Open education refers to the educational philosophy that information should be shared, and that economic and entry requirement barriers to receiving of information should be eliminated. This means that regardless of whether or not a person is enrolled in the course or program, they have access to the information.
I could not find any information on open education that directly relates to the Outdoor Education sector... However in this process I did find some interesting outdoor definition websites that I could use in the future....
www.tarrak.com/EXP/exp.htm
http://wilderdom.com/definitions/definitions.html
Strategies
- It was interesting to know that Otago Polytechnic subscribes to the open education philosophy - so having the organisation support this philosophy could be very influential in creating open education practises within our course.
- One aspect where I think it is especially important that we develop open education practises in sharing information within the outdoor sector is with safety related information. These are often referred to as Safety Operation Procedures (SOPs). These SOPs are becoming more and more a key part of outdoor education, in ensuring we are running not only quality but SAFE programs. In the outdoors we often have to manage risk... and the sharing of ideas, experiences and information should be wide spread to ensure we do all we can to illiminate all risks and keep our students safe. We also need to consider how these would stand up in the court of law and draw on others knowledge in this as well.
- As we often have tight ratios in the outdoors it would be difficult to have open education for the physical aspects of our courses. However the outdoor related resources and curriculum could be shared between organisations and for individuals.
- One thing we need to consider in relation to open education is still maintaining student autonomy. There is some thought that we should not hand everything to our students on a plate and that for them to really engage and learn the information they need to take the initiative to develop their own resources and experiential journey from multiple sources.
- Understanding and using social media such as U-tube or wiki. Through the conference I learnt more about Wikipedia and Wikiversity... which is a new learning tool for me to know about. It was interesting to know that the Wiki sites are not considered as a valid research site - BUT that they are a good place to go to quickly find links to research journals. As global warming and climate change is a part of the Environmental Science course that I am teaching this was directly related, in knowing that the source may be unreliable or be controlled by group think.
- For many people the economic cost of learning can make an education inaccessible. Therefore by having open education people can learn and develop without the cost, making learning more equitable.
- Those who have struggled through the educational system or do not meet entry requirements can still have the opportunities to pursue interests.
- On the conference it was suggested that the motivation for 99.9% of students to enrol in a course and pay a fee is so that they can get a certificate at the end. In the outdoor sector I largely disagree with this comment. Our students will often enrol in the courses because they are passionate about the outdoors and enjoy what they are learning. We have students that are doing the course not so they can go out and get a job in the industry in the future but because they want to gain the skills to go out and do it for themselves and to have fun.
Julie it sounds like you have every teacher's dream - a group of students who are passionate about learning. Unfortunately the education system is geared towards getting qualifications instead of being a scholarly activity where we can learn for the love of it. I know there are lots of people who do this, but the mass think is to get people through the door enrolling so the organisation can be funded, and maintain quality and accreditation standards. This can mean that innovation can be somewhat stifled but the clever teacher manages to work around this and still keep the learning experience exciting.
ReplyDeleteAs you say there are aspects of your discipline which will work well using open education principles, and others which will not. The most important thing, I believe is to have an open mind to what is possible, and to be open to sharing and collaborating with others, and to encourage this in your students as well.
If you are needing material for teaching, it is always a good idea to see what is already available before creating new material. Yes some of it wont be relevant but a lot of it may be....and someone down the corridor might already have what you need.....Open education is mainly about having an open attitude and not being precious about our teaching resources - don't you agree?
The other thing to bear in mind when putting video on sites such as Youtube, is that the students are comfortable with this type of exposure - some will love it and others may not.