Download - 1 A Model for Collaborative Open Courseware By Bun Yue at CSCI 6530 Research Methods September 2003
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Abstract
Present a Collaborative Open Courseware (COC) Model with the following properties: Modeled after the successful open source
software development model Fine-grained object model High level of collaboration Rich contents
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Contents
Introduction and Related Works The UHCL's COC Model Current Status Conclusions
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Introduction
Instructors put course materials into the Web. Many may have 'free' copyright. Benefits: free, quick access. Potential Problems:
Quality Copyright Completeness Richness Ease of uses
Good resources scattered
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
One Approach: Repositories
Various kinds of repositories. May address some of the problems But usually not all.
Example: http://javascript.internet.com/ (JavascriptSources.com): richness, ease of uses.
Not addressed: quality, copyright, completeness.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Merlot
http://www.merlot.org/Home.po Free and open higher education
resources; example resource link. Address:
Quality: peer review by panels. Richness: repository.
Not well addressed: copyright, completeness, ease of uses.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
MIT Open Courseware (1)
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html MIT: 500 open courseware now. All 2,000 courseware open and free by
2007. Extremely successful:
Wired magazine article: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/mit_pr.html
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
MIT Open Courseware (2)
Very high quality Open source-like copyright Ease of use: especially for students Richness: limited by sizes of lecture notes Completeness: topics limited by MIT
offering; contents set by MIT authors Collaboration: within MIT.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Rice's Connexion Project (1)
http://cnx.rice.edu/index_html; an example: CNXML.
Collaborative, community-driven approach for courseware development.
Module-based and open source. Coarse-grained object model. Tools for authoring and browsing
courseware. CNXML to capture courseware.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Rice's Connexion's Project (2)
Quality: post-publication community-based reviews; smaller sets of authors.
Richness: community-based; more collaboration; limited by modules.
Copyright: open source Ease of uses: dedicated tools with high
consistency. Completeness: community-based.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
SourceForge.net (1)
http://sourceforge.net/ Community-based site for open source
software (OSS) development. Provides services, tools, visibility, etc, to
OSS projects. September 15, 2003:
Hosted Projects: 68,184 Registered Users: 698,972
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
SourceForge.net (2)
Lessons Low cost of entry Projects managed by dedicated
developers. Community maintains quality: feature
request and bug fix request Natural evolution Flexibility required for evolution.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
The UHCL's COC model (1)
Similar approach to Rice's Connexion project: Community-based Open source
Difference: Finer-grained object model More flexibility
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Simplified Rice's Connexion Class Diagram
Module Course0..*0..*
use
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC Model: Units
Units may contain and require other units. Subunits may belong to many units. Subunits exist on their own terms. Units may contains embedded artifacts
and external artifacts.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC Model: Artifacts
Artifacts are actual course contents: lecture notes, exercises, examples, glossary, assignments, resource links, case studies.
Artifacts exist independently by themselves.
An artifact may be used by many units.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
CIC Model: Courses
Courses are collections of units and artifacts.
Unlike Rice's Connexions, courses are not necessarily hosted in COC site.
Instructors pick and mix to build their own courses.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC users
Workgroup: create and manage the project; plan required units.
Developers: develop units and artifacts. Instructors: access COC repository to
create courses and share experience. Regular users: access COC repository to
learn.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC Course Content Format
Two options: Any format the workgroup of the project
wants to use. COC's supplied XML.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC's Quality Control
Support both kinds of review: Pre-publications Post-publications
COC site provides a range of pre-publication review mechanisms for projects to use.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Benefits of COC's model
Low cost of entry Finer objects More flexibility
More collaboration Structures to plan subunits
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC Model Approach
Copyright: open source Quality: varying Ease of use: good for instructors and
students, but no consistent format. Richness: high level of collaboration. Completeness: high level of collaboration;
structures for planning subunits.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC Current Status (1)
Research Team: Kwok-Bun Yue, Andrew Yang, Wei Ding and Ping Chen (UHD).
Grant Activities: Institute of Space Systems Operation
(ISS0): funded small seed grant. National Science Foundation: submitted
curriculum and development prototyping proposal.
Looking for other funding sources.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
COC Current Status (2)
Fall 2003 Capstones Projects: Team #1: Collaborative Open Courseware
(COC) Development Community Site Prototype.
Team #2: XML Schema and tools for the COC model.
Authoring: White paper. Technical papers.
September 2003 http//dcm.cl.uh.edu/yue;
Conclusions
COC has the potentials to change how courseware is developed.
COC may complement other approaches. The COC team is working on various
technical issues and proposal development.
Related Topics for potential theses and capstone projects exist.
Want to join us?