An OpenCourse May be a Closed Option - My Perspective
Course Name: American Popular Music
Course URL: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-295-american-popular-music-fall-2014/index.htm
For many years, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has established its reputation for providing an exceptional education for attending students. Ranked 7th nationally according to the U.S. News & World Report, MIT focuses on scientific and technological research and is divided into five schools and one college. (colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com, n.d.)
In an effort to support the school’s mission - to advance knowledge and educate students (ocw.mit.edu, n.d.) the OpenCourseWare project was proposed in 2000 and launched in 2002 with 50 published courses. Designed to emphasize sharing and interaction (specials.dw.com, 2012) open courses allow for an expanded view and perspective of specific topics for participants. Since its inception, the OpenCourseWare has had 175 million visitors and currently maintains materials for 2260 courses. (ocw.mit.edu)
For this week’s assignment topic, I have selected to review a course from the MIT OpenCourse catalog. For someone who has an appreciation for music, I found the American Popular Music course of immediate interest. As I started digging into the course contents, I quickly realized this Open Course does not utilize many of the traits associated with a “true” distance program or class.
Upon accessing the course’s homepage, I found the class details structured in a format that most resembled a description found in a university catalog or brochure. The instructor’s name and MIT Course number were listed under the course title with images of two different guitars with a brief caption referencing student activities for the course.
The course syllabus, assignments, study materials and other items needed to complete the course were also available for access in this section. In my view, the page is designed to simulate a course management system but several attributes were missing. As our text notes (Simonson, Smaldino & Zvacek, 2015) course management systems are commonly used for distributing learning purposes, enabling teachers of conventional face-to-face courses to provide learning resources and conduct course-related activities, such as discussions and testing, outside of normal class time. (p.157) However upon closer inspection, options for student interaction and tools for grading were not within the course weblinks. The Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University also notes that “a CMS is typically integrated with other databases in the university so that students enrolled” (cft.vanderbilt.edu, n.d.) automatically become participants for the assigned course. As listed on the “Welcome” splash and “Get Started with OCW” web pages, the OpenCourseWare site does not require registration, signup or enrollment (ocw.mit.edu/help/get-started-with-ocw/, n.d.) in order to use or to participate in the assigned courses. In other words, the information available for the course is designed for supplemental use only and cannot be used for “credit, a degree or a certificate” (ocw.mit.edu/help/get-started-with-ocw/, n.d.) of completion.
An option to download course materials yielded a zipped file which provided participants with a personal copy of the weblinks used on the OpenCourseWare web page. I believe this option could be beneficial as it reduces the potential for a student not to receive the current course materials. If the materials were planned prior to distribution, this could be a benefit for the student and instructor.
I found it interesting that a section listed as “This Course at MIT” provided participants with a snapshot into how the course was originally presented at MIT. Included in this section were a class overview, a small photo of the classroom (with a brief description of technology access and devices used for presentations), a graph of how student grades would be determined, general student participant notes and a breakdown of expected time students would participate in and out of class time on a weekly basis and during the entire semester. Ironically, the information listed in the ‘Course Outcomes’ section, which provided goals for student participants, was not included in the course syllabus.
As I reviewed the syllabus and Reading & Listening section, the course appears to be thoroughly pre-planned but only when presented in a traditional face-to-face format. As noted on the OpenCourseWare site, “after a course is taught at MIT, we take selected course materials (such as the course syllabus and a description of the activities completed during the course) and publish them on the OCW website. (ocw.mit.edu/help/get-started-with-ocw/, n.d.) With the original course being designed for a face-to-face format, no distance education attributes have been included for the online resources.
Although the course is not suited for an online format, I believe the assigned student activities can be maximized if the course was converted into a distance format. Our text defines a learning outcome (p.155) as an observable, measurable consequence of teaching and learning. The course activities provide multiple assessment opportunities if an instructor would be available in providing feedback to students. Assignments associated with this course include a research essay and a final project. The final project required a reflective essay, a CD compilation of musical influences, an oral report along with a one-page handout. If placed in the position to make adjustments for the assigned tasks, I would use the same course concepts but would require students to:
- produce a podcast (audio or video) as a replacement for the oral report.
- develop a playlist which could be uploaded as a reference instead of submitting an actual CD.
- develop a webpage with the same information listed on the one-page handout.
By utilizing web 2.0 tools, students would develop the skills needed to better prosper in today’s online environment. As noted in our text (Simonson, Smaldino & Zvacek, 2015) “the power of the web can be employed through the use of Web 2.0 applications. These tools are all about student engagement and higher order learning.” (p.116)
The resources available in MIT’s OpenCourseWare are great if a learner needs to enhance or supplement existing information. Supplemental information can open new opportunities for learning and lead to higher levels of thinking. However, the courses offered by MIT provide no tangible connections with instructors or other students based on the sites terms of use. (Welcome to MIT OpenCourseWare) These connections are what I believe are the required components to further the learning process when working in an online or distance format. Without these collaborative connections and conversations, the OpenCourse may end up being a closed option for many!
MFABRAMS - ID ArchiTech
References:
Get Started with OCW (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from
ocw.mit.edu/help/get-started-with-ocw/
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/mit-2178Our History - MIT
OpenCourseWare. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://ocw.mit.edu/about/our-history/
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education.
What is an open course? (October 11, 2012). Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://specials.dw.com/oms-en/?p=291
Building instructional content, one byte @ a time.
