For some time I have had this awkward thought buzzing around in my head.
I wonder if many discussions on open educational resources/practice fail
to acknowledge the potential that OER/OEP might have to disrupt
existing structural/institutional/hierarchical models of learning. Below
is a very crude diagram of what I see as the traditional relationships
between educational 'players'. (I hope the diagram renders OK when you
receive this message!)
Institution
¦
¦
¦
Teacher
¦ \
¦ Learning resources
¦ /
Student
Many people seem to ask the question: how should universities, colleges
and teachers of the future use OER/OEP? But this very question seems to
assume that the future will see a 'business as usual' model of education
with OER sort of stuck on somehow. But learning resources are becoming
ever more available, ever more sophisticated and are developing a life
of their own, as it were. Could this utterly change the relationships in
the diagram above? (Technology is surely already changing the role of
the teacher.) But what about the role of the institution? Are MOOCs
perhaps a last desperate attempt by institutions to maintain their power
and role in a world that no longer really needs them?
Not that I am trying to be controversial, of course:-)
What do you think?
Terry Loane
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