While on my morning run in the Georgia rain today, I got thinking about how innovations in distance education are realized. I wondered about the many and various types of resources available to support instructors in creating courses. Creating courses is time consuming and challenging. I got thinking about Deni's 2nd post where she discussed the University of Georgia's Learning Repository.
Deni discussed how this repository allows Georgia University instructors to multimedia content lessons and save them in the repository for other instructors to use. This is certainly a time-saving resource very much welcomed by over-tasked online instructors!
So, after returning home from my run, I sat down at my desktop and did some searching. I wanted to learn more about my own Alma mater (the University of West Georgia) and what other innovative resources might be available to online instructors.
I opened up my WebCT, went to my Online Learning at UWG page and opened Faculty Resources. I opened the link to the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC).
This repository provides free resources through (OER), Open Educational Resource.
As well as the free resources available, NROC also offers memberships (for a fee) to institutions. For $3000 - $100,000 annual fee, online teachers can have access to custom content (learning object), webinars, white papers, iPod downloadable versions of course content, participation in content development projects and campus ownership of collaboratively developed content.
(The fees seem a bit steep, but could be worth the cost, depending on the budget and needs of the individual institutions).
I would be curious to know how many institutions have paid memberships and how satisfied they are with NROC. Georgia's Learning Repository is free, but I wonder whether the NROC resources (e.g. the podcasts), would be cost effective for the University of Georgia's system to consider?
Thank you for reading,
Diane (almost dry...)
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Hi Diane,
ReplyDeleteI think it would be interesting to see how many instructors use other instructor's material. The few professors that I have been able to show these sites to, still want to use their own material even if they have to build it from scratch. Any thoughts? Kathy
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI can only speak to K-12 teachers since that has been my experience.
I refer to the old adage: Why reinvent the wheel? And why not share the wealth? However,I think that the concept of open sharing among colleagues will not be readily accepted in our culture. Politics, ego and two defined social categories of winners or losers predominate. This has much to do with human biology and behavior. And although we've seen a move toward humans attempting to elevate themselves to a higher plane with open source computer technology and software, I hesitate to predict that everyone will come on board.
Diane
It is very well put together. Helped me to gather my thoughts, helped me to put it in my own words. Thanks alot!!
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