Traditional Education
If you listen to campaign ads, you will likely hear something about supporting and improving education. Traditional education in the United States is based essentially on a factory model. The first call for improvement in education in the United States came before the nation was even ratified when local puritans pushed for better literacy. Most of our founding fathers were schooled at home by their parents. The United States was not a literate society, but a privileged few did with enough money were able to afford a private education.
By the 1800’s school was available to anyone who wanted it, but it was still not mandatory. Some schools were funded by tax dollars, but most were funded privately or by charity. Quality of the schools varied greatly. Those with financial resources received more education and better quality education than those who did not. After education reform in Europe, the United States moved to a state level system of education hoping to provide equal access and equal opportunity for everyone.
The move to a unified educational system led to state funding through taxes, compulsory attendance, standardized curriculum, state trained teachers, and age segregated classrooms. Eventually, this state level control extended to textbook adoption, teacher licenser, and student assessment. The focus of American education turned to supporting the needs of the industrial society. Education became objective and convergent. Classrooms became an assembly line with little room for creativity, differentiation, and divergent thinking.
By the 1800’s school was available to anyone who wanted it, but it was still not mandatory. Some schools were funded by tax dollars, but most were funded privately or by charity. Quality of the schools varied greatly. Those with financial resources received more education and better quality education than those who did not. After education reform in Europe, the United States moved to a state level system of education hoping to provide equal access and equal opportunity for everyone.
The move to a unified educational system led to state funding through taxes, compulsory attendance, standardized curriculum, state trained teachers, and age segregated classrooms. Eventually, this state level control extended to textbook adoption, teacher licenser, and student assessment. The focus of American education turned to supporting the needs of the industrial society. Education became objective and convergent. Classrooms became an assembly line with little room for creativity, differentiation, and divergent thinking.
The Educational Divide
While education in the United States began with limited access to information and resulted in educational elites, improved access to education over the last century has not eliminated the educational divide. The current education system does not focus on the individual child. It works well only for those who have the cultural and background experiences, the parental support, the financial opportunity, and the cognitive, emotional, and social maturity to move through its assembly line.
In addition, while state and federal mandates have increased, funding to support those mandates has decreased. This results in a pay-to-play system not only for sports, but often for the arts as well. Funding for support staff such as teaching assistants, certified librarians, and interventionists have been cut and existing staff are spread thin. These programs and the personnel that fill these roles are the ones that promote creativity, differentiation, and divergent thinking.
The result is an educational divide similar to the one faced in the early history of our country. While access to education has improved, the quality of education still differs between the “haves” and the “have nots”. Families with better finances have more opportunities for the arts, cultural experiences, and private education. For example, a child wanted to join a competitive choir at her school because she wanted to major in music, but it costs over $5,000 to participate. Another child had the opportunity to travel to the nation's capital with his class, but the trip cost over $1,000 for only four days. Neither child was able to participate due to finances.
In addition, while state and federal mandates have increased, funding to support those mandates has decreased. This results in a pay-to-play system not only for sports, but often for the arts as well. Funding for support staff such as teaching assistants, certified librarians, and interventionists have been cut and existing staff are spread thin. These programs and the personnel that fill these roles are the ones that promote creativity, differentiation, and divergent thinking.
The result is an educational divide similar to the one faced in the early history of our country. While access to education has improved, the quality of education still differs between the “haves” and the “have nots”. Families with better finances have more opportunities for the arts, cultural experiences, and private education. For example, a child wanted to join a competitive choir at her school because she wanted to major in music, but it costs over $5,000 to participate. Another child had the opportunity to travel to the nation's capital with his class, but the trip cost over $1,000 for only four days. Neither child was able to participate due to finances.
The OER Solution
While a poor education is seen as an underlying reason for poverty, poverty is also an underlying reason for a poor education. So what is the solution? Many advocates now say Open Educational Resources (OER). Open Educational Resources are accessible, open licensed documents and multimedia that can be redistributed, re-purposed, revised, and remixed. They can be used for teaching, learning, research, and assessment. OERs are designed and collectively put together by experts in the field for the purpose of sharing knowledge. The term “open” is used because the materials often use creative commons or less restrictive copyrights that allow the material to be freely shared and revised.
The jury is still out on the effectiveness of OERs, but researchers are hopeful that OER materials will have a positive impact on reducing the educational divide. Researchers hypothesize that OER materials will improve student performance and satisfaction. They believe that OER materials will increase participation in both formal and informal education. They believe that OERs will financially benefit students and help at-risk students finish their studies. Most importantly, supporters of OERs hope that OER use will encourage educators to reflect on their practice.
OERs offer free access to a broad range of materials that were once reserved for the financially secure. They offer educational opportunities that were once limited by geographic region. OERs consist of course materials, textbooks, streaming media, assessments, and even full courses. For example, MIT now offers full open courses online including video, lectures, presentations, and course materials for free. Khan Academy offers free videos and interactive learning experiences in the K-12 environment. Even the Arts community has become involved offering visual arts curriculums from primary education to collegiate levels. OERs offer the opportunity for students and teachers to collaborate, express themselves creatively, differentiate instruction to meet specific needs, and encourages divergent thinking.
The jury is still out on the effectiveness of OERs, but researchers are hopeful that OER materials will have a positive impact on reducing the educational divide. Researchers hypothesize that OER materials will improve student performance and satisfaction. They believe that OER materials will increase participation in both formal and informal education. They believe that OERs will financially benefit students and help at-risk students finish their studies. Most importantly, supporters of OERs hope that OER use will encourage educators to reflect on their practice.
OERs offer free access to a broad range of materials that were once reserved for the financially secure. They offer educational opportunities that were once limited by geographic region. OERs consist of course materials, textbooks, streaming media, assessments, and even full courses. For example, MIT now offers full open courses online including video, lectures, presentations, and course materials for free. Khan Academy offers free videos and interactive learning experiences in the K-12 environment. Even the Arts community has become involved offering visual arts curriculums from primary education to collegiate levels. OERs offer the opportunity for students and teachers to collaborate, express themselves creatively, differentiate instruction to meet specific needs, and encourages divergent thinking.
OER Resources
There are many OER communities on the Internet. Some are listed below:
MIT OpenCourseWare: In 2007, MIT put its entire curriculum online free of charge. While the users of these online materials do not earn a degree, they have access to the same materials as degree-earning students.
Connexions: An OER repository that students can access independently or teachers can remix into their existing curriculum. It contains more than 21,000 units of instruction.
OpenStax: An OER repository for open textbooks. Online versions are free. Print-on-demand versions are a fraction of the cost of comparable traditionally published textbooks.
Khan Academy: Geared toward both K-12 and college level curriculums, Khan Academy offers free courseware for math, science, economics and finance, and the humanities. It also has strategic partnerships to provide free open materials through museums, institutions of higher learning, and corporations.
Rachel E Kovacs, October 2013
Connexions: An OER repository that students can access independently or teachers can remix into their existing curriculum. It contains more than 21,000 units of instruction.
OpenStax: An OER repository for open textbooks. Online versions are free. Print-on-demand versions are a fraction of the cost of comparable traditionally published textbooks.
Khan Academy: Geared toward both K-12 and college level curriculums, Khan Academy offers free courseware for math, science, economics and finance, and the humanities. It also has strategic partnerships to provide free open materials through museums, institutions of higher learning, and corporations.
Rachel E Kovacs, October 2013
References
Ash, K. (2012). Linking Open Content. Education Week, 6-7.
Carr, D. (2013, March 12). 12 Open Educatonal Resources: From Khan to MIT. Retrieved from Information Week: http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/12-open-educational-resources-from-khan/
Connolly, T. (2013). Visualization Mapping Approaches for Developing and Understanding OER. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Education, 130-155.
de Langen, F. T. (2013). Strategies for Sustainable Business Models for Open Educational Resources. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 54-65.
Goldberg, E., & LaMagna, M. (2012). Open Educational Resources in Higher Education. C&RL News, 334-337.
Hockings, C., Brett, P., & Terentjevs, M. (2012). Making a Difference--inclusive learning and teaching in higher education through open educational materials. Distance Education, 237-252.
Matkin, G. (2012). The Opening of Higher Education. Change, 6-13.
Moxley, J. (2013). Open Textbook Publishing. Academe, 40-43.
Nikoi, S., Rowlett, T., Armellini, A., & Witthaus, G. (2011). CORRE: a framework for evaluating and transforming teaching materials into open educatoinal resources. Open Learning, 191-207.
Richter, T., & McPherson, M. (2012). Open Educational Resources: education for the world? Distance Education, 201-219.
Stacey, P. (2013). Government Support for Open Educational Resources: Policy, Funding, and Strategies. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Education, 68-80.
No comments:
Post a Comment