Open Educational Resources

Description:
This week I was tasked to explore my stance on Online Learning Environments (OLE) and the use Open Educational Resources (OER).

Impact:
I had to think about this quite a bit.  Until I entered my Master's program I had very little experience with any real OLE.  After the initial intimidation wore off I found this alternative to traditional classroom learning to be quite valuable.   When considering the use of digital texts and resources I can appreciate why publishers would want to impose a cost.  Someone has to put the resources together right?

On the other hand I am largely in favor of an OLE where where resources and other pertinent information is provided all in one place.  I This type of learning environment lends itself well to my crazy busy life.  I appreciate the fact that all I need to have with me at any given time is my iPad or cell phone and I have access to all of the information and assignments no matter where I am.  Because of the flexibility I have been able to respond to discussions, submit assignments, and interact with instructors all while sitting on the sideline at a soccer game, backyard barbecue, and even TKD competitions.

I must admit this is this is the first semester that I decided to purchase a textbook in the digital format. Thus far it has been a great alternative lugging around all of my books and other class information.  I have access to it anywhere that I may be as long as there is access to the internet. It does add an element of nervousness for me though, as I am worried about internet access.  Usually this is of no concern to me since I have paper versions.  

Using an OER format can have it's major downsides as well.  What happens if the system goes down or internet access is lost.  For example, this week our LMS has taken a dive.  I have no access to course information.  This is unfortunate as I still have some work to submit and discussions to continue.  All I can do now is hope for the best and keep my fingers crosses that the technicians have the problem solved at some point today.

Intent:

I will most likely be using the same LMS when our courses are developed for the online format.  I plan to create some other OLE that students can access to retrieve assignments and other information in the event that the LMS goes down  While this will take a great deal of work on my part I feel it is important for students to be able to access information using an alternative measure.  I would also want to have a backup plan so that the class could just roll either using other forms like blogs to have classroom discussions.  I am going to slowly start working on collecting information and links that I would like students to be able to access through OER.