TasmanianPolytechnicOER

TAS10EI161: OPENING UP EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

In one sentence: … Learners will access, use, create and contribute to wiki based materials throughout their learning programs, with a focus on open educational resources.

This pilot project has been supported through the Elearning Innovations section of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.

Linked Pages and Resources

Pilot Project Pages

Hair and Beauty Introduction [Learning Design Map (v1, ppt)]

Children's Services [Learning Design Map (v1, ppt)]

Community Services [Learning Design Map (v1, ppt)]

Tourism Jazz Festival Project [Learning Design Map (v1, ppt)]

Applying for jobs in Business related roles [Learning Design Map (v1, ppt)]

•  These are materials developed initially in Wikispaces and which have been transferred to WikiEducator as part of our evaluation process. They do not include the Student Central sections which are Student Work Pages used in a portfolio manner.

Help Guides and Tutorials

Creating an Account in WikiEducator

How to work with Images on your page using the Rich Text Editor

Guide to finding Creative Commons Images on Flickr (pdf, 108k)

Wikispaces wiki for experimentation and comparison *Remember to "join" that wiki for edit access

Project Specific

Project Documentation - timesheets, key dates etc

Materials Used in Workshops

Educational Wiki and Open CourseWare Examples

David Wiley's TEDxNYED talk on Open Education and the Future (YouTube)

PROJECT SUMMARY

This project is to embed the reuse, remix and creation of open educational resources (OERs), specifically those based on a wiki platform. This follows from the successful 2009 investigation that demonstrated the suitability of wiki platforms for our context. Many Polytechnic teachers have already heard about the successful wiki trials and are interested in pursuing this approach in their own areas. "The OER movement seeks to stimulate, facilitate and catalyze growth of the pool of learning resources on the Internet which circumvent barriers to access and lift restrictions on usage, thus improving education as a social good" (WikiEducator). This philosophy of education being open and accessible to all is in alignment with the mission and values of the Tasmanian Polytechnic.

THE LEARNERS BEING TARGETED

The learners in this project come from 9 different class groups across 5 industry sectors. They include

- mature age career changers, including women returning to the workforce

- learners in regional and rural areas

- young learners exploring their career options

- a range of literacy and information literacy skills and confidence

- are already enrolled in their course of study

- learners in critical skills shortage areas

All of these learners have chosen to study at the Polytechnic for an applied, vocational approach to their learning. They provide a broad cross section of the Polytechnic student cohort, as such generalizations are difficult.

HOW WILL THEY BE EMPOWERED THROUGH THIS ACTIVITY

Learners will have increased access to learning opportunities, and a real invitation to contribute their own perspective and content to the shared resources. Through the design of the learning activity there will be a recognition of the value they are able to bring to the learning process, and the opportunity to share and collaborate with their peers and facilitators. Through using a wiki platform for the learning activities and materials, learners will experience the opportunity to source, create and access learning materials for their own later self directed learning on the web. The ability to contribute to the learning materials quite deliberately changes the power relationships in the teaching and learning processes. It becomes a user-centric approach to collaborative content creation. The wikis will be available to learners wherever they have an internet connection - regardless of location, time of day, or class schedules.