1. Rethinking How & Where Digital
Knowledge is Stored, Shared,
Tagged and Licensed in the 21st
Century: New Role for Librarians?
Cable Green
eLearning Director
2. “We are in the midst of a technological,
economic, and organizational
transformation that allows us to
negotiate the terms of freedom,
justice, and productivity in the
information society”
Yochai Benkler
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonewolf23/1570632701/
3. Yes… We Really are Networked…
seamless connection of
people, resources &
knowledge
digitization of content
mobile, personal
global platform for
collaboration
outsourcing
Anyone notice our
global economy?
4. quot;According to an IBM study, by
2010, the amount of digital
information in the world will
double every 11 hours.quot;
5. Librarians get public and
educational data out into the
open where we can
visualize it, manipulate it,
and learn with it.
6. And we can make
all of our
“digital stuff”
available to
all people…
and most of it
will get used...
by someone.
7. “Long Tail” of Publishing
$
long tail
Harry Hyper-geometric
Potter partial differential
equations
8. Librarians are information
literacy experts who will
help us find the “good stuff.”
And information management
gurus – how do we store,
find, search?
9. In a flat world, the
artists, the
synthesizers of
ideas will rule.
And they will use
web 2.0 software
standards, and
practices to
distribute their
ideas.
10. Librarians are, and always
have been, synthesizers of
instructional resource
solutions.
11. We All Get to Participate
http://wiki.elearning.ubc.ca/ComingApart
14. Think Big Crazy Ideas….
We could share all of our instructional digital
resources including: courses, textbooks and
library resources with the world… and, more
important, use global digital materials.
We could use common integrated library
systems, support services, and a common set
of library databases.
We could design courses that enable and
encourage students to contribute, change,
remix course content.
15. “Welcome back to humanity. Some
technologies take us away from ourselves
and others bring us back. Web 2.0 is
helping us rediscover our naturally
cooperative, creative, and gregarious
nature.
Don't think, therefore, of Web 2.0 as
something foreign or hyped-up or all about
geeks; Web 2.0 is the rebirth of teaching
and learning that fits what we are as a
species.”
Why is Web 2.0 Important to Higher Education?
21. Why is “Open” Important?
Because when we cooperate and share, we
all win – exponentially.
Reedʼs Law:Networks grow [in value]
exponentially by the number of nodes.
It’s a social justice issue: everyone has
the right to access global knowledge.
Institute for the Future whitepaper: Technologies of Cooperation
22. Definition of OER
Digitized
materials, offered
freely and openly for
educators, students, to use
and re-use for teaching,
learning and research.
23. The Old Economics
Print,
warehouse,
and ship a
new book for
every student
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/2780164461/
24. The New Economics
Upload one copy,
and everyone uses
it simultaneously
Making copies,
storage, distribution
of digital stuff =
“Free”
http://cnx.org/content/col10522/latest/
26. Textbook 2.0
modular
authored by community
continuously updated
personalized on
assembly
never out-of-print
published on demand
low cost
ex: 600-page textbook for
$32, not $132
27. (a few) Open Content Repositories
OpenLearn (UK) - DEMO
OCW – MIT (MIT HS)
China Open Resources for Education has
translated 109 MIT OCW courses into Simplified
Chinese.
Rice Connexions
29. Why do we Need Open Textbooks?
2005 GAO report: College textbook
prices have risen at twice the rate
of annual inflation over the last two
decades
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05806.pdf
30. Why do we Need Open Textbooks?
The College Board reported that for
the 2007 through 2008 academic
years each student spent an
estimated $805 to $1,229 on
college books and supplies…
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/trends/trends_pricing_07.pdf
31. Why do we Need Open Textbooks?
The gross margin on new college
textbooks is currently 22.7
percent according to the National
Association of College Stores.
Products available in college stores are sold with
a margin, as in any retail operation. Margin is the
difference between cost and retail price, reflecting
work required to bring products to market.
http://www.nacs.org/public/research/margins.asp
35. Community College Consortium
for Open Educational Resources
Joint effort to develop and use open
educational resources and open textbooks
in community college courses
cccoer.wordpress.com
36. Community College
Open Textbook Project Goal
Identify, organize, and support the production and use
of high quality, accessible and culturally relevant Open
Textbooks for community college students
Reduce the
cost of
textbooks!
37. Why so urgent?
Consider One High
Enrollment Course:
English Composition I
37,226 enrollments / year
X $100 textbook
= $3.7 Million + (cost to
students)
What if we looked at 100, 200,
300 high enrollment courses?
http://rtnl.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/thinker21.jpg
38. Challenges
Faculty and student
resistance to
change
Limited availability
of high quality and
comprehensive
learning materials
in some disciplines
Inadequate access
to high-speed
Internet by
students
39. Challenges
Compliance with
accessibility
requirements
Printing and
computer lab
demands on
campus
by students
Coordination with
campus bookstores
40. Open Textbook Adoption
Locate open textbooks for consideration
Evaluate each textbook for selection
Customize, remix, and
organize selected
textbook
Disseminate in print
and digital formats
http://emharrington.com/rex/images/adoptadog/Adopt_Me.jpg
41. Locate Open Textbooks
for Consideration
MERLOT
Connexions
Wikibooks
OER Commons
Global Text Project
http://rtnl.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/thinker21.jpg
42. Evaluate Each Textbook
Quality
Accessibility
Cultural relevance
Currency
Authority of Source
Reading level
Depth and scope
Quality and
Accuracy
Articulation
47. Librarians can help find and
weave open textbooks into
courses … working with
faculty (resource based
instructional design, yes?)
48. 13 (b) Faculty and staff members consider the
least costly practices in assigning course
materials, such as adopting the least expensive
edition available, adopting free, open textbooks
when available, and working with college
librarians to put together collections of free
online web and library resources, when
educational content is comparable as
determined by the faculty
49. Bookstores Future Role?
Bookstores are perfectly positioned to be the
College’s clearinghouse for printed open
educational resources.
print-on-demand open textbooks & OER course
packs
Students want printed options (Course
Correction)
Have location and are tightly networked into
IT and fiscal campus operations.
e.g., students can use fin aid @ bookstores 49
50. Are there really Open
Educational
Resources (e.g.,
Open Textbooks) on
the web?
50
51. Librarians are experts in
melding open educational
resources with traditional
publisher copyrighted
resources.
52. Hey Higher Ed!
We must get rid of our “not invented
here” attitude regarding others’ content
move to: quot;proudly borrowed from therequot;
Content is not a strategic advantage
Nor can we (or our students) afford it
53. Future of Openness in Education
“As uncomfortable a proposition as this
new openness may be for some, I
believe it is the future of higher
education.”
In web 2.0, everything is public
& higher education needs to
get used to it.
David Wiley 2006. Open source, openness, and higher education.
54. What Happens if we
Don’t Change?
Functional Possibilities
Higher Education
Time
55. How is the fiscal health
of your local newspaper?
55
57. Near Term Opportunity
27 (iv) Sharing library resources including but not limited
to: Copyrighted physical and e-books, and consolidated
electronic journals and research database licensing and
other models;
30 (v) Methods and open licensing options for effectively
sharing digital content including but not limited to: Open
courseware, open textbooks, open journals, and open
learning objects;
Use worksheetsLocate and categorize suitable open contentTopics by top courses that represent 80% of enrollmentsReading levelDepth and scope EvaluateQualityAccessibilityCultural relevanceCurrencyAuthorityArticulationCustomize, Remix, and OrganizeInteroperabilityAccessibilityLicense typeCultural relevanceDisseminate in print and digital formats Student (DIY) for production of open textbookCampus bookstore and/or printshop services for production of open textbookProprietary services