The unbearable lightness of blogsplace
Why can I rarely find anything that I want to use?
I wrote in my last post about the difficulty of finding a resource I want to use on the web. To summarise: when I LOOK for materials to illustrate or extend my teaching activities, I most frequently give up. The resources I find are not fit for purpose. Common problems. The topic is not covered at all. The topic is covered, but at the wrong level of detail. The topic is covered at the right level, but the medium is not suited to the message (one example of this...I want the students to picture a biological process as it changes in time, but there are no suitable simulations in OER). So much of what is Out There is an uncurated junk room.
I must be approaching OER in the wrong way.
Turn the problem on its head
Instead of planning my teaching, and looking for OER to illustrate my plan, perhaps I first need to see what is already out there, on OER? Then I can base my teaching on the availability of materials, without worrying about their quality. Teaching becomes a matter of curating the sources. Learning becomes a question of 'connecting' the sources and finding meaning in the connections. When the students can't find the meaning, there is either a gap in the state of knowledge - a genuine missing link - or a publishing gap that the students could remedy through investigation.
The missing link as a principle of learning
I talked with my colleagues about the hesitancy of students to create and share their own OER. One factor we identified was student reluctance to commit themselves. 'Who am I to publish? How do I know whether my work is a genuine contribution?' The dilemma that David White has described - between the usable and the reliable - affects our students as well. We might overcome this dilemma by addressing the missing links in our disciplines. The students can base their OER on attempts to answer 'known unknowns.' Is this feasible, for courses like Biology 101? Or even for Biology 301? I think it is. Consider this scenario. I am teaching introductory cell biology. A good question to ask: "Was there life before cells?" There are research papers on this question, to be sure - but there might be no OER. Time for the students to step up. Is it useful? (Yes, as we have found a gap in the open resources). Is it reliable? This is a question that can be answered by reflection, feedback and critique of the objects the students develop.
OER: the textbook in splace
This 'source-first' and missing link view of teaching and learning is quite old-fashioned, in a way. Once upon a time...we identified a course text book. We selected chapters 1-5, 9, 11, 15, 17, 23...the students did the questions at the end of the chapter and handed them in. The teacher helps the students to join up the chapters. With OER, we select 'chapters' from the WWW and help the students make the connection. The next step is where the difference occurs. The students are now looking for the questions that aren't asked by the sources, and they fill the gap. The questions the students identify will be adapted to their current level, and the audiences they address will be at the same level. The important thing is to label the OER the students produce so that the right audience can find them again.
Is there an edge of splace?
In theory...if all students attempt to fill all the gaps they identify, we will run out of gaps. I can see two objections to this claim. In the first place, GAPS depend on the collection of OER that each teacher, or each student, assembles. I might choose 6 sources, and the students identify 3 gaps. My colleague, with a different search strategy, chooses 6 sources as well, but 4 of her sources are different. And so the gaps will probably be different as well. The more OER we assemble...the more uncertainty we create, and the more scope for creation of new resources.