Open Educational Resources provide instructors with an innovative way to conceptualise courses. The philosophy behind it is that courseware development becomes a distributed and a split 3-phased approach. This means that the development of content can be done by anyone, anywhere and at any point in time, thus becoming the first phase of the process. The instructor involved in the use of OERs has practically no control over this phase but has access to a range of tools than can give him access to content having been developed in that phase. A simple example would be to use a search engine to look for related content or to access OER repositories.
The other phase would be to build-up the course from the content available manually or through the help of courseware building tools. The third phase would be the delivery and dissemination of the course content in a face-to-face classroom or via an Elearning platform. The instructor might have control on both phase 2 and 3 or on only one of them. This approach being an innovative way in itself, is set however to be a “disruptive process” in well established traditional educational systems. Issues of quality in educational processes normally arises in terms of
The other phase would be to build-up the course from the content available manually or through the help of courseware building tools. The third phase would be the delivery and dissemination of the course content in a face-to-face classroom or via an Elearning platform. The instructor might have control on both phase 2 and 3 or on only one of them. This approach being an innovative way in itself, is set however to be a “disruptive process” in well established traditional educational systems. Issues of quality in educational processes normally arises in terms of
- The content
- The pedagogical approach used
- The delivery of the course as per established rules
- Students’ satisfaction and performance
The issue of quality assurance (QA) has increasingly become a priority for Higher Education institutions. As universities compete to attract more students, but also to attract financing through various projects, quality represents one of the main criteria for ensuring a significant share of the educational market (Abdous 2009, p. 281). Guaranteeing quality, however, is not always an easy process, first and foremost because the very concept of "quality" is disputed and many different, contextual definitions are used (Mihai 2009).
The main barrier to such an innovative way to reconceptualise the educational process in traditional universities are the quality assurance procedures that need to be 'strictly' followed. In a traditional lecture, quality is believed to be maintained if the lecturer spends 3 hours in the classroom irrespective of what he does or not. This is proved by the log book in which he signs. In another context, quality is maintained if students' results follow the normal distribution and if academic/administrative records related to the course are duly kept. Furthermore, quality is considered maintained if feedback forms are given, at the end of the semester, to students who fill in most of the time in a subjective way.
This new innovative way to learn is being divided into 3-phased approach so as to improve the quality of the students' works, however, for my point of view; I believed that to establised a good quality, not only regular check up and evaluation must be done but also asking for the opinon of the students about the content. By doing so, this will give a sence of belonging and responsibility to those students as if they point of view is important and count.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the point that students should also be given a chance to express their views.This will make them feel more at ease with that concept and will thus enjoy this new way of learning.
i do agree with what Urvashi said but in order to encourage participation the lecturers should not only give lectures of 3 hours but he/she can give students a clue regarding the kind of response that they want. They can also give students a minute to write their thoughts before anyone is called upon and break. Many students who are new to studying a discipline often have trouble seeing the structure to a lecture. One of the easiest ways to provide structure is to provide an outline that contains only the headings and subheadings with spaces in between students into small groups to discuss the answer, and then bring them back to the whole group. lecturers can also provide a concept map of your lecture. Providing a concept map facilitates learning, increases motivation and attention during the lecture.
ReplyDeleteFrom my perspective, Quality assurance needs to be a continuous activity and student feedback on their own learning so that to help them becoming better learners and building up the required competencies.
ReplyDeletei find the opinion of Urvashi interesting that is the 'freedom of expression'.I also agree with Yasine on the point that Team work will maintain the time factor and it will keep the rapidness of the task by time to time in order to get a proper solution and surely will increase ownership with wider communication.
From my perspective, Quality assurance needs to be a continuous activity and student feedback on their own learning so that to help them becoming better learners and building up the required competencies.
ReplyDeletei find the opinion of Urvashi interesting that is the 'freedom of expression'.I also agree with Yasine on the point that Team work will maintain the time factor and it will keep the rapidness of the task by time to time in order to get a proper solution and surely will increase ownership with wider communication.
Open Educational Resources is a platform which allows courses to be presented in an innovative way. Developing materials of the course is done through three phases which are, firstly, development of the content of the course, secondly, building-up of the course from the content available, and thirdly, delivery and dissemination of the course content. Since it is different from the traditional educational systems, the new system was called in question, in regard to the quality of the course. The issues arising concerning the content of the course should be dealt with probably by controlling the first phase, that is, development of content, which can normally be done by anyone. Restricting this phase to lectures and professionals only might be a solution. The rest of the issues concerning quality of the OER course can be examined by carrying out sampling tests in various Higher Education institutions for a given period of time. The results can then be compared with those of a traditional education system. The effectiveness and efficiency of the pedagogical approach used would be clear from the performance and satisfaction of the students. Moreover, the students should be incorporated further in the system by giving them the opportunity to express their queries and issues freely and at any time during their academic year, and taking immediate actions wherever possible in their benefit. Students’ performance should not only be evaluated academically, but their personalities as well should be developed to the fullest, and at the same time, this will increase satisfaction of the students in the course followed and the system as a whole. Even if the results of students are analysed and compared, emphasis should be placed on the individual progress made by each student.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the established rules during delivery of the course, in my opinion, a solution would be to integrate part of the traditional educational system into the new one. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to change the traditional educational system because it has proved to be successful for a very long time. Educational institutions are reluctant to change the system due to fear of deteriorated results. It is clear that the quality of education is maintained when the lecturer effectively delivers the right pieces of information to students at the right time, be it the traditional system or the new OER one. Institutions need to realise that signing the log book might be a form of discipline, but it does not necessarily involve quality assurance. Moreover, it is not always easy for students to listen actively for three consecutive hours, that is, even if lecturers deliver information for three hours, most students are no longer concentrated after two hours. A means to guarantee quality education might be to reduce the hours of lecture.
i agree with yasineauckbarally on the fact that lecturers should not only give three hours lectures, but should find better ways of interacting with students so that the latter understand better whatever is being delivered by lecturers, and at the same time, lectures get feedback from students on whether information is being conveyed effectively. This might be a better way of ensuring quality education.
ReplyDeleteThe view pointed out by Gary is an interesting one in that students must be given the chance to express their feelings. However, to be more concrete the point listed in the article stating that students must be given feedback forms to fill in is debatable. This is because feedback forms do not really reflect the quality of teaching as students might be filling such forms because they are told to or because it is imosed on them. If the students are required to write in their name in the paper and if the questionnaire contains questions like:"THE TUTOR'S ABILITY TO DELIVER KNOWLEDGE" or "PUNCTUALITY OF THETEACHER IN CLASS"; then in this case the student might be writing things which are not really the caes so as to avoid any problems between his teacher and him. So we can conclude that each and every way of ensuring quality in education is backed by both advantages and disadvantages.
ReplyDeletefrom my point of view quality assurance procedures need to be strictly followed.i do agree with sreshta35 that lecturers should find better ways of interaction with students because it is the interaction that will help the students to understand the topic well.
ReplyDeleteI believe that such way of learning must be carried and assessed on a continual basis; the instructor has to assure that the content of his course, his pedagogical approach and the delivery meet with the student satisfaction and performance.
ReplyDeleteI find the innovative method of instructing very helpful. When students would develop the content by themselves or other means would give the instructor much time to concentrate on the other two stages and would also help the students in becoming mature independent learners. Also this would allow the students to have a background on the subjects that will be discussed in the third phase. Meeting the instructor face to face for the delivery would also give the students space to discuss their queries and questions the instructors about the subjects. They can also give their feedbacks at the same time, instead of waiting at the end of the semester to do so as a compelling thing to do. This would at the same time merge the traditional way of lecturing with the innovative way. It would be quite difficult for the students to adapt themselves if we change their way of learning instantly.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view,i found that this new concept of introducing OER is indeed an innovative way to deliver courses in Higher Educational Institutions. This system covers 3 phases. However,i think that the third phase need to be taken into consideration since it is the most critical phase. The third phase states that instructors can have control on the way content is being delivered either via e-learning platform or face to face classroom. So,instructors need to make sure that every students have grasp information well to the method being adopted by applying good pedagogical approach towards the students and mutual understanding. As to the way quality insurance is maintained in traditional system ,i don't agree with the fact that lecturers spend 3 hours in classroom irrespective of what he does or not and log on their presence.This is not a proper way to ensure that lecturers have done their part of work effectively during this 3 hours. In fact,there should be feedback from all students after each class sessions or during the whole academic year to make sure that their expectations are really met. Moreover,students should be given the opportunity to express their opinions freely regarding the method the lecturers are adopted in class to deliver contents.Thus,this will facilitate the process of a good quality education.
ReplyDeleteFor students of higher education, this initiative of quality assurance (QA) is very interesting and encouraging. This initiative will not only attract more students and financing through various projects but it will also encourage existing students in performing better in their studies. Moreover, they will be more motivated and without any least hesitation, they will sit in class for three hours as they will be well aware that it is worth attending the classes.
ReplyDeleteStudents should be allowed to give their feedback and not just on paper. According to me, classes need to be monitored from time to time to make sure everything is running smoothly in the 3 hour lecture. Quality does not depend simply on the amount of time a class is being held but how the time is being managed so that students and lecturers alike may find satisfaction in their respective duties.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gary that regular check up and evaluation will provide a sense of belonging to students. This will not only make them feel that their point of view is important but they will also be more interested in attending classes.
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