk>
>Subject: Re: [Oer-community] A reflection
>To: "oer-community" <oer-community at athabascau.ca>
>Date: Thursday, 15 November, 2012, 10:31 AM
>
>Helen, I love the question: "if we know 
>technology is the answer, do we know what the question is?"
>
>Just to throw a pebble into the pool ...
>
>If we are thinking about mapping, we might think 
>about what we are mapping 'against':
>geographical location of where one of the 
>authors works, sleeps, pays their taxes [if applicable], etc)
>open source categories ( e.g. 'free', as in 'beer', etc)
>open learning (open as in flexible, affordances, emergence, etc)
>In the case of option 3, it might be useful to 
>look at an example of 3D mapping of open 
>learning, per se, in the recently published 
><http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1267>Footprints 
>of Emergence, in IRRODL, where you can pick and 
>choose amongst the affordances, and tagsonomise to taste.
>
>Roy
>
> >>> Jane Ross <source21 at telus.net> 14/11/2012 22:19 >>>
>
>Yours is an interesting observation Helen. Amazing the volume of exchange on
>the subject of OER mapping...
>
>Jane Ross, PhD. President
>Association for Life-wide Living (ALL) of Alberta
>T: 780/672-9315
>E: source21 at telus.net
>
>Inspiring creativity for health through our landscape, our communities and
>the arts.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Lentell, Helen M.
>Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 2:56 PM
>To: oer-community
>Subject: Re: [Oer-community] A reflection
>
>Dear Colleagues
>
>Interesting conversation. But I am reminded of a comment made some years ago
>in the distance learning community, it was this: if technology is the answer
>what is the question? Following on from this:  if mapping OERs is the answer
>what is the educational problem we are trying to address?
>
>Best wishes
>
>Helen
>
>Helen Lentell
>University Fellow in Distance Learning
>Centre for Labour Market Studies
>Ken Edwards Building
>University Road
>Leicester LE1 7RH
>UK
>
>helen.lentell at le.ac.uk
>________________________________________
>From: oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca
>[oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca] On Behalf Of Susan D'Antoni
>[susandantoni at gmail.com]
>Sent: 14 November 2012 17:10
>To: oer-community at athabascau.ca
>Subject: [Oer-community] A reflection
>
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>This has been a most energetic start to our discussion of mapping the
>landscape of OER initiatives.  To see this OER community spring into action
>again is such a pleasure after being in contact with many of you since 2005.
>
>And like our colleague, Saul Fisher, I too was at the 2002 meeting at UNESCO
>when the Term Open Educational Resources came into being and like him â€œfind
>the progress in OER over the decade "beyond my wildest hopes".
>
>Maps are "powerful representations for creating, representing and
>visualizing open knowledgeâ€ (Ale Okada) but no, there has been no decision
>taken anywhere that we will create an OER world map (Sandra Schosn concern).
>
>In the discussion so far, there have been a number of points made about the
>potential benefits of a visual map of the OER landscape – such as –
>
>*   se serve as a gateway
>*   make more initiatives visible beyond the well-known ones
>*   identify initiatives operating in different languages
>*   help find OER
>*   identify the OER community
>*   foster new collaboration and cooperative efforts
>
>But there have been some concerns expressed – such as –
>
>*   it is a bigbig task so it needs to be a simple map
>*   it needs to be self sustaining
>*   It is tempting to collect too much data
>*   it needs to be carefully structured and organized
>*   we need to define or classify initiatives
>
>The point about sustainability and the need to keep it simple are good
>points to bear in mind.  I had the privilege (because I was not trained as a
>statistician) of working at Statistics Canada, a fine statistical agency.  I
>learned a lot, but one thing that stuck with me was the extremely high cost
>of collecting information and the importance of 
>â€œessentialâ€ data, not "nice
>to have".  It truly is a temptation to want more and morre information.  But
>if we aimed to describe the global OER landscape, then the amount of
>information to begin building an OER world map might best be what we
>consider absolutely essential.  Discipline!
>
>Letâ€™s keep the two lists of pros and concerns in mind as we continue this
>train of discussion.  Then let's move on to considering what essential
>information might be for an initial mapping exercise.
>
>Lovely conversation,
>
>Susan
>
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