Page:COLT - A Proposed Center for Teaching and Learning.pdf/1




 * Pete Forsyth
 * Wiki Strategies
 * +1 503-383-9454
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 * Dr. Robert E. Cummings
 * University of Mississippi
 * PO Box 1848
 * University, MS 38677-1848 USA
 * +1 662 915 1989
 * 

ABSTRACT
The Center for Open Learning and Teaching (COLT) is a proposed interdisciplinary research consortium and network with a physical center at the University of Mississippi supporting the integration of effective Internet-based learning practices into education.

Categories and Subject Descriptors
K.3.1 [Computers and Education]: General, Computer uses in Education.

General Terms
Human Factors.

Keywords
Open Educational Resources, Open Educational Practices, Open Education, Wikipedia, Centers for Teaching and Learning, Higher Education.

1. INTRODUCTION
Educators and education institutions are increasingly looking to engage with Open Educational Resources (OER), and with practices based on participation in online learning communities like Wikipedia, as they update their teaching practices. There is great potential in these realms, but there is a scarcity of useful, formal research and case studies to inform innovation and experimentation. COLT aims to meet this need with two complementary components: (1) a global interdisciplinary consortium sponsoring formal research into understanding and applying OER in higher education, and (2) a teaching and learning center fostering innovative education practices with OER.

2.1 Open Educational Resources (OER)
Open Educational Resources are defined by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, an early and consistent supporter of OER research, as "high-quality, openly licensed, online educational materials that offer an extraordinary opportunity for people everywhere to share, use, and reuse knowledge". Resources include course modules, open source textbooks, podcasts, online courses, and journals. They are often produced, stored, and recombined through sites purposed for the classroom, like Connexions and WikiEducator.

2.2 Open Educational Practices (OEP)
Grainne C. Conole defines Open Educational Practices as "a set of activities and support around the creation, use and repurposing of Open Educational Resources (OERs)". Open Educational Practices often involve introducing students to online peer production communities that are independent of formal education environments, on sites like Wikipedia, YouTube, or Open Street MapOpenStreetMap [sic]. These collaborative environments offer rich content and practices well suited for teaching and learning.

3. STRUCTURE
The COLT structure will focus on relevant research in a global network, welcoming research teams from around the world to support one another's work. The global research network's structure is heavily based on the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research. COLT will also focus on active open teaching and learning projects within the Center at the University of Mississippi.

3.1 Phase I: Research Network
COLT will further understanding of the benefits of OER and OEP by sponsoring an interdisciplinary research network. Teams of researchers worldwide will apply to participate in a three-year cohort, in which they will work with other teams to refine research questions, identify and execute research methods, and produce results suitable for formal peer review. COLT will coordinate semi-annual meetings for each cohort, and facilitate peer review and publication of the findings of each team; a university press with expertise in digital culture will publish the peer-reviewed results. Each year a new cohort will begin its work with a focus on a specific aspect of moving from Open Educational Resources to Open Educational Practices. We anticipate that the first cohort will focus on the use of teaching with Wikipedia in higher education, as recently begun with the Wikimedia Foundation's Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative.

3.2 Phase II: Learning and Teaching Center
After the establishment of the research network, the physical Center at the University of Mississippi will begin its work. Within the Center teams of tenure-stream faculty (with joint appointments in a traditional academic department and in COLT) will sponsor OER projects that replicate traditional courses, in partnership with Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). WikiSym '11, Oct 03-05 2011, Mountain View, CA, USA ACM 978-1-4503-0909-7/11/10.

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