Social Authoring
Raising Quality and Access to Online Course Content
Ruth Rominger Director of Learning Design
National Repository of Online Courses
Module 4
Social Authoring
The National Repository of Online Courses is using an innovative social authoring model to bring together a group of dispersed faculty to collaboratively author course material using an online workspace, supported and produced by the NROC Development team.
• Disperse assignments among authors by interest and expertise • Brainstorm, contribute, new ideas for presenting and using content
NROC Network
For educators, designers, technologists, and administrators working together to promote the continuous improvement of online courses through collaborative development of high-quality content and instruction.
NROC Support Team
Educational nonprofit
Committed to improving access to high quality education
Specialize in collaborative projects
Small team of experts in multimedia development, education, publishing and management
http://montereyinstitute.org
Managed by the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education
Why Social Authoring
•High-quality and rich
media, usually beyond the
means of institutions
•Multi-modal learning
experiences for students
•Allows instructor to focus
on designing the learning
experience
•Saves time and money
What is Social Authoring
Authors
Designers
Producers
Users
Technologists
Continuous Improvement Cycle
Current Conditions
• Technology Leading Change– Web, PowerPoint, Course Management Systems…
• Open Source Movement– Effort to make high quality, open, non-commercial
technology and content
• Web 2.0 - Participation Rules– Raising the bar on networking, interactivity and
media production (mainly outside of education)
• Online Learning - the New Normal?– 90% colleges offer online content
Academia’s Response
• Research Following Practice• Online education = learning?, What works? • “No significant difference”
• Faculty working alone• 90% courses are text with external links• Most linked content is proprietary, from commercial
publishers, with instructor lecture notes• Same material, same teaching style, new delivery• Most not informed by learning theory
• Open Education Resources• Open access movement - sharing faculty-made content • Creative Commons-free/share alike/non-commercial
• Schools are duplicating small investments (on the same courses)
• No faculty or campus alone has resources for high-quality development
• Inconsistent use of learning theory, best practices
• Collaborate on course topics, build library of subjects
• Pool resource and expertise for highest quality course material
• Shared guidelines, grounded in learning theory
Status Quo Social Authoring
Problems & Solutions
Alone v. Together
• Lone author expectation is unrealistic
• Lack of expertise, time, rewards
• Material not shared, maintained
• Distribute workload in diverse, collaborative teams
• Release time, incentives, rewards for social authoring
• Network Team supports faculty/authors, provides expertise and maintenance
Status Quo Social Authoring
• OER objects fragmented, quality varies, not in context
• Technically restrictive, incompatible
• Financial and Technical models not sustainable
• Learning Objects composed into coherent courses
• Designed for technical interoperability, customization
• Shared membership provides ongoing development support, maintenance, and distribution
Status Quo Social Authoring
Addressing the Challenges
Social Authoring Model
Collaborative Authoring
Core Author Team•Create lesson content•Share author credit
Contributing Authors•Contributing select parts, e.g.,activities, discussions•Contributing author recognition
Supporting Authors/Users•Critique, review, •Add small content contributions•Collaborator recognition
NROC Quality Guidelines
Learner
Assessment
Knowledge
Community
1. Technology2. Content3. Media4. Design5. Pedagogy
Instructor
6. Interaction7. Assignments8. Assessment9. Access10. Support
Complete guidelines downloadable from MontereyInstitute.org and NROCNetwork.org
Integrated Theories
Engineering Objectives
Objective: create highly interoperable, flexible and uniform sets of course elements that
• work in various course management systems• share a common course model and navigation• may be augmented to form new courses • can be modified by instructors• can be independent of a particular textbook• developed in a community of collaborators in
academia
Consistent Structure
Course elements are formatted and organized in a systematic structure to…
Import into a variety of CMSs
Import into content repositories
Sharing: Give and Get
Use NROC content to enhance an existing course
Add your unique content to enhance the course
Or use to supplement hybrid or classroom content for students
Rights of Use
• Authors-Contributors receive perpetual rights for
personal use
• Authors’ institution have perpetual rights of use, when contributing during active NROC membership
• NROC retains rights to distribute to
– NROC member institutions for customization – Open access sites for self-study – Projects in underserved communities
The Process: Authors
• Online Workspace opened• Content Outline posted for feedback• Templates for content scripting downloaded• Authors post sample scripts for review
The Process: Designers
• NROC Design/Production review scripts to develop design treatment & production plan
• Feedback given to authors for revision, additions
• NROC produces learning objects (working with campus media centers when available)
Authors
Designers
Producers
The Process: Techies
• Quality Assurance – content and technical check
• Mastering and Dissemination – NROC makes available through various channels
The Process: User Feedback
NROC Network members provide continual feedback through online community discussions and the online Support community
Collaborate with your colleagues and raise the quality of your online courses!
Join the Network for Quality
Contact NROC with Ideas and questions at
NROCNetwork.org
Contact NROC with Ideas and questions at
NROCNetwork.org
For more information about joining a social authoring project, contact us:
NROC Networkwww.nrocnetwork.org
Sign up in the Expert Database
Ruth [email protected]
Terri [email protected] 719-783-0804
Monterey Institute for Technology and Educationwww.montereyinstitute.org
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