Evaluating and Using Open Source Content
Over the past ten years I have witnessed the growth of high quality open source course content beginning with MIT OpenCourseWare to a wide range of resources that now we have a continuum of usable high quality content.
I like to categorize open source content into two basic groups:
1) Complete content modules such as lecture videos or web-based lecture content that I can link to and use as needed (of course with author attribution).
2) Content that I can download and mash up into another usable form.
In my ten years of experience as an instructional designer on both two and four-year college campuses, I have observed that it was much easier to convince community college faculty to consider open source content. This refreshing and common sense approach to teaching and course design has led to a much higher level of innovation in community college online courses. I have not had the same success when trying to convince four-year faculty that this content has value and could be a great addition to their online teaching.
With the recent Educause Horizon Report and their inclusion of Open Content as one of the things in the near term we should consider adopting. I have decided to put a little more effort into the integration of open content into some of my core designs.
One of the things that I believe could be a hurdle in the adoption of open content is the ability of faculty to evaluate this content and understand how and where to apply this material in their own teaching. What I hope to do is develop a simple model for evaluating and applying open content.
Step 1
Does the open content fit with your subject matter?
1) Will the content support and align with the course and unit learning outcomes?
2) How will these outcomes be assessed?
3) Is the content compatible with the course assessment scheme?
Step 2
Identify and harvest potential content that you believe could be useful in your own teaching. This could range from something as simple as web-based resources to complete lecture videos.
Some simple initial questions about the content:
1) What format is the content (video, audio, websites)?
2) Does the content need be converted or can it be used as is?
3) Will Creative Commons License allow for conversion or mash up?
This is not as complex a process as it seems. All it takes is the desire to integrate some new ideas and concepts into your course.
If you find open content that is of high quality and that will excite the students about learning, you may want to consider making some small changes to course learning outcomes. These small changes will allow you to accommodate the new content and the learning concepts supported by the content. This common sense give and take and a willingness to revisit learning objectives is what makes the use of this content possible.
Open Content Resources
