Sep 15, 2007

Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education;

The development of free-to-use open educational resources (OER) has generated a dynamic field of widespread interest and study regarding methods for creating and sustaining OER. To help foster a thriving OER movement with potential for knowledge-sharing across program, organizational and national boundaries, the Institute for Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), developed and conducted case study research programs in collaboration with six OER projects from around the world. Embodying a range of challenges and opportunities among a diverse set of OER projects, the case studies intended to track, analyze and share key developments in the creation, use and reuse of OER. The specific cases include: CurriculumNet, Curriki, Free High School Science Texts (FHSST), Training Commons, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), and Teachers' Domain.

May 18, 2004

National Coalition Against Censorship;

For democracy to flourish, citizens need free and open access to ideas. In today's digital age, this means access to information and ideas online. In the face of dramatic consolidation in the media industry and new laws that increase its control over intellectual products, the emerging concept of the information commons offers new ways for producing and sharing information, creative works, and democratic discussion. The fifth in FEPP's series of detailed policy reports, The Information Commons is the first comprehensive, easy-to-read summary of a new movement that offers exciting alternatives to today's increasing restrictions on access to information, scholarly research, and other resources so necessary for democracy.Authored by former American Library Association President Nancy Kranich, the report gives an overview of the problem of enclosure, explains how theories of the commons have been adapted to the information age, and describes dozens of flourishing information communities, ranging from Linux designers to the Open Video Project, from a knitting commons to the OYEZ Supreme Court Multimedia Archives.

Jun 08, 2006

MIT OpenCourseWare;

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a large-scale, web-based electronic publishing initiative, accessible on the Internet at ocw.mit.edu. Through OCW, MIT makes its core teaching materials -- lecture notes, problem sets, syllabi, reading lists, simulations, etc. -- openly available for non-commercial educational purposes. OCW publishes those materials in standards-based formats for anyone with access to the Internet. OCW has a dual mission: * To provide free access to virtually all MIT course materials for educators, students, and individual learners around the world.* To extend the reach and impact of MIT OCW and the opencourseware concept.Beginning in 2002, MIT OpenCourseWare has published 1,259 of MIT's approximately 1,800 courses to date. In addition, OCW has published 133 updated versions of previously published courses. MIT OpenCourseWare expects to have published 1,800 courses by 2008, and beyond that milestone will continue to update courses as an ongoing activity of the Institute.Major findings* Access: Online access to MIT OpenCourseWare content continues to grow dramatically on ocw.mit.edu and on translation sites, with currently more than 1 million monthly visits to OCW content, and a 56% annual increase in visits.* Use: The OCW site is being used by educators, students and self learners to successfully accomplish a wide range of educational objectives; and visitors are widely satisfied with the breadth, depth and quality of OCW content.* Impact: Individual educators and learners report high levels of current impact on their learning goals, and expectations for even higher impact in the future; institutions worldwide are both using MIT OpenCourseWare materials and publishing their own materials openly -- with more than 2,000 courses representing over 50 institutions currently available online.

Sep 01, 2006

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Project;

One major and recurrent theme of the scholarly communication column is the question, What can librarians do to help bring about fundamental changes in the system of scholarly communication? This question is at the heart of both the ACRL Scholarly Communications Initiative (1) and the Scholarly Communications Toolkit.(2) To answer this question, several principles of reform have emerged:(3) * the broadest possible access to published research; * increased control by scholars and the academy over publishing; * fair and reasonable prices for scholarly information; * open access to scholarship; * innovations in publishing that reduce distribution costs, speed delivery, and extend access to scholarly research; * quality assurance in publishing through peer review; * fair use of copyrighted information for education and research purposes; and * preservation of scholarly information for long-term future use. Though different strategies for achieving reform have been identified, one that appears most frequently is that of building partnerships to help bring about change. One central ACRL document indicates that "the purpose of the ACRL scholarly communications initiative is to work in partnership with other library and higher education organizations to encourage reform in the system of scholarly communications and to broaden the engagement of academic libraries in scholarly communications issues." (4) The publishing and funding models of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) do precisely that, both by a) promoting the goals, principles, and methods identified above, and b) presenting the kind of enterprise that warrants "engagement" and support from academic libraries. * Please see actual article for references.

Sep 01, 2003

Center for Studies in Higher Education;

As the large lecture course continues to be a component of many college programs, the potential of online technology to enhance such courses remains a question for researchers. To what extent can such technology result in saving financial resources and teaching time? How do students attending lectures respond to online course components? Does such technology have a noticeable impact on student performance and remote learning? In a study conducted at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, authors Diane Harley, Jonathan Henke, and Michael W. Maher compared traditional and technology-enhanced versions, including video lectures streamed over the internet, of an undergraduate chemistry course over a two-year span. In their findings, the authors indicate significant potential savings of money and teaching time after the second year as well as positive student attitudes towards the technology. Although the technology-enhanced version of the course did not result in any noticeable differences in student performance, the authors conclude that the benefits of online technology for large lectures remain substantial, particularly in providing stressed students with flexibility in their use of time and space, including viewing lectures remotely while preparing for exams. With respect to fully realizing significant institutional cost-savings, however, more faculty members would need to share and reuse course materials than is currently the case.

Apr 01, 2007

Center for Studies in Higher Education;

Almost every American research university and library has made significant investments in digitizing its intellectual and cultural resources and making them publicly available. There is, however, little empirical data about how these resources are actually used or who is using them (Harley, 2007). Those who fund and develop digital resources have identified the general lack of knowledge about the level and quality of their use in educational settings as pressing concerns. As part of a larger investigation into use and users of digital resources (Harley et al., 2006), 1 we conducted an experimental analysis of two commonly-used methods for exploring the use of university-based Web-based resources: transaction log analysis (TLA) and online site surveys. In this article, we first provide an overview of these two methods, including their key challenges and limitations. We then describe an implementation of TLA and online surveys in combination on two local sites and the results of that test, including an exploration of the surveys' response rates and bias. From that test, we draw conclusions about the utility of these two methods and the particular analytic methods that may provide the most valuable and efficient results.

Apr 01, 2006

Center for Studies in Higher Education;

A "build it and they will come" approach to many university digitization initiatives has precluded systematic investigations of the demand for these resources. Those who fund and develop digital resources have identified the general lack of knowledge about the level and quality of their use in educational settings as pressing concerns. This full report describes our research and the complete results of a large 2-year study. The purpose of our research was (1) to map the universe of digital resources available to a subset of undergraduate educators in the humanities and social sciences, and (2) to investigate how and if available digital resources are actually being used in undergraduate teaching environments. We employed multiple methods, including surveys and focus groups. Our definition of digital resources was intentionally broad and included rich media objects (e.g., maps, video, images, etc.) as well as text.

May 01, 2008

Center for Studies in Higher Education;

The Center for Studies in Higher Education, with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is conducting research to understand the needs and desires of faculty for inprogress scholarly communication (i.e., forms of communication employed as research is being executed) as well as archival publication. In the interest of developing a deeper understanding of how and why scholars do what they do to advance their fields, as well as their careers, our approach focuses in fine-grained analyses of faculty values and behaviors throughout the scholarly communication lifecycle, including sharing, collaborating, publishing, and engaging with the public. Well into our second year, we have posted a draft interim report describing some of our early results and impressions ased on the responses of more than 150 interviewees in the fields of astrophysics, archaeology, biology, economics, history, music, and political science.Our work to date has confirmed the important impact of disciplinary culture and tradition on many scholarly communication habits. These traditions may override the perceived "opportunities" afforded by new technologies, including those falling into the Web 2.0 category. As we have listened to our diverse informants, as well as followed closely the prognostications about the likely future of scholarly communication, we note that it is absolutely imperative to be precise about terms. That includes being clear about what is meant by "open access" publishing (i.e., using preprint or postprint servers for scholarship published in prestigious outlets versus publishing in new, untested open access journals, or the more casual individual posting of working papers, blogs, and other non-peer-reviewed work). Our research suggests that enthusiasm for technology development and adoption should not be conflated with the hard reality of tenure and promotion requirements (including the needs and goals of final archival publication) in highly competitive professional environments.