The Impact of Open Source
Open courses provides free and open access to a selection of courses. The aims of the course are usually to expand access to educational resources to expand your knowledge. One source of open courses is Harvard Open Courses: Open Learning Initiative; http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative. The Harvard open courses at Harvard Extension School are videos for the following free Harvard courses are made available by the Harvard Extension School’s Open Learning Initiative. Featuring Harvard faculty, the noncredit courses are open to the public. You do not need to register to view the lecture videos.
A word to the wise as it relates to online learning the courses are not designed of online learning. Keep in mind that courses previously taught in traditional classrooms may need to be retooled. The focus of the instruction shifts to visual presentations, engaged learners, and careful timing of presentations of information (Simonson, Samaldino, Albright & Zyacek 2012). The courses are truly informative and quality lectures. The courses fit the basic definition of distance education. Distance education emerged in response to the need of providing access to those who would otherwise not be able to participate in face-to-face course (Beldarrain, 2006). The course in a traditional learning environment was well thought-out and planned. They do not however follow the basic recommendations for online instruction Instructional design is a systematic process. A critical part of the process is to consider the components of a successful learning system(Dick et al., 2009) These components are the learners, the content, the method and materials, and the environment, including technology. The interactions of these components create the type of learning experience necessary for student learning (Simonson, Samaldino, Albright & Zyacek 2012).
Resources
· Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), 139–153.
· Dick, W., Carey,L., & Carey, J.O.(2009). The systematic design of instruction,(7th ed.). new York; Longman
· Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson. Chapter 7, "The Student and Distance Education” (pp. 150 - 191)
