Developing Open Content Like Open Software

Open Source + Open Content = Jason Cole Cognition and Instruction Associates [email_address] Open Education

Driving Questions Why are textbooks so expensive? With the growing collections of open materials, what is the future of educational materials? Why are wikibooks so bad? How can we leverage the Moodle install base to further true open education with open content?

Textbook Costs Impacting Students Textbook costs = $900 / year 17.5% of tuition at 4 year colleges 43% of tuition at 2 year colleges 43% of students didn't purchase a required textbook Source: Ripoff 101 State PIRGS Higher Education Project

Textbook Prices Since 1994: PPI + 14% General Publishers + 19% Textbook wholesale + 62% Bundled supplementary materials add 15% - 45% Source: Ripoff 101 State PIRGS Higher Education Project

Supplementary Materials 30% of faculty use publishers' online homework 19% use online quizzes 74% required or recommended supplementary materials 90% believe under-prepared students would do better spending more time with textbook 79% believe under-prepared students would do better if they used supplementary materials

Use Of Materials - Jim Farmer, Faculty Selection and Use of Publisher-Provided Textbooks and Supplementary Materials in the United States

Supplementary Materials Current research may suggest that increasing the use of learning materials – and the cost – could yield significant improvements in completions and lower the unit costs. - Jim Farmer, Faculty Selection and Use of Publisher-Provided Textbooks and Supplementary Materials in the United States

Transfer of Costs Publishers are investing in these supplementary materials to meet the needs of faculty. This investment may be supported by higher “textbook” prices; if so, then students are now paying for materials and service rather than the college or university paying as part of instructional technology. This analysis does not address the issue of “Who pays”. - Jim Farmer, Faculty Selection and Use of Publisher-Provided Textbooks and Supplementary Materials in the United States

Whither Open Content? Two areas for investigation Production of materials Use and integration

Content Development Models Wikipedia is not the answer!

OCW's Advantages Most comprehensive Structured collections High reputation Common Licensing Disadvantages Incomplete (textbook, reading lists) Static No feedback No atomic improvement

Open Repositories (Merlot, NLN) Advantages Small pieces Tend to have more interactive material Tend to have good searchability / findability Disadvantages Small pieces not joined Variable quality No integration Not comprehensive No common licensing

Open Wikis (Wikipedia, etc) Advantages Many hands Comprehensive scope Task decomposition Common licensing Disadvantages Regression to the mean(est) Not stable / vetted Variable quality No integration Not comprehensive

Open Source Software Production Patch Commit Bug Reports Feature Requests Patch Submit Prioritize Bug / Feature Priorities Quality Review Adoption Release Bug Tracker Code Repository Software Version Users / Testers Coders Committers Architects

Open Source Success Charismatic Leader(s) Earn your stripes Decomposable tasks Version Control Large community of users Regression control

Open eLearning Production Patch Commit Bug Reports Feature Requests Patch Submit Prioritize Bug / Feature Priorities Release Eval Adoption Release Bug Tracker Content Repository Collection Version Faculty / Students Writers / Developers Editors / SMEs Inst Designers

Open Source Success Charismatic Leader + Earn your stripes = Strong social norms Decomposable tasks + Version Control = Distributed workload Large community + Bug Tracking = Distributed testing and evaluation Feedback systems + Regression control = Learning system

Time To Produce a Textbook Source: American Association of Publishers

Open Content Usability S earchability F indability O btainability

Open Content Searchability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg I know there's cool stuff out there. Where can I find it?

Open Content Searchability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg Lack of standard search API No common metadata Little SEO

Open Content Searchability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg Federated Search API Standards, Objectives and Competencies for Metadata Federated search engines embedded in VLEs

Open Content Findability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg All this great stuff! What's the best for me?

Open Content Findability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg No aggregation across collections No common quality / suitability data No feedback on suitability

Open Content Findability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg Vetted Collections Collecting Implicit Metadata Tagging and rating

Open Content Obtainability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg LMS I found some content. How do I use it?

Open Content Obtainability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg LMS Lack of standard repository API No common metadata No common content standards Incomplete collections Licensing confusion

Open Content Obtainability OCW Connexions Merlot Wikipedia Internet Archive Project Gutenberg LMS JSR-170 Web Services Common Cartridge Common Object API Generic authoring tools Common licensing

Where to go from here Create learning communities for development of content Mirrors for open repositories with common API Implement JSR-170, Common Cartridge in Moodle New kinds of eLearning materials organizations

Market Failure Large conglomerates are selling educational imprints Elsvier Earnings down at major publishers 20 – 30% of textbooks every reprinted 8,000 publishers – 262,000 titles

Rival vs Non-rival Goods Rival goods – my use prevents you from using it (most arrangements of atoms) Non-rival goods – my use does non prevent you from using it (most arrangements of bits) Problem – The production of non-rival goods requires rival inputs (time, money) Central problem of the information society

Current Approach Treat non-rival goods like rival goods Deny the fundamental nature of non-rival goods (information wants to be free) Copyright, Patents, DRM, Lawsuits

Aikido Move with your opponent, not against them Get out of the way Maintain your balance

Aikido Economics Share non-rival goods – let the information free Sell rival good versions of non-rival goods – you want the print version? Sell rival good supplements (services, experiences, certifications)

Conclusions Open Learning Content = Linux for Civilization Market forces create artificial scarcity – impeding education New technologies create opportunities for new types of organizations Comprehensive collections will create a critical link for meeting the challenges of the next millennium

Developing Open Content Like Open Software

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